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Java JScrollpane not visible

I'm trying to display a series of buttons in a JScrollpane. Reading around, I managed to exit with this code, but nothing is displayed. I do not understand a possible mistake. Thank you for help
As suggested I made some changes, I edited but not works
EDITED
or I'm stupid, or here is some other problem. Here is my complete code with the output image
public class Main extends javax.swing.JFrame {
private final JPanel gridPanel;
public Main() {
initComponents();
// EXISTING PANEL
gridPanel = new JPanel();
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(gridPanel);
scrollPane.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
JPanel borderLayoutPanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
borderLayoutPanel.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
this.Avvio();
}
private void Avvio() {
JPanel pane = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
pane.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.BLUE));
pane.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
JButton button;
GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.PAGE_START;
button = new JButton("Button 1");
c.weightx = 0.5;
c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = i;
pane.add(button, c);
button = new JButton("Button 2");
c.gridx = 1;
c.gridy = i;
pane.add(button, c);
button = new JButton("Button 3");
c.gridx = 2;
c.gridy = i;
pane.add(button, c);
}
gridPanel.add(pane);
gridPanel.revalidate();
gridPanel.repaint();
}
}

Alright, from your comments in another answer:
No problem for compile , simply the Jpanel is empty. The buttons does not appear.
After calling this.Avvio(); you must call:
this.add(scrollPane);
this.pack();
This will produce the following outputs (before and after resizing it):
But there's still no JScrollPanel
This at least solves the first problem, however you have more errors in your code, some of which have already been commented in other answers:
You're extending JFrame, this isn't needed as you can create a JFrame instance / object and use it later. You're never changing the JFrame's behavior and that's why it's not needed to extend it. See Extends JFrame vs. creating it inside the program for more information about this.
You're not calling pack() nor setSize(...) this creates a tiny window, which you need to manually resize. Call pack() recommended before making your JFrame visible. (As suggested at the beginning of this answer).
You're calling .invokeLater() method twice. You need to call it just once, I prefer this way:
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> new Main()); //Note there is no call to .setVisible(true); as per point #1. It should go later in the program like: frame.setVisible(true);
You're calling gridPanel.revalidate(); and gridPanel.repaint() while it doesn't affect your program, it's not needed as your GUI is still not visible, and thus those calls have no effect on your program, you can safely remove them.
You're creating a new GridBagConstraints object on each iteration of the for loop, you can just change its properties inside it and declaring it outside the for loop, which will make your program better.
After following the above recommendations, you can end up with a code like this one:
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class Main {
private final JPanel gridPanel;
private JFrame frame;
public Main() {
// EXISTING PANEL
gridPanel = new JPanel();
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(gridPanel);
scrollPane.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
JPanel borderLayoutPanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
borderLayoutPanel.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
this.Avvio();
frame.add(scrollPane);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
private void Avvio() {
JPanel pane = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
pane.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.BLUE));
pane.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
JButton button;
GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.PAGE_START;
button = new JButton("Button 1");
c.weightx = 0.5;
c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = i;
pane.add(button, c);
button = new JButton("Button 2");
c.gridx = 1;
c.gridy = i;
pane.add(button, c);
button = new JButton("Button 3");
c.gridx = 2;
c.gridy = i;
pane.add(button, c);
}
gridPanel.add(pane);
}
public static void main(String args[]) {
/* Create and display the form */
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> {
new Main();
});
}
}
Which still produces this output:
BUT... We still can improve it a little more!
We may have two nested for loops, for the GridBagConstraints properties as well as the generation of the buttons:
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class ScrollablePaneWithButtons {
private static final int ROWS = 10;
private static final int COLS = 3;
private JFrame frame;
private JPanel pane;
private JButton[][] buttons;
private GridBagConstraints gbc;
private JScrollPane scroll;
private JButton[] menuButtons;
private JPanel menuPane;
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new ScrollablePaneWithButtons()::createAndShowGui);
}
private void createAndShowGui() {
frame = new JFrame(this.getClass().getSimpleName());
pane = new JPanel();
pane.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
menuPane = new JPanel();
menuPane.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 3));
buttons = new JButton[ROWS][COLS];
menuButtons = new JButton[] {new JButton("Edit"), new JButton("Delete"), new JButton("Sort Fields")};
gbc = new GridBagConstraints();
gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.PAGE_START;
gbc.weightx = 0.5;
for (int i = 0; i < ROWS; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < COLS; j++) {
buttons[i][j] = new JButton("Button " + (j + 1));
gbc.gridx = j;
gbc.gridy = i;
pane.add(buttons[i][j], gbc);
}
}
scroll = new JScrollPane(pane, JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS, JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED);
for (JButton b : menuButtons) {
menuPane.add(b);
}
frame.add(scroll);
frame.add(menuPane, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
}
And this example is (in my opinion) easier to read and follow up. And this is the output the above code is generating:
You can still choose which code to use, either doing the modifications at the first part of this answer, the second one following the recommendations above or the last one which is shorter.

Problems noted:
Avvio - the pane layout was reset during each loop. Set it once before the loop.
Avvio - the pane was added to the grid pane in each loop. Add it once after the loop.
Avvio - the constraints place the buttons in the same grid locations. With the previous two issues fixed, only the last three buttons placed appear.
I'm assuming you want three buttons in a row, so I changed the loop to use the counter as a row counter. The code below will create ten rows of three buttons.
What appears:
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.WindowConstants;
public class Main extends javax.swing.JFrame {
private JPanel gridPanel;
public Main() {
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
this.setSize(600,400);
//EXISTING PANEL
gridPanel = new JPanel();
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(gridPanel);
scrollPane.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
JPanel borderLayoutPanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
borderLayoutPanel.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
this.Avvio();
this.add(borderLayoutPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
this.setVisible(true);
}
private void Avvio() {
JPanel pane = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
pane.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.BLUE));
pane.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
JButton button;
GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.PAGE_START;
button = new JButton("Button 1");
c.weightx = 0.5;
c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = i;
pane.add(button, c);
button = new JButton("Button 2");
c.gridx = 1;
c.gridy = i;
pane.add(button, c);
button = new JButton("Button 3");
c.gridx = 2;
c.gridy = i;
pane.add(button, c);
}
gridPanel.add(pane);
gridPanel.revalidate();
gridPanel.repaint();
}
public static void main(String args[]) {
new Main();
}
}

There are several things to do to make it work:
Add a main method
This main method is the entry point. This makes sure the swing-code runs in the AWT-thread. This is what the SwingUtilities.invokeLater is for
Instantiate, pack and display the frame. The size setting is only for experimenting with the scrollpane
Declare the gridPanel as an instance variable
wrap the gridPanel with the scrollPane
Optionally, wrap the scrollPane with the borderLayoutPanel
Invoke the Avvio method because this is the one that adds the buttons
Add the outmost element to the frame
Here is the fixed code:
public class MyFrame extends javax.swing.JFrame {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> {
MyFrame frame = new MyFrame();
frame.pack();
frame.setSize(600, 300);
frame.setVisible(true);
});
}
private JPanel gridPanel;
public MyFrame() {
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
gridPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0, 1));
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(gridPanel);
scrollPane.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
JPanel borderLayoutPanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
borderLayoutPanel.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
this.Avvio();
this.add(borderLayoutPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
}
private void Avvio() {...}
}

I have simplified the program and removed all the mistakes
and bad practices. (Missing package, unnecessary panels, calling invokeLater() twice and others.)
Here is a working example:
package com.zetcode;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.Insets;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
public class JavaScrollPaneEx extends JFrame {
public JavaScrollPaneEx() {
initUI();
}
private void initUI() {
JPanel panel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
JPanel buttonPanel = createButtonPanel();
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(buttonPanel);
panel.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(panel);
setTitle("Buttons in JScrollBar");
setSize(350, 250);
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
private JPanel createButtonPanel() {
JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.PAGE_START;
c.insets = new Insets(5, 5, 5, 5);
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < 5; i++) {
JButton btn = new JButton("Button " + (j + 1));
c.weightx = 0.5;
c.gridx = i;
c.gridy = 0;
panel.add(btn, c);
btn = new JButton("Button " + (j + 2));
c.gridx = i;
c.gridy = 1;
panel.add(btn, c);
btn = new JButton("Button " + (j + 3));
c.gridx = i;
c.gridy = 2;
panel.add(btn, c);
j += 3;
}
return panel;
}
public static void main(String args[]) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(() -> {
JavaScrollPaneEx ex = new JavaScrollPaneEx();
ex.setVisible(true);
});
}
}
And this is the screenshot.
And since I consider GridBagLayout to be a very bad
layout manager, I have created a similar example with MigLayout
manager.
We need the following Maven dependency for this example:
<dependency>
<groupId>com.miglayout</groupId>
<artifactId>miglayout-swing</artifactId>
<version>5.0</version>
</dependency>
The source:
package com.zetcode;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import static javax.swing.JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import net.miginfocom.swing.MigLayout;
public class JavaScrollPaneEx2 extends JFrame {
public JavaScrollPaneEx2() {
initUI();
}
private void initUI() {
JPanel panel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
JPanel buttonPanel = createButtonPanel();
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(buttonPanel);
panel.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(panel);
setTitle("Buttons in JScrollBar");
setSize(350, 250);
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
private JPanel createButtonPanel() {
JPanel panel = new JPanel(new MigLayout());
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < 5; i++) {
JButton btn1 = new JButton("Button " + (j + 1));
JButton btn2 = new JButton("Button " + (j + 2));
JButton btn3 = new JButton("Button " + (j + 3));
JButton btn4 = new JButton("Button " + (j + 4));
JButton btn5 = new JButton("Button " + (j + 5));
panel.add(btn1, "sgx");
panel.add(btn2, "sgx");
panel.add(btn3, "sgx");
panel.add(btn4, "sgx");
panel.add(btn5, "sgx, wrap");
j += 5;
}
return panel;
}
public static void main(String args[]) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(() -> {
JavaScrollPaneEx2 ex = new JavaScrollPaneEx2();
ex.setVisible(true);
});
}
}

Panels take equal space

I have two panels. The first one looks like this.
public class BoardPanel extends JPanel
{
public BoardPanel()
{
setLayout(null);
this.setOpaque(false);
Button button = new JButton("..");
button.setLocation(...);
button.setSize(...);
add(button);
}
public void paintComponent( Graphics g )
{
/*
* Painting some stuff here.
*/
}
}
The other panel is something like this:
public class OtherPanel extends JPanel
{
public OtherPanel()
{
super();
this.setLayout(null);
this.setOpaque(false);
JPanel panel1 = new JPanel();
panel1.setLocation(...);
panel1.setSize(...);
panel1.setOpaque( .. );
JPanel panel2 = new JPanel();
panel2.setLocation(...);
panel2.setSize(...);
panel2.setOpaque( .. );
add(panel1):
add(panel2);
}
}
After that , I put both my panels in a frame. But I want my BoardPanel to occupy more screen than OtherPanel. So I used GridBagLayout for the frame
public class MainFrame extends JFrame
{
private GridBagLayout aGridLayout = new GridBagLayout();
private GridBagConstraints constraints = new GridBagConstraints();
public MainFrame()
{
super("Quoridor");
setLayout(gridLayout);
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setSize(1366, 768);
setVisible(true);
setResizable(false);
this.getContentPane().setBackground(Color.decode("#b2a6a6"));
BoardPanel boardPanel = new BoardPanel();
OtherPanel otherPanel = new OtherPanel();
this.addComponent(boardPanel, 1, 1, 2, 1);
this.addComponent(otherPanel, 1, 3, 1, 1);
}
public void addComponent(Component component , int row , int column , int width
, int height)
{
constraints.gridx = column;
constraints.gridy = row;
constraints.gridwidth = width;
constraints.gridheight = height;
aGridLayout.setConstraints(component, constraints);
add(component);
}
}
The problem is , that the frame gives equal space to both panels , and dont give more space to the boardPanel.
Why is this happening ? Doest it have to do with the bounds of the panels ?

Here is a good tutorial on GridBagLayout: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/layout/gridbag.html . Also see the code below and screenshot. The anchor field positions the component at the first line. The weightx field gives more space to the columns for boardPanel. The ipady field specifies how much to add to the height of the component. Here, boardPanel gets most of the width and all of the height. The otherPanel panel gets half of the height.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class GridExample {
private JFrame mainFrame;
private JPanel boardPanel, otherPanel;
public GridExample(){
mainFrame = new JFrame();
mainFrame.setSize(600,400);
mainFrame.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
mainFrame.addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() {
public void windowClosing(WindowEvent windowEvent){
System.exit(0);
}
});
boardPanel = new JPanel();
boardPanel.add(new JLabel("board panel"));
boardPanel.setBackground(Color.yellow);
otherPanel = new JPanel();
otherPanel.add(new JLabel("other panel"));
otherPanel.setBackground(Color.green);
c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.FIRST_LINE_START;
c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
c.weightx = 0.75;
c.ipady = 400;
c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = 0;
mainFrame.add(boardPanel, c);
c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.FIRST_LINE_START;
c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
c.weightx = 0.25;
c.ipady = 200;
c.gridx = 1;
c.gridy = 0;
mainFrame.add(otherPanel, c);
mainFrame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args){
GridExample swingContainerDemo = new GridExample();
}
}

Replace panels with another

How can I replace a JPanel or JFrame & its contents with another one by a simple button click in the same container ?

here a simple example that you can follow please show code at lest so we can follow your problem this a snap of code from unknowing source (old one)
package layout;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.CardLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
#SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class CardLayoutExample extends JFrame{
JPanel totelPanel,btnPan,showPan;
JButton btn1,btn2;
public static void main(String[] args) {
CardLayoutExample ex = new CardLayoutExample();
ex.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
ex.pack();
ex.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
ex.setTitle("BookClube library system");
ex.setVisible(true);
}
public CardLayoutExample(){
btn1 = new JButton("menu button");
btn2 = new JButton("back button");
CardLayout c1 = new CardLayout();
btnPan = new JPanel();
btnPan.add(btn1);
showPan = new JPanel();
showPan.add(btn2);
totelPanel = new JPanel(c1);
totelPanel.add(btn1,"1");
totelPanel.add(btn2,"2");
c1.show(totelPanel,"1");
JPanel fullLayout = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
fullLayout.add(totelPanel,BorderLayout.NORTH);
add(fullLayout);
btn1.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
c1.show(totelPanel,"2");
}
});
btn2.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
c1.show(totelPanel,"1");
}
});
}
}

The trick would be to use CardLayout or modify panel visibility.
Please look at the following example that modifies panel visibility.
public class PanelExample {
private JPanel _myPanel1,_myPanel2;
public void init() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Testing");
JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
_myPanel1 = new JPanel();
_myPanel1.add(new JLabel("Panel 1"));
_myPanel1.setVisible(true);
_myPanel2 = new JPanel();
_myPanel2.add(new JLabel("Panel 2"));
_myPanel2.setVisible(false);
JButton button = new JButton("Switch to Panel2");
button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if(_myPanel1.isVisible()) {
_myPanel1.setVisible(false);
_myPanel2.setVisible(true);
button.setText("Switch to Panel1");
} else {
_myPanel1.setVisible(true);
_myPanel2.setVisible(false);
button.setText("Switch to Panel2");
}
}
});
GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints();
gbc.gridx = 0;
gbc.gridy = 0;
gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.PAGE_START;
gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
gbc.weightx = 1;
gbc.weighty = 0;
mainPanel.add(button,gbc);
gbc = new GridBagConstraints();
gbc.gridx = 0;
gbc.gridy = 1;
gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.CENTER;
gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
gbc.gridwidth = 2;
gbc.gridheight = 2;
gbc.weightx = 1;
gbc.weighty = 1;
mainPanel.add(_myPanel1,gbc);
mainPanel.add(_myPanel2,gbc);
frame.add(mainPanel);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
PanelExample exmp = new PanelExample();
exmp.init();
}
}

How to resize a JPanel to fit a JFrame in "docknorth" with no interference to remaining JPanels

I am doing a little test of a demo Swing GUI. In this demo, the JFrame is composed of 3 "master" JPanels. If you will, the first (jp1) is composed of JLabels, and the other two are composed of several other JPanels. I am using MigLayout.
Here is my sample code:
// All the jPanels
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setLayout(new MigLayout());
JPanel jp1 = new JPanel();
jp1.setLayout(new MigLayout());
jp1.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.DARK_GRAY, 1));
JPanel jp2 = new JPanel();
jp2.setLayout(new MigLayout());
jp2.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.DARK_GRAY, 1));
JPanel jp3 = new JPanel();
jp3.setLayout(new MigLayout());
jp3.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.DARK_GRAY, 1));
JPanel jp4 = new JPanel();
jp4.setLayout(new MigLayout());
jp4.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.DARK_GRAY, 1));
JPanel jp5 = new JPanel();
jp5.setLayout(new MigLayout());
jp5.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.DARK_GRAY, 1));
JPanel jp6 = new JPanel();
jp6.setLayout(new MigLayout());
jp6.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.DARK_GRAY, 1));
JPanel jp7 = new JPanel();
jp7.setLayout(new MigLayout());
jp7.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.DARK_GRAY, 1));
JPanel bigPanel1 = new JPanel();
bigPanel1.setLayout(new MigLayout());
bigPanel1.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.DARK_GRAY, 1));
JPanel bigPanel2 = new JPanel();
bigPanel2.setLayout(new MigLayout());
bigPanel2.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.DARK_GRAY, 1));
//All the labels to be added to JPanel jp1
JLabel label1 = new JLabel();
label1.setText("LABEL1");
JLabel label2 = new JLabel();
label2.setText("LABEL2");
JLabel label3 = new JLabel();
label3.setText("LABEL3");
JLabel label4 = new JLabel();
label4.setText("LABEL4");
jp1.add(label1);
jp1.add(label2);
jp1.add(label3);
jp1.add(label4,"wrap");
bigPanel1.add(jp2);
bigPanel1.add(jp6);
bigPanel1.add(jp3,"grow,wrap");
bigPanel2.add(jp4);
bigPanel2.add(jp7);
bigPanel2.add(jp5,"grow,wrap");
frame.getContentPane().add(jp1,"dock north, wrap");
frame.getContentPane().add(bigPanel1,"span,grow,wrap");
frame.getContentPane().add(bigPanel2,"span,grow,wrap");
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
Which results in this output:GUI OUTPUT
What I want to achieve is being able to add labels into the 1st JPanel (jp1) without messing with the remainder JPanels width.
Additionally, I want to make the several JPanels inside a bigPanel to occupy its full width, as well as in jp2,jp6 and jp3 to fill bigPanel1.
How should I do this? Thanks in advance.

I have never used MigLayout, and personally dont see the reason if it can be done using default java LayoutManager.
Okay so I used a combination FlowLayout and GridBagLayout to achieve this, along with gc.fill=GridBagConstraints.NONE and gc.anchor=GridBagConstraints.WEST for those panels which we dont want to fill the contentpane width, also updated as per your comment to stop the JPanel/JFrame from growing larger than the given max width when more JLabels are added this was done using a JScrollPane:
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.border.LineBorder;
public class Test {
public Test() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
final JPanel labelPanel = new JPanel();
labelPanel.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.black));
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
labelPanel.add(new JLabel("Label" + (i + 1)));
}
final int maxWidth = 200;
final JScrollPane jsp = new JScrollPane(labelPanel) {
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
//we set the height by checking if we exceeed the wanted ith thus a scrollbar will appear an we must incoprate that or labels wont be shpwn nicely
return new Dimension(maxWidth, labelPanel.getPreferredSize().width < maxWidth ? (labelPanel.getPreferredSize().height + 5) : ((labelPanel.getPreferredSize().height + getHorizontalScrollBar().getPreferredSize().height) + 5));
}
};
JPanel otherPanel = new JPanel();
otherPanel.add(new JLabel("label"));
otherPanel.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.black));
JPanel otherPanel2 = new JPanel();
otherPanel2.add(new JLabel("label 1"));
otherPanel2.add(new JLabel("label 2"));
otherPanel2.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.black));
GridBagConstraints gc = new GridBagConstraints();
gc.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
gc.weightx = 1.0;
gc.weighty = 1.0;
gc.gridx = 0;
gc.gridy = 0;
frame.add(jsp, gc);
gc.fill = GridBagConstraints.NONE;
gc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.WEST;
gc.gridy = 1;
frame.add(otherPanel, gc);
gc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.WEST;
gc.gridy = 2;
frame.add(otherPanel2, gc);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.revalidate();
frame.repaint();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
//Create Swing components on EDT
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
new Test();
}
});
}
}

I have use BorderLayout and FlowLayout to manage the layouts. The frame has two JPanel's and one JPanel in it has two more JPanel's. All the internal panels use FlowLayout to align the JLabels. To arrange these panels on the JFrame I have used BorderLayout.
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.border.LineBorder;
public class LayoutTest {
public LayoutTest() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
JPanel motherPanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
JPanel topPanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
JPanel bottomPanel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));
motherPanel.add(topPanel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
motherPanel.add(bottomPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
JPanel topUpperPanel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));
JPanel topBottomPanel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));
topUpperPanel.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.BLACK));
topBottomPanel.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.BLACK));
bottomPanel.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.BLACK));
topPanel.add(topUpperPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);
topPanel.add(topBottomPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
for(int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
JLabel label = new JLabel("Label-" + String.valueOf(i));
label.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.BLACK));
topUpperPanel.add(label);
}
for(int i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
JLabel label = new JLabel("Label-" + String.valueOf(i));
label.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.BLACK));
topBottomPanel.add(label);
}
for(int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
JLabel label = new JLabel("Label-" + String.valueOf(i));
label.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.BLACK));
bottomPanel.add(label);
}
frame.add(motherPanel);
frame.setTitle("Layout Manager");
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
new LayoutTest();
}
});
}
}
P.S: I would suggest you to separate the panels such that there will be "whithout no interference with remaining JPanels."

Nested JPanels and GridBagLayout Not "Packing" Components

I've attached a screenshot for which the following Border legend applies:
Yellow = JPanel with BorderLayout
Blue = JPanel with GridBagLayout
Fuchsia = JPanel with FlowLayout
There are two panels not blocked out in colors that warrant mentioning:
1) The title panel where the word "Primary" is displayed; this panel is at BorderLayout.NORTH in "Yellow" panel.
2) The image panel where the image of the device is located; this panel is a sibling to "Fuchsia"
"Blue" is at BorderLayout.CENTER in "Yellow" while "Fuchsia" and the image panel are given the following constraints:
GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
c.weightx = 1.0;
c.weighty = 1.0;
c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = 0;
c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
c.insets = new Insets(0, 10, 0, 0);
c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
//"Blue".add(imagePanel, c);
c.weighty = 0.80;
c.gridy = 1;
c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
//"Blue".add("Fuchsia", c);
As you can probably tell from the image, I'm trying to get rid of the "wasted" space in "Blue" right below "Fuchsia". I don't seem to be able to do it with GridBagConstraints, so am I just using the wrong LayoutManager? It looks to me like "Blue", who is at CENTER in the BorderLayout is just giving each child JPanel half of the available space and reserving the remainder space instead of contracting upward. What am I missing here? Is this simply a matter of setting a preferred or maximum size on "Fuchsia"? it doesn't seem like that will get me where I want to be, since the border around "Fuchsia" (which is covered by my color coding) is where I want the end of the component to be.

Have a look at this output, from this code example :
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class LayoutTest
{
private void displayGUI()
{
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Layout Test");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
JPanel contentPane = new JPanel();
contentPane.setOpaque(true);
contentPane.setBackground(Color.YELLOW);
contentPane.setLayout(new BorderLayout(2, 2));
JPanel topPanel = new JPanel();
topPanel.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));
JLabel headingLabel = new JLabel("Primary");
topPanel.add(headingLabel);
contentPane.add(topPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);
JPanel centerPanel = new JPanel();
centerPanel.setOpaque(true);
centerPanel.setBackground(Color.BLUE);
centerPanel.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints();
gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.FIRST_LINE_START;
gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
gbc.weightx = 1.0;
gbc.weighty = 0.2;
gbc.gridx = 0;
gbc.gridy = 0;
JPanel imagePanel = new JPanel();
JLabel imageLabel = null;
try
{
imageLabel = new JLabel(
new ImageIcon(
new java.net.URL(
"http://pscode.org/"
+ "tame/screenshot/"
+ "landscape/slider1.gif")));
}
catch(Exception e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
imagePanel.add(imageLabel);
centerPanel.add(imagePanel, gbc);
JPanel detailsPanel = new JPanel();
detailsPanel.setOpaque(true);
detailsPanel.setBackground(Color.WHITE);
detailsPanel.setBorder(
BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(
5, 5, 5, 5));
detailsPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(0, 1, 5, 5));
JLabel statusLabel = new JLabel("Chassis Status : ");
JLabel usageLabel = new JLabel("Bandwidth Usage : ");
JLabel fanLabel = new JLabel("Fan Status : ");
detailsPanel.add(statusLabel);
detailsPanel.add(usageLabel);
detailsPanel.add(fanLabel);
gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
gbc.weighty = 0.8;
gbc.gridx = 0;
gbc.gridy = 1;
gbc.gridheight = 3;
centerPanel.add(detailsPanel, gbc);
contentPane.add(centerPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.setContentPane(contentPane);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String... args)
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
new LayoutTest().displayGUI();
}
});
}
}

Without using GridBagLayout could be
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.border.LineBorder;
public class NestedLayout {
private JFrame frame = new JFrame();
private JPanel yellowNorthPanel = new JPanel();
private JPanel yellowPanel = new JPanel();
private JPanel bluePanel = new JPanel();
private JPanel fuchsiaTopPanel = new JPanel();
private JPanel fuchsiaBottonPanel = new JPanel();
public NestedLayout() {
yellowNorthPanel.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.yellow, 5));
yellowPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
yellowPanel.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.yellow, 5));
bluePanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout(5, 5));
bluePanel.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.blue, 5));
fuchsiaTopPanel.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.cyan, 5));
fuchsiaBottonPanel.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.cyan, 5));
bluePanel.add(fuchsiaTopPanel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
bluePanel.add(fuchsiaBottonPanel);
yellowPanel.add(bluePanel);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(yellowNorthPanel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
frame.add(yellowPanel);
//frame.pack();
frame.setSize(400, 300);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
new NestedLayout();
}
});
}
}