Develop Reference

Can I add a rectangle to a Jpanel in java swing and specify constraints for it using GridBagConstraints?

I'm pretty new to GUI and Java as a whole so I hope that I can explain this well enough and understand people's answers.
For a school project, I need to put a bunch of stuff on some rectangles but I'm having issues even adding one rectangle properly.
From researching online, this is what I have (the JPanel and GridBagConstraints are just there to show what I'd like to use):
public class GUI extends JPanel
{
public static void main (String [] args)
{
GUI g = new GUI();
JFrame window = new JFrame("Java Window");
window.setSize(1280, 960);
window.add(g);
window.setVisible(true);
window.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
JPanel layout = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
GridBagConstraints constraints = new GridBagConstraints();
}
#Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
{
Color boxColour = new Color(194, 190, 190);
super.paintComponent(g);
g.setColor(boxColour);
g.fillRect(10, 10, 100, 100);
}
}
So right now, the rectangle appears in the window. But how can I add constraints to it? Is that possible? I would think that I should use JPanel to keep everything more organized since there will be many components so I tried adding this:
layout.add(g);
window.add(layout);
window.setVisible(true);
However, the rectangle no longer appeared. What am I doing wrong and how can I fix it and add constraints to my shapes? Thanks!

In your first scenario, the default layout manager of the frame is the BorderLayout and you are adding your "g" panel to the BorderLayout.CENTER. So based on the rules of the BorderLayout your "g" panel will take up all the space available in the frame. So you have plenty of space to paint your rectangle.
However, in your second scenario, your "layout" panel is using the default layout manager of a JPanel which is a FlowLayout which respects the preferred size of any component added to it.
The preferred size of the "g" panel is 10 x 10. So, when you add the "g" panel to the "layout" panel there is nothing to see because all you custom painting is done outside the bounds of the panel.
You need to override the getPreferredSize() method of your GUI panel to return a preferred size of (120, 120) so you can see your rectangle painted with a 10 pixel border around all the edges.
Read the section from the Swing tutorial on Custom Painting for more information and working examples demonstrating how to override the `getPreferredSize() method.
You will also need to read the Swing tutorial on How to Use GridBagLayout for example of using the constraints to add multiple components.

How to automatically resize JFrame if elements are too large?

I have been researching for 30 minutes on how to automatically resize a JFrame when the elements are too large. I am trying to fit line segments inside the JFrame but it always exceeds the space but does not automatically generate more space.
What should I do?
DrivePanel panel = new DrivePanel(aCar, coordinates);
JFrame application = new JFrame();
application.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
application.add(panel);
application.setSize(600,600);
application.setVisible(true);
Example of output:

Some things to consider :
if you are doing custom painting on your panel, remember that the panel's size it's not changed by what you are drawing.
For example, if the "last" point (i mean the point with the biggest values of x and y) is drawn at (1000,1000) coordinates, you should set the preferred size of your panel in order to contain it.
To let your application using the preferred size of your components, you should call application.pack() (where application is your JFrame object) instead of setting size manually.
If your panel is too big to be displayed enterily on your screen, you might add it to a JScrollPane, and then add the scrollpane to your jframe (not the panel itself).
The scrollpane will automatically use scroll bars if your panel can't be fully displayed on your screen.
So consider this small example, based on your code :
DrivePanel panel = new DrivePanel(aCar, coordinates);
JFrame application = new JFrame();
application.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
panel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(1000,1000)); // change 1000,1000 with the coordinates you need ...
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(panel);
application.add(scrollPane);
application.pack();
application.setVisible(true);
Hope this helps :)

JPanel Format Problems

I have a 2 JPanels, 1 a button Panel and one a Graphic Panel. I would like the button panel to situated right below the graphic panel but the button panel cuts off the Graphics Panel in the middle. I've been trying the box layout which seems from discussions seems like the best format for what I am trying to do. Can anyone please give me some advice on my formatting problem.
JFrame canvas = new JFrame("Baseball Strike K");
JFrame canvas = new JFrame ("GraphicBoard");
canvas.setVisible(true);
canvas.setSize(1000,1000);
canvas.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
//create two panels
//add them to contentPane
//set Layout
JPanel buttonPanel = createButtons();
JPanel mainPanel = new Graphic(); //extends JPanel and writes the paint method
mainPanel.setSize(1000, 1000);
Container content = canvas.getContentPane();
content.setLayout(new BoxLayout(content, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
content.add(mainPanel);
content.add(buttonPanel);

mainPanel.setSize(1000, 1000);
The job of the layout manager is to determine the size of the component, so you would never invoke the setSize() method of a components.
Instead you give hints to the layout manager on what the size should be. You would do this by overriding the getPreferredSize() method to return an appropriate value. Also, I would pick a more reasonable size (1000, 1000) is a little big to display on most screens. If you really want your painting area this large then I would add the paint panel to a JScrollPane and then add the scrollpane to the frame.
Try getting your code to work using a BoxLayout. Then I would suggest a better layout manager would be to use a BorderLayout. Then you add the paint panel to the CENTER and the buttons to the SOUTH. Now as you resize the frame the paint panel will be adjusted in size.
canvas.setVisible(true);
Also, the placement of that line of code is wrong. You should add all your components to the frame first, before making the frame visible.

Moving and resizing JPanels object inside JFrame

Continuing my quest of learning Java by doing a simple game, i stumbled upon a little issue. My gameboard extends JPanel as well as each piece of the board. Now, this presents some problems:
Cant set size of each piece, therefore, each piece JPanel ocupy the whole JFrame, concealing the rest of the pieces and the background (gameboard).
Cant set the position of the pieces.
I have the default flow manager. Tried setbounds and no luck.
Perhaps i should make the piece to extend other JComponent?
Added image:
That's the piece, now the greyed area is also the piece! Checked that by making a mousePressed listener and assigning some stuff to it. Below the grey area, is the gameboard (or at least, should be!), another JPanel.
alt text http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/2227/screenshotvdy.png
Some code:
package TheProject;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class GameWindow extends JFrame {
public GameWindow() {
setSize(800, 600);
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
Map map = new Map(800, 600, 2);
add(map);
MilitaryUnit imperialRussia = new MilitaryUnit(30, Color.BLACK, Color.YELLOW, Color.WHITE);
imperialRussia.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(30, 30));
add(imperialRussia);
}
}
This happens when i apply the pack() method:
alt text http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/5813/screenshot2ml.png
Packs around the Unit, not the map which is bigger and fills the JFrame.

For a game that has random movement of pieces you would probably use a "null layout".
Read the section from the Swing tutorial on Absolute Positioning for more information.

I wrote a few games using JPanel. Basically the way I use JPanel is like I'm using a Canvas, viz I draw directly on it by overriding the paint() method. The reason why I use JPanel is because I can determine the size of my game world, then use the setPreferredSize() to set the size of the panel. I then add the panel to a JScrollPane. So this will take care of the panning, etc.
Say I'm writing a 2D game. This is how I use JPanel. I have a logical map (a 2D array) which holds my game map. Say each location is 32x32 pixel. So you start drawing the ground and what is on that ground in that location. eg in x=1, y=2 which is screen location x=32, y=64, you draw the ground first, then draw what is on the ground. So a rough outline of the render loop would be something like this
for (int y = 0; y < map.length; y++)
for (int x = 0; x < map[y].length; x++) {
drawGround(map[y][x])
for very element on on map[y][x] - render them
}
You set a MouseListener listener to the JPanel, so every mouse click you translate back to the map eg. mouse click x=54, y=72 would correspond to x=1, y=2. The calculation is a bit tricky if you have an isometric view.
The thing you have to be careful here is that everytime when you scroll the panel via the scroll panel, paint() will be called. So it is good to render your game board on a BufferedImage and then in the paint() method just draw the BufferedImage otherwise it'll be too slow.

Have you tried NetBeans' visual editor? You can use it to drag, drop, and resize to your convenience Swing objects in Design View, and can then switch to Code View to see the generated code. You can learn that way.

Have you tried setPreferredSize(Dimension d)?
Edit: You need to call pack() on your JFrame, after you've added your components:
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800,600));
JPanel panel = new JPanel();
panel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200,200));
frame.add(panel);
frame.pack();
frame.setvisible(true);
Also, you add a Map to your JFrame, which has the same dimensions as your JFrame - fine. But then afterwards, you add another component, to the default flowlayout. This cannot fit into your frame, as the Map already occupies 100% of the space.

Can I use printComponent without having to draw component to screen first?

I have been using the printComponent that was shown in another question. It works great for printing a JPanel if I first add that JPanel to a JFrame and draw that JFrame to screen. But if I don't do that before I print, I get a blank page printed. Why is this?

I've used code like the following to create a BufferedImage on a panel that is not visible on the frame:
JPanel panel = new JPanel();
... // add components
panel.setSize(300, 300);
panel.doLayout();

that is because the panel you wish to draw has an initial size of 0,0. Once added to a container with a layout manager and is displayed, then it gets its "normal" size.