I am trying to create a simple GUI. I have a menu bar that is filled with various JMenuItems. Each menu item should link to a different "window". Currently, I am thinking the best way to do this is to create a single frame, and create various JPanels. My ActionListeners will toggle visibility of the different panels, and only one panel should be visible at a time. Is this the best way to go about the task? Or is there a better workaround.
Yes, the best way is to use a CardLayout of which there's a great tutorial (please see the link), and many examples online including in this very forum, several of which I've written, including:
Java CardLayout Main Menu Problem
Change size of JPanel using CardLayout
Java CardLayout JPanel moves up, when second JPanel added
Java swing; How to toggle panel's visibility?
Clear components of JFrame and add new componets on the same JFrame
gui multiple frames switch
JLabel displaying countdown, java
JTabbedPane is already implemented for you!
JTabbedPane's tutorial.
Related
i have 5 jFrames in my java project. And i want to make like a Main Menu.
I mean, i want that the program starts with a jFrame and when i click a button insteand of open the jFrame, all the elements like labels, buttons and tables are being shown in my principal jFrame.
And if i click other button the main frame will clean and charge other jframe.
It is possible? im programming with java jdk 8 and netbeans.
Thanks
Edit:
I think who marked duplicate didn't understand my question. I don't want to open or close the frame, or other frames, I want to load the structure and components of several in the same frame. Please read my question before you start complain that is duplicated
i have 5 jFrames in my java project.
And that's a problem.
And i want to make like a Main Menu. I mean, i want that the program starts with a jFrame and when i click a button insteand of open the jFrame, all the elements like labels, buttons and tables are being shown in my principal jFrame. And if i click other button the main frame will clean and charge other jframe.
Yes this can be solved by getting the contentPane (usually a JPanel) from the JFrame whose content you want to display within the currently displayed JFrame, and making it the contentPane of the displayed JFrame, for example:
// create the new JFrame, the one whose content you wish to display
NewJFrame newJFrame = new NewJFrame();
// get its contentPane
Container newContentPane = newJFrame.getContentPane();
// add this content pane into the displayed JFrame
displayedJFrame.setContentPane(newContentPane);
// revalidate and repaint the JFrame so that its new data is well displayed
displayedJFrame.revalidate();
displayedJFrame.repaint();
// displayedJFrame.pack(); // and you might need to do this if sizes are way off
But this extra gymnastics is bulky, prone to bugs and unnecessary. You are painting yourself in a corner by having your class extend JFrame, forcing you to create and display JFrames, when often more flexibility is called for. In fact, I would venture that most of the Swing GUI code that I've created and that I've seen does not extend JFrame, and in fact it is rare that you'll ever want to do this. More commonly your GUI classes will be geared towards creating JPanels, which can then be placed into JFrames or JDialogs, or JTabbedPanes, or swapped via CardLayouts, wherever needed. This will greatly increase the flexibility of your GUI coding.
For this situation what I recommend is that you do that, that your GUI classes create JPanels, and that you add the ones that you want to swap to a JPanel that uses a CardLayout. And then whenever you want to show a different "card", call show(...) on the CardLayout object, passing in the JPanel that uses it, as well as the String key that was used when adding the "card" JPanel to the CardLayout-using JPanel. This is all well-explained in the CardLayout Tutorials.
Other useful links:
For rationale on why to avoid manually swapping please see: What's so special about CardLayout vs manual adding/removal of JPanels?
For using a CardLayout to help control a "multi-page" application with multiple classes, please see: How to Integrate Multi-page Java Desktop Application from Multiple GUI Classes
I have found that there are many similar topics here, but my problem is something more complicated.
Background of my problem:-
I have a JFrame called Main. On this JFrame I have two buttons and one JPanel called WorkingPanel. Then I have another JPanel(called PlayerPanel) but this one is a seprate file (as a class).
Now I want that when I click a button, it should change WorkingPanel to PlayerPanel. I have wrote following code.
private void MenuButtonPlayerViewMouseClicked(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
// TODO add your handling code here:
WorkingPanel = new PlayerPanel();
System.out.println(WorkingPanel.getName());
WorkingPanel.revalidate();
WorkingPanel.repaint();
WorkingPanel.setVisible(true);
Window.revalidate();
Window.repaint();
}
Please guide me, Thanks.
I have found that there are many similar topics here, but my problem is something more complicated.
On the contrary, your description is of a rather basic problem that is very easily solved by using a CardLayout. I suggest that you do this now. If you had it in place your method could be as simple as:
private void MenuButtonPlayerViewMouseClicked(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
cardLayout.show(cardPanel, WORKING_PANEL);
}
where cardLayout is your CardLayout variable, cardPanel is the JPanel that displays the "cards" that displays the swapping JPanels, and WORKING_PANEL is a String constant that you used when you added your WorkingPanel instance to the cardPanel.
Point 2:
Don't use a MouseListener on a JButton as it won't behave correctly. For instance, if you disable the button via setEnabled(true) the button won't truly be disabled. Instead use an ActionListener with JButtons as the tutorials will show you. That is what they are for.
Edit
For examples of CardLayout-using GUI's, please check out:
getting Jcomponent from other class changes frame size
Java CardLayout Main Menu Problem
Change size of JPanel using CardLayout
Java CardLayout JPanel moves up, when second JPanel added
Java swing; How to toggle panel's visibility?
Clear components of JFrame and add new componets on the same JFrame
gui multiple frames switch
JLabel displaying countdown, java
This one is unusual in that it uses a CardLayout and has one panel fading into the other panel:
CardLayout showing two panels, flashing.
You could use CardLayout instead of that approach. You will be able to switch between different panels very easy and efficiently. It's also wort of mentioning that use of CardLayout is less verbose approach.
Use a CardLayout, containing your two panels, but only showing one at a time. The CardLayout is documented, with examples, in the Swing tutorial.
I have developed a simple music player in Java which can play any given playlist or simple mp3 song.
For now i have worked all things out in plain JPanels. GUI doesn't look neat.
I need to revamp the GUI using tabbed pane. How this can be achieved using existing JPanels without affecting current functionality?
Also, i am not able to figure out shall i go for Tabbed Pane or Card Layout?
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/layout/card.html
Because a tabbed pane provides its own GUI, using a tabbed pane is simpler than using the CardLayout class.
"Also, i am not able to figure out shall i go for Tabbed Pane or Card Layout?"
It really depends on your preference of the look of your program. The two layouts perform very similarly, though CardLayout is a little bit more code, though at all not difficult. If you don't want the tab look, which I don't see why you would, for a game, then go with CardLayout
"How this can be achieved using existing JPanels without affecting current functionality? "
You need to create separate JPanel for each containment of whatever components you want in each tab. Then just add those JPanel to the JTabbedPane. It shouldn't break any functionality, just the look. Components from another panel should not be affected, you just won't be able to see any changes made, unless that other panel is in view.
If you want to go with CardLayout you can look at the tutorial
I just study window programming with awt.
I see through several codes but I can not get concepts of JFrame, JLabel and ContentPane.
I think JFrame only make outer Frame.
ContentPane is container that contain JLabel that has contents(text, button, radio etc...).
I don't know this is correct T.T
Why I ask this is I failed combine the contents.
I can not make TextField and InternalFrame at a time.
I want to know the concept.
I hope you take my question right.
You need to get clean view for AWT vs Swing. Here is a good explanation for Swing or AWT: Which is right for you?
JFame : An extended version of java.awt.Frame that adds support for the JFC/Swing component architecture. See How to Make Frames
JLabel : Display component for your short text like Name : , Phone Number : etc., See How to Use Labels
Container : Container is a component that holds or wraps-up other components. It aids with grouping related components together in the GUI. Document of Swing Containers
I am creating a JList dynamically and I want to use it on different JPanels where I can call a setQuery(query); on it. There is a Search Button + field connected to it too. Is there a way to place the JList, search button and search field on like 10 different panels without having to duplicate the code everywhere? I can't place it on a seperate JPanel as it has other buttons / gui elements that need be around it depending on what JPanel is being displayed. I've looked everywhere but there is not much mention of reusing a dynamic JList.
You can place a component in one visualized container only. Consider creating a method that creates these components for you, that returns a JPanel that holds the components, and perhaps have all created JLists share the same ListModel, and all JButtons the same AbstractAction.
Or another option, if you are using CardLayout to swap JPanels, and you want all of the panels to hold these components above, consider not doing this but moving the JList, JButton, and JTextField out of the cards and on to a less dynamic portion of your GUI.
Also, this is not clear to me:
I can't place it on a seperate JPanel as it has other buttons / gui elements that need be around it depending on what JPanel is being displayed.
Please clarify and tell us more. Images might help as well.
Also consider the decorator pattern Your list/search panel would be the main component, while the variations would result from decorating the original.