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Trying to use GUI, having trouble adding buttons and labels

The assignment is simple, all we need to do is have the code create a window with a red panel with a single button and label. Here is the code thus far as well as the tester class.
I got the label to display on the window, but its in a weird place. I cant get the button to display at all as well getting the background to display as red.
This is where I'm having trouble with the most:
import java.awt.Color;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class MyCustomFrame extends JFrame
{
public MyCustomFrame()
{
createComponents();
setSize(FRAME_WIDTH, FRAME_HEIGHT);
}
private void createComponents()
{
JPanel panel=new createPanel();
button=new JButton("Push Me");
label=new JLabel("This is a label");
add(button);
add(label);
}
private JButton button;
private JLabel label;
final int FRAME_WIDTH = 800;
final int FRAME_HEIGHT = 800;
public void createPanel()
{
JPanel panel=new JPanel();
panel.setBackground(Color.RED);
//button=new JButton("Push Me");
//label=new JLabel("This is a label");
}
public void createFrame()
{
JFrame frame=new JFrame();
add(frame);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}
And this is the tester class:
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class MyCustomFrameViewer
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
MyCustomFrame frame = new MyCustomFrame();
frame.setTitle("My first frame");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}

You create the JPanel, panel, but add nothing to it, and then never add the panel to your JFrame. You should add your components to the JPanel, panel, and then add the panel object to your JFrame.
Note that a JPanel uses FlowLayout by default, and so it will more easily accept multiple other components without special add methods. The JFrame's contentPane uses BorderLayout which is slightly more complicated to use.

Add the panel to the frame instead of the label and button, and add the label and button to the panel...
private void createComponents()
{
JPanel panel=new createPanel();
add(panel);
button=new JButton("Push Me");
label=new JLabel("This is a label");
panel.add(button);
panel.add(label);
}
You may also want to take a look at Initial Threads and make sure you are creating your UI from within the context of the Event Dispatching Thread
Some side notes...
This scares me...
public void createFrame()
{
JFrame frame=new JFrame();
add(frame);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
You're trying to add a frame to a frame, which is an illegal operation in Swing, but thankfully, you're not actually calling it from what I can see.
Instead of using setSize(FRAME_WIDTH, FRAME_HEIGHT);, you may wish to use pack instead.

See also the tips in comments in this example:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.EmptyBorder;
// Don't extend frame, just use an instance
//public class MyCustomFrame extends JFrame {
public class MyCustomFrame {
private JFrame frame;
private JButton button;
private JLabel label;
private JPanel panel;
// better to override the preferred size of the component of interest
final int GAME_WIDTH = 300;
final int GAME_HEIGHT = 100;
public MyCustomFrame() {
createComponents();
// better to override the preferred size of the component of interest
//setSize(GAME_WIDTH, GAME_HEIGHT);
}
private void createComponents() {
// compilation error! createPanel() does not return anything..
//JPanel panel = new createPanel();
createPanel();
// create the frame!
createFrame();
}
private void createPanel() {
// creates a local instance
//JPanel panel = new JPanel();
panel = new JPanel() {
/* override the preferred size of the component of interest */
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(GAME_WIDTH, GAME_HEIGHT);
}
};
panel.setBackground(Color.RED);
button = new JButton("Push Me");
label = new JLabel("This is a label");
panel.add(button);
panel.add(label);
}
private void createFrame() {
// create a local instance of a JFrame that goes out of scope at end
// of method..
//JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame = new JFrame("My first frame");
// add the panel to the frame!
frame.add(panel);
// better to use DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE
//frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
// a good way to position a GUI
frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
// this was trying to add a JFrame to another JFrame
//add(frame);
frame.pack();
}
public final JFrame getFrame() {
return frame;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Runnable r = new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
MyCustomFrame myFrame = new MyCustomFrame();
JFrame frame = myFrame.getFrame();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
};
// Swing GUIs should be created and updated on the EDT
// http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/concurrency
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(r);
}
}

JButtons not appearing on my JFrame

I am making a program that includes a GUI. For some reason, the JButton objects that I have created are not showing up onto my JFrame when I run the program. Here is the code:
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
public class ReverseAStringMain extends JPanel {
private JButton enterButton, exitButton;
private JTextField textField;
private JPanel buttonPanel;
private JTextArea textArea;
public ReverseAStringMain(){
JButton enterButton = new JButton("Enter");
JButton exitButton = new JButton("Exit");
enterButton.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(60,60));
exitButton.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(60,60));
ButtonListener listener = new ButtonListener();
enterButton.addActionListener(listener);
exitButton.addActionListener(listener);
buttonPanel = new JPanel();
buttonPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200,50));
buttonPanel.setBackground(Color.black);
buttonPanel.add(enterButton);
buttonPanel.add(exitButton);
textField = new JTextField();
textField.setSize(200, 100);
textArea = new JTextArea();
textArea.add(textField);
add(buttonPanel);
add(textField);
}
//Creating a ButtonListener class that implements the ActionListener interface
private class ButtonListener implements ActionListener{
#Override
//Overriding the ActionPerformed method of ActionListener
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent action) {
if(action.getSource()== enterButton)
enterButton();
if(action.getSource()== exitButton)
System.exit(0);
}
}
private void enterButton() {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
}
public static void main (String[] args){
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Raj's Reverse a String Program");
frame.setBackground(Color.white);
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.setResizable(false);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setSize(new Dimension(600,600));
//frame.pack();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation (JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().add(new ReverseAStringMain());
}
}
If there are any problems or improvements I can make in my code, please let me know!

You're adding the components to your JFrame after it's visible. You should either add them to the JFrame before it's visible, or revalidate the JFrame after you add the components.

When I load your code (after making it a lot shorter in height), this is what I see:
I suspect this is more along the lines of what you expect to see.
Here is how I did it. Look carefully at:
The numbers provided to the BorderLayout constructor for white space between the panels.
The EmptyBorder for white space around the controls.
The use of pack() to shrink the GUI to the natural size.
The use of size hints in the construction of the text field and text area.
The use of a second layout - commonly known as a combined, or nested, layout.
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.EmptyBorder;
public class ReverseAStringMain extends JPanel {
private JButton enterButton, exitButton;
private JTextField textField;
private JPanel pageTopPanel;
private JTextArea textArea;
public ReverseAStringMain(){
super(new BorderLayout(10,10));
setBorder(new EmptyBorder(5,15,5,15));
JButton enterButton = new JButton("Enter");
JButton exitButton = new JButton("Exit");
pageTopPanel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER));
pageTopPanel.setBackground(Color.black);
pageTopPanel.add(enterButton);
pageTopPanel.add(exitButton);
textField = new JTextField(5);
pageTopPanel.add(textField);
textArea = new JTextArea(4,40);
add(pageTopPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);
add(textArea); // defaults to CENTER
}
public static void main (String[] args){
Runnable r = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("XXX's Laid out Program");
frame.setBackground(Color.white);
frame.setResizable(false);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().add(new ReverseAStringMain());
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
};
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(r);
}
}
General Tips
Java GUIs might have to work on a number of platforms, on different screen resolutions & using different PLAFs. As such they are not conducive to exact placement of components. To organize the components for a robust GUI, instead use layout managers, or combinations of them1, along with layout padding & borders for white space2.

Generally, you want to set the frame visible After adding components
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Raj's Reverse a String Program");
frame.setBackground(Color.white);
frame.setResizable(false);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setSize(new Dimension(600,600));
//frame.pack();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation (JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().add(new ReverseAStringMain());
frame.setVisible(true); <<------
Also, it is better practice to use .pack() insteack of .setSize(), so you had it right in the commented out //.pack()
If you wanted to set a size to the panel, you would override the getPreferredSize() like this
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(300, 300); // or whatever size you want
}
When you .pack(), this preferred size will be respected by the frame.
Also, not, setting the size of the JTextField won't work. What you want to do is pass it an integer value for the number of character spaces, like this
textField = new JTextField(20);
See an edited version of your program, with all the above mentioned points. One thing I also did was get rid of all your .setPreferredSizes. You will see the difference
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
public class ReverseAStringMain extends JPanel {
private JButton enterButton, exitButton;
private JTextField textField;
private JPanel buttonPanel;
private JTextArea textArea;
public ReverseAStringMain() {
JButton enterButton = new JButton("Enter");
JButton exitButton = new JButton("Exit");
//enterButton.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(60, 60));
//exitButton.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(60, 60));
ButtonListener listener = new ButtonListener();
enterButton.addActionListener(listener);
exitButton.addActionListener(listener);
buttonPanel = new JPanel();
//buttonPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 50));
buttonPanel.setBackground(Color.black);
buttonPanel.add(enterButton);
buttonPanel.add(exitButton);
textField = new JTextField(20);
//textField.setSize(200, 100); /// <<-----------
textArea = new JTextArea();
textArea.add(textField);
add(buttonPanel);
add(textField);
}
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(600, 600);
}
// Creating a ButtonListener class that implements the ActionListener
// interface
private class ButtonListener implements ActionListener {
#Override
// Overriding the ActionPerformed method of ActionListener
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent action) {
if (action.getSource() == enterButton)
enterButton();
if (action.getSource() == exitButton)
System.exit(0);
}
}
private void enterButton() {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Raj's Reverse a String Program");
frame.setBackground(Color.white);
frame.getContentPane().add(new ReverseAStringMain());
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}
Have a look at the Swing tutorial trail for more information on creating GUIs with Swing.

Try to add the buttonPanel to a Container, like this. And extend JFrame instead
Container contentpane = getContentPane();
contentPane.add(buttonPanel);

Overlapping panel swing

I'm trying to do the following layout, where all JPanels are visible with the exception of panel2 when the program starts. When the user clicks btn1 then JCalendar and panel3 are set to invisible and panel2 becomes visible. The problem I'm having is that panel2 is not showing up with btn1 is clicked. However if i change the borderlayout of panel2 to one that is not being used (in this case WEST) it will show when the button is clicked, but its aligned on the left side and i want it to be centered across the form.
Code:
public class GUI extends JFrame implements ActionListener, PropertyChangeListener
{
private JPanel panel1, panel2, panel3;
private com.toedter.calendar.JCalendar calendar;
private Button btn1, btn2;
private JLabel label1, label2;
public GUI()
{
init();
}
private void init()
{
//panel1 components
panel1 = new JPanel();
btn1 = new JButton("Click me");
panel1.add(btn1);
//panel2 components
panel2 = new JPanel();
label1 = new JLabel("Time:");
label2 = new JLabel("Date:");
panel2.add(label1); panel2.add(label2);
//JCalendar
calendar = new com.toedter.calendar.JCalendar();
//panel3
panel3 = new JPanel();
//Add panels to JFrame
add(panel1, BorderLayout.NORTH);
add(calendar, BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(panel2, BorderLayout.CENTER); //if i set this to WEST it show!!
add(panel3, BorderLayout.EAST);
//event handling
btn1.addActionListener(this);
//hide panel2
panel2.setVisible(false);
pack();
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
{
if(ae.getSource().equals(btn1)
{
calendar.setVisible(false);
panel3.setVisible(false);
panel2.setVisible(true); //make panel2 visible
panel2.updateUI();
revalidate();
repaint();
}
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
new GUI().setVisible(true);
}
});
}
When i click btn1, JCalendar and panel3 is invisible but panel2 does not show

There are a number of issues that I can find...
BorderLayout will only ever allow a single component to occupy any given position. That is, two components can not share the CENTER position at the same time, regardless if one is invisible or not.
You should never call updateUI, this is used to tell UI components that the look and feel has changed that they should update in response to it.
Use revalidate to tell the container that some change has occurred to the layout that it should perform a new layout process...
Before click...
After Click...
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.beans.PropertyChangeEvent;
import java.beans.PropertyChangeListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.border.LineBorder;
public class GUI extends JFrame implements ActionListener, PropertyChangeListener {
private JPanel panel1, panel2, panel3;
// private com.toedter.calendar.JCalendar calendar;
private JPanel calendar;
private JButton btn1, btn2;
private JLabel label1, label2;
public GUI() {
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
init();
}
private void init() {
//panel1 components
panel1 = new JPanel();
btn1 = new JButton("Click me");
panel1.add(btn1);
//panel2 components
panel2 = new JPanel();
label1 = new JLabel("Time:");
label2 = new JLabel("Date:");
panel2.add(label1);
panel2.add(label2);
//JCalendar
calendar = new JPanel();//new com.toedter.calendar.JCalendar();
calendar.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.RED));
calendar.add(new JLabel("Calendar"));
//panel3
panel3 = new JPanel();
panel3.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.BLUE));
panel3.add(new JLabel("Panel3"));
panel2.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.GREEN));
//Add panels to JFrame
add(panel1, BorderLayout.NORTH);
add(calendar, BorderLayout.WEST);
add(panel2, BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(panel3, BorderLayout.EAST);
//event handling
btn1.addActionListener(this);
//hide panel2
panel2.setVisible(false);
pack();
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
if (ae.getSource().equals(btn1)) {
calendar.setVisible(false);
panel3.setVisible(false);
panel2.setVisible(true); //make panel2 visible
// panel2.updateUI();
revalidate();
repaint();
}
}
public static void main(String args[]) {
javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
new GUI().setVisible(true);
}
});
}
#Override
public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent evt) {
}
}
Now, I'm pretty sure this won't meet you over all requirements (as I see them)...You have at least two options...
Remove the Calendar component and add panel2 to the CENTER position when the button is clicked
Preferably, use a CardLayout

BorderLayout doesn't do overlapping, IIRC none of the layout managers are about "overlapping layout".
You'll need to do it a different way -- try using JLayeredPane with your existing JPanel & BorderLayout as the bottom layer, and then your (optional) panel as the top layer.
See: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/components/layeredpane.html

add component to jpanel on runtime

I have a JPanel and JButton on the JFrame.
on runtime add JLabel to JPanel When click JButton.
I use of the following code:
panel.setLayout(null);
jLabel _lbl=new jLabel();
_lbl.setText("Label");
panel.add(_lbl);
panel.validate();
but no display any JLabel in JPanel.

I see you create a JLabel called _lbl:
JLabel _lbl=new JLabel();
but you never add it to your panel. Instead you add a new JLabel with no text to your panel:
panel.add(new JLabel());
This would ofcourse construct an empty label which wont be visible.
Also try calling revalidate() and repaint() on your JPanel instance after adding the JLabel like so:
JLabel _lbl=new JLabel("Label");//make label and assign text in 1 line
panel.add(_lbl);//add label we made
panel.revalidate();
panel.repaint();
With this you may also need to call pack() on your frames instance so as to resize the JFrame to fit the new components.
Also please never use a null/Absolute layout this is very bad practice (unless doing animation) and may prove to be problematic and very hard to use.
Rather use a LayoutManager:
A Visual Guide to Layout Managers
or if you only have a single component on the JPanel simply call add(label); as it will stretch to the JPanel size.
UPDATE:
Here is a small sample. Simply adds JLabels to the JPanel each time JButton is pressed:
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;
public class JavaApplication116 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
new JavaApplication116().createAndShowUI();
}
});
}
private void createAndShowUI() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Test");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
initComponents(frame);
frame.setResizable(false);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
private void initComponents(final JFrame frame) {
final JPanel panel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout());
JButton button = new JButton("Add label");
button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
JLabel _lbl = new JLabel("Label");//make label and assign text in 1 line
panel.add(_lbl);//add label we made
panel.revalidate();
panel.repaint();
frame.pack();//so our frame resizes to compensate for new components
}
});
frame.getContentPane().add(panel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.getContentPane().add(button, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
}
}

Refresh JTabbedPane component

I am trying to implement JTabbedPane. In the following code I have presented a case very similar to what I want to implement. I have created a tab by adding a JPanel to the JTabbedPane. I have added a JButton and JScrollPane to the JPanel. On click of the JButton I want to add a new JPanel having some JRadioButtons to the JScrollPane. But these are not shown even after refreshing the JScrollPane or main JPanel. Please help. The code is given below.
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Test {
static JFrame frame;
public static void main(String[] args) {
javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
private static void createAndShowGUI() {
//Create and set up the window.
frame = new JFrame("DynamicTreeDemo");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
JTabbedPane tp = new JTabbedPane();
final JScrollPane jsp = new JScrollPane();
JPanel jp = new JPanel();
JButton jb = new JButton("Refresh");
jb.setActionCommand("Show");
jb.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if(e.getActionCommand().equalsIgnoreCase("Show")){
JRadioButton jrb1 = new JRadioButton("First Option");
JRadioButton jrb2 = new JRadioButton("Second Option");
JRadioButton jrb3 = new JRadioButton("Third Option");
ButtonGroup bg = new ButtonGroup();
bg.add(jrb1);
bg.add(jrb2);
bg.add(jrb3);
JPanel p = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0,1));
p.add(jrb1);
p.add(jrb2);
p.add(jrb3);
jsp.add(p);
jsp.revalidate();
jsp.repaint();
}
}
});
jp.setLayout(new GridLayout(0,1));
jp.add(jb);
jp.add(jsp);
tp.add("First Tab", jp);
frame.getContentPane().add(tp);
//Display the window.
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}

To add something to JScrollPane use its JViewport rather than directly calling add(). In your example replace:
jsp.add(p);
with:
jsp.getViewport().add(p);
Alternatively, initialize JScrollPane with a JPanel that holds other components. Based on your example:
final JPanel panel = new JPanel();
final JScrollPane jsp = new JScrollPane(panel);
panel.add(new JRadioButton("First Option"));
panel.add(new JRadioButton("Second Option"));
panel.add(new JRadioButton("Third Option"));
See How to Use Scroll Panes for more details.

The components should be added to the JPanel called jp rather than directly to the scroll pane.

JScrollPane only works with a single "View". You cannot add components to the scrollPane. If you want, you can change the "View" using setViewPortView(). To achieve the behaviour you are looking for, do the following:
JPanel centralView = new JPanel();
// possibly configure that central view with appropriate layout and other stuffs
JScrollPane jsp = new JScrollPane(centralView);
...
// Now you can add your components to centralView instead of your jsp.add(...) calls.

You should add the JPanel to the JScollPanes viewport using getViewport(), then repack the JFrame to get the sizing issue sorted using pack();:
jsp.getViewport().add(p);
frame.pack();
instead of:
jsp.add(p);
jsp.revalidate();
jsp.repaint();