Java GUI Switching panels using Card Layout - java

Ok I'm using Card Layout to switch panels from 1 panel to a 2nd panel & then to a 3rd panel. I have been looking online but I can't find exactly what I'm looking for. I want my panels to be in different classes and to switch back and forth using buttons to the different panels. I found a couple of sources for this but all the panels are added to a an original panel and then it switch's to different panels using the same buttons from the original panel.
(i.e) Panel 2 uses buttons from Panel 1 to switch to Panel 3 and Panel 3 uses buttons from Panel 1 to switch to Panel 4 and Panel 4 uses buttons from Panel 1 to switch back to Panel 2.
But the way it should be is panel 1 uses buttons from panel 1 to switch to panel 2, panel 2 uses buttons from panel 2 to switch to panel 3 and panel 3 should use buttons from panel 3 to switch to panel 1 which means there should be no need for a 4th panel.
My issue is I want to use different buttons to switch back and forth and not the same buttons as I intend to write extra code in each button for each panel. Because I basically want to create 3 panels so that once details are added to the register form and the user clicks register the details are added to the database and then it switch's to a login panel and closes the register panel.
The login panel then takes in a username and a password if they match an entry in the database and the user clicks login go to new panel and close login panel.
Now I have the registering and login stages done it's just switching from 1 panel to the next is the issue. Is there a way to use card layout so you switch to different panels using different buttons for each panel to do this or is there some other method used to do this.
I can append my code if needed. but its connected to a database so it won't compile without the database.

You definitly need a 4. panel witch contains the 3 panels and has the cardLayout.
To change the cards from cards you need to hand over an actionlistener with the method next(). I made a small not visual nice example to show what I mean ;-)
public class CardExample{
private class panel extends JPanel{
private panel(ActionListener alNext, String text){
JButton buttonNext = new JButton("next");
buttonNext.addActionListener(alNext);
JLabel textLabel = new JLabel(text);
this.add(textLabel);
this.add(buttonNext);
}
}
public CardExample(){}
public static void main(String[] args){
CardExample ce = new Cardexample();
ce.myGUI();
}
private void myGUI() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setSize(200, 200);
CardLayout cardLayout = new CardLayout();
frame.getContentPane().setLayout(cardLayout);
ActionListener al = e -> cardLayout.next(frame.getContentPane());
frame.getContentPane().add(new panel(al, "Panel 1"));
frame.getContentPane().add(new panel(al, "Panel 2"));
frame.getContentPane().add(new panel(al, "Panel 3"));
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}

Whether the buttons are on the same panel or a different panel is irrelevant.
The button just executes a method from the layout manager. You can use:
next(...) - to go the next panel in the CardLayout, or
show(...) - to show a specific panel in the CardLayout.
If you don't have access to the panel using the CardLayout you can easily get this. In the ActionListener for your button you can do something like:
JButton button = (JButton)event.getSource();
JPanel buttonPanel = (JPanel)button.getParent();
JPanel cardPanel = (JPanel)buttonPanel.getParent();
CardLayout layout = (CardLayout)cardPanel.getLayout();
layout.next(cardPanel);

Related

BoxLayout Displaying Incorrectly

I'm trying to create a pretty simple application that has a JSplitPane (which is divided into a JTabbedPane and a JPanel) above a status bar panel. I want to use a simple layout (i.e. BoxLayout, FlowLayout, or BorderLayout), but I've tried and they all give me the same error. I've simplified the code as much as possible to show the error.
The error is that there should only be 2 regions in the main box layout (the frame): a top (with the JSplitPane, which has the black border) and a bottom (with the JPanel status bar). However, when I add the status bar, a third region is created in the upper left that contains nothing. Any ideas on how to get rid of it?
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Application");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().setLayout(new BoxLayout(frame.getContentPane(), BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
// Create left side of the application
JTabbedPane tabby = new JTabbedPane(JTabbedPane.LEFT);
// Create right side of the application
JPanel rightPanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
// Create the status bar at the bottom
JPanel statusBar = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
JPanel statusBarPanel = new JPanel();
statusBarLabel = new JLabel("Status Bar");
statusBarPanel.add(statusBarLabel);
parent.add(statusBarPanel);
JSplitPane mainPain = new JSplitPane(JSplitPane.HORIZONTAL_SPLIT, tabby, rightPanel);
frame.add(mainPain);
frame.add(statusBar);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
I'm trying to create a pretty simple application that has a JSplitPane (which is divided into a JTabbedPane and a JPanel) above a status bar panel.
Normally you would just use the default BorderLayout of the frame and then do:
frame.add(splitPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.add(statusBar, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);
A status bar is typically one or more labels that display information so they are display in a fixed size at the bottom.
The other panel will then contain the main components of the application. These components will then get any extra space available to the frame as it is resized.
but I've tried and they all give me the same error
parent.add(statusBarPanel);
The variable "parent" doesn't exist. Get rid of it. Add the status bar to the frame as shown above.
not sure if thats it, but it seems, like you add 2 Panels when adding the Statusbar.
You got a statusBarPanel which is added to "parent", and statusBar, which is added to the frame itself. Maybe thats your 3rd Panel.

Swing GUI with FlowLayout, won't display on JFrame more than last component added

I am trying to display 2 panels that I have created in separate files one at the top and one at the bottom of my GUI with a button group between them. However, the window is only displaying one panel or the button group at a time. The panels and button group are displaying properly but only the last one added to the frame is being displayed at any given execution.
Here is the current code without any layouts...
package UserGUI;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class RealFrame extends JFrame {
JButton Close = new JButton("Close");
JButton Proceed = new JButton("Proceed");
AuthorPanel header = new AuthorPanel();
FreeSpacePanel disk = new FreeSpacePanel();
public RealFrame() {
super();
ButtonGroup Ops = new ButtonGroup();
Ops.add(Close);
Ops.add(Proceed);
JPanel OPS = new JPanel();
OPS.add(Close);
OPS.add(Proceed);
add(disk);
add(OPS);
add(header);
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setSize(500,500);
setVisible(true);
}
}
JFrame uses a BorderLayout by default, so when you do...
add(disk);
add(OPS);
add(header);
You're adding each component to the same location (the CENTRE position), but the BorderLayout will only layout the last one added.
Instead, you should use something more like...
add(disk, BorderLayout.NORTH);
add(OPS);
add(header, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
See How to Use Borders for more details
add(disk);
add(OPS);
add(header);
The default layout manager of the content pane of the JFrame is a BorderLayout. If you don't specify a constraint then the component is added to the BorderLayout.CENTER. Only one component can be added to the CENTER so the only the last component is displayed.
Try:
add(disk, BorderLayout.NORTH);
add(OPS, BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(header, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
to see the difference.
Or try another layout manager on the frame. See How to Use Layout Manager for more information.

Need "non-rectangular Card Layout Panel" or "Transparent component"

I've got a new requirement to change my display.
Currently I have a row of 3 radio buttons sitting above a Panel with a card layout. The buttons CONTROL which card of the Card Layout Panel is displayed. But this, it seems, wastes valuable screen real estate.
The row of buttons can easily be transformed to a column of buttons using a GridLayout(4,1) on the panel that owns them and their title label. This panel could then theoretically be placed in the upper left corner of the each of the cards displayed in the card layout panel, and the top row of each card could be moved up to the right of the button panel, allowing more space for what has to come below.
But what shall be the containment model for this? In this variant, the button panel must appear on each card. Who owns it? Logically it needs to be owned by the parent panel on which all this sits, but it won't display on the cards, which will cover it over - unless I could
add the button panel to each card at the moment of its display, which would probably be messy and maybe cause flicker.
make the top left corner of each card be transparent, allowing it to show the upper left button panel owned by its parent. But how would I do that?
Other solutions?
Maybe
Have two card layout panels controlled by the radio buttons. The upper right one that contains all but the the button panel and the lower component that sits below both.
It sounds like you could use a JLayeredPane as the parent component of both, the panel containing the radio buttons and the card panel.
JLayeredPane allows its child components to overlap, each child belonging to a layer.
To specify the layer, you can pass an Integer constant into the JLayeredPane's add(Component, Object) method as the constraint argument. The integer constants are defined in the JLayeredPane class itself. You can use JLayeredPane.DEFAULT_LAYER for the card panel and JLayeredPane.PALETTE_LAYER for the radio button panel.
Having set the layer, you'll still have to position the two panels correctly in x,y space. I would recommend just overriding the JLayeredPane's doLayout() method with something like this (haven't tested):
public void doLayout()
{
cardPanel.setBounds( new Rectangle( getSize() ));
radioButtonPanel.setBounds( new Rectangle( radtioButtonPanel.getPreferredSize() ));
}
You may be able to use OverlayLayout to display the control panel in the top-left of your card panel.
I would forget the transparency idea. Just put the options as a list to the left of (or right of, or over/under) the card panel. I would definitely NOT put the panel of controls on the CardPanel itself. It should be outside.
The list of selections could be radios, buttons, or in this example, a JList of items that can grow w/o messing up the layout. For example:
/*
* CardLayoutDemo.java
*/
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
#SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public class CardLayoutDemo implements Runnable
{
final static String CARD1 = "Gray Panel";
final static String CARD2 = "Blue Panel";
final static String CARD3 = "Green Panel";
JPanel cards;
CardLayout cl;
public static void main(String[] args)
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new CardLayoutDemo());
}
public void run()
{
final JList jList = new JList(new String[]{CARD1, CARD2, CARD3});
jList.setPrototypeCellValue("XXXXXXXXXXXX");
jList.setVisibleRowCount(5);
jList.setSelectedIndex(0);
jList.addListSelectionListener(new ListSelectionListener()
{
#Override
public void valueChanged(ListSelectionEvent e)
{
String name = jList.getSelectedValue().toString();
cl.show(cards, name);
}
});
JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane(jList);
scroll.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
Dimension dim = new Dimension(300, 300);
JPanel card1 = new JPanel();
card1.setBackground(Color.GRAY);
card1.setPreferredSize(dim);
JPanel card2 = new JPanel();
card2.setBackground(Color.BLUE);
card2.setPreferredSize(dim);
JPanel card3 = new JPanel();
card3.setBackground(Color.GREEN);
card3.setPreferredSize(dim);
cl = new CardLayout();
cards = new JPanel(cl);
cards.add(card1, CARD1);
cards.add(card2, CARD2);
cards.add(card3, CARD3);
JFrame f = new JFrame("CardLayout Demo");
f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
f.add(scroll, BorderLayout.WEST);
f.add(cards, BorderLayout.CENTER);
f.pack();
f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
f.setVisible(true);
}
}
If you wanted a label for the selections, just make a "selection panel" that contains the JLabel and the JScrollPane (or use your grid of buttons panel), and put it in Borderlayout.WEST (instead of the adding the JScrollPane directly).
Also, look into JTabbedPane as an alternative.

Swing: Start second JPanel, when the first JPanel is clicked

I'm writing a simple java game and I'm facing this problem:
My different layouts are in different JPanels (1 JPanel for the welcoming page, where I have to press 'start game' and another one with the actuall functionallity)
I start the game from a JFrame
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class RType extends JFrame {
public RType() {
add(new Welcome());//first panel
add(new Board());//panel with the game
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setSize(100, 100);
setResizable(false);
setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
new RType();
}
}
obviuosly, this launches the second panel right after the first, and I cant see the first one.
I've tried some stuff, trying to invoke the second panel in the main method, when the first panel is clicked that way:
RType rt=new RType();
rt.add(new Board()); //in this case add(new Board()); is removed from constructor
but it's doing nothing.
how can I solve it?
As #nachokk has said, you should be using a CardLayout instead. It lets you do things like tabs in a browser, but you don't need to make the tabs visible for your game if you don't want to. You make your welcome "card" visible at first, then when the user clicks you switch to the Board "card".
I don't recommend to add directly to the JFrame components, instead use another container as JPanel . JFrame default layout is BorderLayout, when you add in the way you are adding it always put in the center.
Make something like this:
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
mainPanel.setLayout(new CardLayout());
mainPanel.add(new Welcome(), "Welcome");
mainPanel.add(new Board(),"Board");
frame.add(mainPanel);
Here is a tutorial How to use CardLayout
on first panel of welcome add a button, and apply actionperformed like
JButton myButton = new JButton("Add Component ");
myButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
frame.remove(welcome);
frame.add(Board, BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.revalidate();
frame.repaint();
}
});
By default, both panels will fill up the entire Frame's area. To fix this, you will need to use another layout, such as a GridLayout to structure the areas in which the panels will take up the Frame's area.
You can also go with no layout to hard code the pixel values of where you want the panels to fit in your frame.
EDIT: Based on what you're looking to do, the CardLayout is probably what you'll want to use for your Frame's layout.

Switching panels and passing data in Swing

I'm just starting out with Swing - I'm sorry if this question is hard to follow, but I feel like this is a very simple thing but it seems surprisingly hard in Swing.
I have a panel with two text fields and a submit button.
I've added a listener on the submit button, when it's clicked I validate the data and such.
Now, I want the frame to display a new panel - get rid of the current panel with the text fields and submit button, and instantiate a new one based on the data entered in the text fields.
How can I send this data back to the frame, so the frame can remove the current panel and replace it with a new, different panel, created with the data from the first panel.
Though it's not what I'm doing, it could be thought of like a login.
Display login panel
Panel gets username and password, validates (validation could be done higher up, too)
If validated, replace login panel with real content panel
This is surprisingly hard to figure out in Swing. Should I be defining my own event type and making the frame a listener for that event?
If I understood your question, you can use callback logic like this;
MyLoginPanel login = new MyLoginPanel(new IMyCallback(){
public void processLogin(){
//frame can remove the current panel and replace it with a new
}
});
MyLoginPanel extended from Jpanel with Constructor public MyLoginPanel(IMyCallback callback)
IMyCallback is an interface which has public void processLogin() method.
You could call callback.processLogin(); from LoginPanel
Does it work for you?
You should look at the java.awt.CardLayout. This Layout can handle multiple panels which are stacked on top of each other. And you can choose which panel should be the topmost and therefore visible.
The following code shows the relevent parts from the tutorial mentioned above:
//Where instance variables are declared:
final static String BUTTONPANEL = "Card with JButtons";
final static String TEXTPANEL = "Card with JTextField";
//Where the components controlled by the CardLayout are initialized:
//Create the "cards".
JPanel card1 = new JPanel();
JPanel card2 = new JPanel();
//Create the panel that contains the "cards".
JPanel cards = new JPanel(new CardLayout());
cards.add(card1, BUTTONPANEL);
cards.add(card2, TEXTPANEL);
and to switch the visible panel:
CardLayout cl = (CardLayout)(cards.getLayout());
cl.show(cards, TEXTPANEL);

Categories