Develop Reference

Having problem making a JScrollPane appear

So I've been troubleshooting this as much as possible, but I just wanted to create a function that would take in a buffered stream and then display the contents of that buffered stream in a scrollable pane. However every time I've run it the window doesn't show up at all. I'd like to know what I've done wrong here.
void show(BufferedOutputStream showFileContent)
{
String fileContent = showFileContent.toString();
JTextArea content = new JTextArea(fileContent);
JScrollPane scrollableScreen = new JScrollPane(content);
JPanel makeScreenAppear = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
scrollableScreen.setViewportView(makeScreenAppear);
scrollableScreen.setVisible(true);
scrollableScreen.setSize(500,400);
}
Thank you for your help.

You are replacing the JTextArea with an empty JPanel as the viewport of the JScrollPane in this line of your code:
scrollableScreen.setViewportView(makeScreenAppear);
That's why you don't see the text. No need for the JPanel. Simple add the JScrollPane to the top-level window - which I assume is JFrame or JDialog.

Swing JScrollPane resizing to fit the viewport panel

I tried a lot of layout managers but none could solve my problem:
I want the items in a scrollPane to keep their size (preferred or minimum) and not being resized (reduced) to fit the viewport Panel. Since if it is a JTextArea, and if the text area has blank space and it is bigger then the viewport, it would reduce it so the blank text area won't be shown. I want the blank text area to be shown for appearance issues.
Im stacking one item after another using BoxLayout, and it seems to me that for text areas the setMinimum method fails.
If the text area has blank space, then the scrollbar of the ScrollPane won't appear, instead it only appears it there are no blank space left.
Any solution?
JScrollPane materialPane = new FScrollPane();
this.materialPaneView = new TPanel();
this.materialPaneView.setMinimumSize(new Dimension((int)(WIDTH*0.95), (int)(HEIGHT/2)));
this.materialPaneView.setLayout(new BoxLayout(this.materialPaneView, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
materialPane.setViewportView(materialPaneView);
materialPane.setMinimumSize(new Dimension((int)(WIDTH*0.95), (int)(HEIGHT/2)));
for(Material mat: this.unit.getMaterial()){
this.addMaterial(mat);
}
centerPanel.add(sectionPane);
centerPanel.add(exercisePane);
centerPanel.add(materialPane);
this.add(upperPanel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
this.add(centerPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
public void addMaterial(Material mat){
JTextField matName = new JTextField(30);
JPanel fieldButtonPanel = new TPanel();
fieldButtonPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(1,2));
JPanel fieldPanel = new TPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));
JPanel deleteMatButtonPanel = new TPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.RIGHT));
matName.setText(mat.getName());
matName.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(FFont.def.getSize()*20, 30));
fieldPanel.add(matName);
JButton deleteMat = new JButton("Delete Material");
deleteMatButtonPanel.add(deleteMat);
fieldButtonPanel.add(fieldPanel);
fieldButtonPanel.add(deleteMatButtonPanel);
fieldButtonPanel.setAlignmentX(LEFT_ALIGNMENT);
JTextArea matText = new FTextArea(mat.getDesc(), (int)(WIDTH*0.95), (int)(HEIGHT/3.4));
matText.setMinimumSize(new Dimension((int)(WIDTH*0.95), (int)(HEIGHT/3.5)));
/*matText.setMaximumSize(new Dimension((int)(WIDTH*0.95), (int)(HEIGHT/3.4)));*/
matText.setText(mat.getDesc());
matText.setAlignmentX(LEFT_ALIGNMENT);
this.materialPaneView.add(fieldButtonPanel);
this.materialPaneView.add(matText);
matName.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
mat.setName(matName.getText());
}
});
HEIGHT and WIDTH are constants, and TPanel FScrollPane are my predefined transparent panels. The BoxLayout panel is the viewport of a scrollPane, and still, it would resize the text areas.

I am not sure i get what you are asking for so please tell me if i totally missed the point...
As far as i know the Viewport size is controlled by the component inside the JScrollPane and the JScrollPane size wont change no matter what happens to the viewport.
You either want to:
A) Resize the JScrollPane to the same size as it's content.
I would implement listeners to look for the content size change and resize the ScrollPane accordingly but you need to pay attention to resize the whole Hierarchy too.
B) You want to resize the viewport so that it fits in the JScrollPane? Y'know without scrollbars.
I had this problem and fixed it by using a ScrollablePanel component. Check this answer, follow the link to download the .class and use it to use a JPanel that resizes to fit the ScrollPane.
Those arent very detailed answers but i will need more information about what you are trying to do before expanding on it. And your code isnt complete, always share a code that we can CTRL+C/V and readily verify the problem in our end.

How can you add several elements to a JScrollPane

So I am trying to add more than one element to a JScrollPane element but so far I haven't been able to pull it of.
I can make it so that the first element shows up ,which in my case is a picture. But after adding in an extra panel to the JScrollPane ,the first element disappears and even the second element ,the new panel , doesnt show on my JScrollPane.
JFrame scherm = new JFrame("t?");
scherm.setVisible(true);
scherm.setSize(300, 300);
scherm.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
scherm.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
//
String path = "C:\\Users\\Bernard\\Documents\\Paradox Interactive\\Crusader Kings II\\mod\\viking\\map\\provinces.bmp";
Image image = ImageIO.read(new File(path));
ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon(image);
JLabel label = new JLabel(icon);
JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane(label);
JPanel paneel2= new JPanel();
paneel2.setSize(new Dimension(400,400));
scroll.getViewport().add(paneel2,null);
scherm.add(scroll);
Thank you for your time!

By doing this:
scroll.getViewport().add(paneel2,null);
You're trying to add a component to the scroll pane's JViewPort shown in the picture below:
This makes no sense. As stated in How to Use Scroll Panes trial:
A
JScrollPane
provides a scrollable view of a component.
This single component is the view port's view. So if you want to have more than a single component in your scroll pane you must to wrap all those components in a lightweight component such as JPanel and set this one as the scroll pane's view port view:
JPanel content = new JPanel();
content.add(label);
content.add(paneel2);
scroll.setViewportView(content);

JScrollPane opening to bottom of panel

I have a JScrollPane on a panel (which has many panels inside of it) and when I open the frame with the scroll pane on it, the fame is scrolled to the bottom. Is there anyway I can avoid this?
Here are some facts:
The panel the scroller is on contains multiple panels. Some of these panels have text fields. I have tried to set the carat of the text fields to 0 and this did not work.
I know there should be actual code, but when I tried to make a mock pane (as the one I am using is intertwined with a lot of code) it is not replicating the issue.
The panel that is being scrolled is being generated using a loop that generates a series of questions... so a text box, a said amount of buttons/answers, and a text box and label that shows the amount of points for each question.
The last elements of my panel that is being scrolled are a JTextArea and a JLabel.
Below is the code to declare those.
Is there anyone out there that could at least throw out an idea of what would be making the scroll pane automatically go to the bottom?
Here is the declaration of the pane and the panels inside/outside of it
JPanel newPanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout(0, 0));
JPanel showPanel = new JPanel();
BoxLayout layout = new BoxLayout(showQuizPanel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS);
showQuizPanel.setLayout(layout);
buttonPanel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.RIGHT));
buttonPanel.setBackground(Color.white);
newPanel.setBackground(Color.white);
showPanel.setBackground(Color.white);
populateButtonPanel();
populateShowPanel(showPanel, buttonPanel);
populateQuestions(showPanel);
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(showPanel, JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED, JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED);
scrollPane.getViewport().setBackground(Color.WHITE);
scrollPane.setAlignmentX(JScrollPane.CENTER_ALIGNMENT);
scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().setUnitIncrement(16);
scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().setValue(0);
scrollPane.getViewport().setViewPosition(new Point(0,0));
newPanel.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
return newPanel;
code to declare last elements on page
JPanel pPanel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER));
pPanel.setBackground(Color.WHITE);
pPanel.add(qValue);
pPanel.add(new JLabel("Points"));
qArea.add(pPanel);
qArea.add(Box.createVerticalStrut(50));
qValue.setCaretPosition(0);
Thanks!

I believe that when you add text to a text area when building the GUI, the scroll pane will scroll to make the text area visible.
So basically you need to reset the scroll pane to the top.
You can use code like the following after adding all components to the scroll pane:
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
scrollPane.getViewport().setViewPosition( new Point(0, 0) );
}
});
The invokeLater() adds the code to the end of the Event Dispatch Thread (EDT) so that it gets executed after the GUI is visible.
Of course this code assumes that you are creating the rest of the GUI properly on the EDT.

How to layout multiple panels on a jFrame? (java)

I am in the process of making my own java socket game. My game is painting alright to the full screen (where it says "paint graphics here", but im painting to the whole jframe at the moment). I want to add a textbox with a scroll bar for displaying only text, not taking any input and another textbox to take text inputs from the user and then a button to send the text, for chat purposes. But onto my question, how do I even start to lay this out? I understand I need a layout, but can someone help me on this? Here is my code at the moment (this code only sets up painting to the whole screen at the moment, need to divide the screen up now like I have in the picture above):
public class Setup extends JFrame implements Runnable{
JPanel panel;
JFrame window;
public Setup(Starter start, JFrame window){
window.setSize(600,500);
window.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
window.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
window.setResizable(false);
panel = new Display(start);
this.window = window;
}
public void run(){
window.getContentPane().add(panel);
window.setBackground(Color.BLACK);
window.setVisible(true);
}
}
"new Display(start)" - this extends jpanel, its basically where I paint everything graphics wise.
In addition, I've seen people add in different panels but I cant have them be the same size. Like in the picture, the "paint graphics here" panel is the biggest one, and so on.

The JPanel is actually only a container where you can put different elements in it (even other JPanels). So in your case I would suggest one big JPanel as some sort of main container for your window. That main panel you assign a Layout that suits your needs ( here is an introduction to the layouts).
After you set the layout to your main panel you can add the paint panel and the other JPanels you want (like those with the text in it..).
JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
mainPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(mainPanel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
JPanel paintPanel = new JPanel();
JPanel textPanel = new JPanel();
mainPanel.add(paintPanel);
mainPanel.add(textPanel);
This is just an example that sorts all sub panels vertically (Y-Axis). So if you want some other stuff at the bottom of your mainPanel (maybe some icons or buttons) that should be organized with another layout (like a horizontal layout), just create again a new JPanel as a container for all the other stuff and set setLayout(new BoxLayout(mainPanel, BoxLayout.X_AXIS).
As you will find out, the layouts are quite rigid and it may be difficult to find the best layout for your panels. So don't give up, read the introduction (the link above) and look at the pictures – this is how I do it :)
Or you can just use NetBeans to write your program. There you have a pretty easy visual editor (drag and drop) to create all sorts of Windows and Frames. (only understanding the code afterwards is ... tricky sometimes.)
EDIT
Since there are some many people interested in this question, I wanted to provide a complete example of how to layout a JFrame to make it look like OP wants it to.
The class is called MyFrame and extends swings JFrame
public class MyFrame extends javax.swing.JFrame{
// these are the components we need.
private final JSplitPane splitPane; // split the window in top and bottom
private final JPanel topPanel; // container panel for the top
private final JPanel bottomPanel; // container panel for the bottom
private final JScrollPane scrollPane; // makes the text scrollable
private final JTextArea textArea; // the text
private final JPanel inputPanel; // under the text a container for all the input elements
private final JTextField textField; // a textField for the text the user inputs
private final JButton button; // and a "send" button
public MyFrame(){
// first, lets create the containers:
// the splitPane devides the window in two components (here: top and bottom)
// users can then move the devider and decide how much of the top component
// and how much of the bottom component they want to see.
splitPane = new JSplitPane();
topPanel = new JPanel(); // our top component
bottomPanel = new JPanel(); // our bottom component
// in our bottom panel we want the text area and the input components
scrollPane = new JScrollPane(); // this scrollPane is used to make the text area scrollable
textArea = new JTextArea(); // this text area will be put inside the scrollPane
// the input components will be put in a separate panel
inputPanel = new JPanel();
textField = new JTextField(); // first the input field where the user can type his text
button = new JButton("send"); // and a button at the right, to send the text
// now lets define the default size of our window and its layout:
setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400, 400)); // let's open the window with a default size of 400x400 pixels
// the contentPane is the container that holds all our components
getContentPane().setLayout(new GridLayout()); // the default GridLayout is like a grid with 1 column and 1 row,
// we only add one element to the window itself
getContentPane().add(splitPane); // due to the GridLayout, our splitPane will now fill the whole window
// let's configure our splitPane:
splitPane.setOrientation(JSplitPane.VERTICAL_SPLIT); // we want it to split the window verticaly
splitPane.setDividerLocation(200); // the initial position of the divider is 200 (our window is 400 pixels high)
splitPane.setTopComponent(topPanel); // at the top we want our "topPanel"
splitPane.setBottomComponent(bottomPanel); // and at the bottom we want our "bottomPanel"
// our topPanel doesn't need anymore for this example. Whatever you want it to contain, you can add it here
bottomPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(bottomPanel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS)); // BoxLayout.Y_AXIS will arrange the content vertically
bottomPanel.add(scrollPane); // first we add the scrollPane to the bottomPanel, so it is at the top
scrollPane.setViewportView(textArea); // the scrollPane should make the textArea scrollable, so we define the viewport
bottomPanel.add(inputPanel); // then we add the inputPanel to the bottomPanel, so it under the scrollPane / textArea
// let's set the maximum size of the inputPanel, so it doesn't get too big when the user resizes the window
inputPanel.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(Integer.MAX_VALUE, 75)); // we set the max height to 75 and the max width to (almost) unlimited
inputPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(inputPanel, BoxLayout.X_AXIS)); // X_Axis will arrange the content horizontally
inputPanel.add(textField); // left will be the textField
inputPanel.add(button); // and right the "send" button
pack(); // calling pack() at the end, will ensure that every layout and size we just defined gets applied before the stuff becomes visible
}
public static void main(String args[]){
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable(){
#Override
public void run(){
new MyFrame().setVisible(true);
}
});
}
}
Please be aware that this is only an example and there are multiple approaches to layout a window. It all depends on your needs and if you want the content to be resizable / responsive. Another really good approach would be the GridBagLayout which can handle quite complex layouting, but which is also quite complex to learn.

You'll want to use a number of layout managers to help you achieve the basic results you want.
Check out A Visual Guide to Layout Managers for a comparision.
You could use a GridBagLayout but that's one of the most complex (and powerful) layout managers available in the JDK.
You could use a series of compound layout managers instead.
I'd place the graphics component and text area on a single JPanel, using a BorderLayout, with the graphics component in the CENTER and the text area in the SOUTH position.
I'd place the text field and button on a separate JPanel using a GridBagLayout (because it's the simplest I can think of to achieve the over result you want)
I'd place these two panels onto a third, master, panel, using a BorderLayout, with the first panel in the CENTER and the second at the SOUTH position.
But that's me