So I'm writing a program in which I wish to have a single JFrame containing a JPanel header in a separate colour and directly underneath have a grid of buttons in a separate JPanel. So far my program works perfectly except for the fact that the header String isn't showing up in the NORTH panel. Instead I'm getting a box containing the set background colour with a small grey box in the centre. I'm wondering if I didn't set the size of the panel correctly?
I have heard this can be accomplished using JLabel, but when I tried to do this, it would not show the background colour that I had set.
So, could anyone please show me how to achieve the following either with the JPanel (preferably because I would like to know how it works and what I'm missing) or with JLabel: filling that little grey box in the middle of the header with a String.
Here is my code:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Example {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Initialize a panel for the header, and mainGrid which will contain buttons
JPanel panel = new JPanel();
JPanel header = new JPanel();
JPanel mainGrid = new JPanel();
// Initialize the header
DisplayPanel message = new DisplayPanel();
header.setBackground(Color.ORANGE);
header.add(message);
// Initialize the mainGrid panel
mainGrid.setLayout(new GridLayout(2,2,2,2));
mainGrid.add(new JButton("1"));
mainGrid.add(new JButton("2"));
mainGrid.add(new JButton("3"));
mainGrid.add(new JButton("4"));
// Add the two subpanels to the main panel
panel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
panel.add(header, BorderLayout.NORTH); // The issue is this panel isn't displaying the String created in DisplayPanel
panel.add(mainGrid, BorderLayout.CENTER);
// Add main panel to JFrame
JFrame display = new JFrame("Test");
display.setContentPane(panel);
display.setSize(200,100);
display.setLocation(500,200);
display.setVisible(true);
display.setResizable(false);
display.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
private static class DisplayPanel extends JPanel {
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
g.drawString("header" , 20, 20); // The string I want to be displayed
}
}
}
I would very much appreciate anyone's help or input as I have only been studying Java for a few months and this is my first post. Thank you in advance.
Also, any general tips on writing that you may have would be greatly appreciated.
I'm wondering if your problem is that you're nesting your message JPanel inside of the header JPanel, and the container header JPanel uses the JPanel default FlowLayout. Thus the component it holds won't expand on its own and will remain trivially small.
Consider either giving the header JPanel a BorderLayout so that message expands inside of it, or
use a JLabel to show your text, not a JPanel's paintComponent method. The JLabel should size itself to be big enough to show its text. If you do this and want it to show a background color, all you have to do is call setOpaque(true) on your JLabel, and you're set.
Actually, if you nest the JLabel, then there's no need to make it opaque. Just do this:
JPanel header = new JPanel();
JPanel mainGrid = new JPanel();
JLabel message = new JLabel("Header", SwingConstants.CENTER);
header.setBackground(Color.ORANGE);
header.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
header.add(message);
I would highly recommend using a GUI builder WYSIWYG IDE, like NetBeans, where you can easily drag and drop components to where they need to be. If you're doing any sort of complex GUI layout, it can be madness (and in my opinion, nonsensical) trying to write and maintain the code.
The layout your trying to implement would be trivial in NetBeans.
Related
I am almost certain this question was asked before here: Java Swing: How to change GUI dynamically , but I seem to just have some fundamental misunderstanding in how it works.
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class JTest extends JFrame
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
JTest t = new JTest();
}
Container pane;
public JTest()
{
setSize(500,500);
setTitle("JTest");
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
pane = getContentPane();
pane.setLayout(new GridLayout(1,2));
JButton old = new JButton("old");
old.addActionListener(new OldButton());
pane.add(old);
JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane(new JTextArea(50,20));
pane.add(scroll);
setVisible(true);
}
private class OldButton implements ActionListener
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
pane.setLayout(new GridLayout(1,2));
JButton old = new JButton("new");
old.addActionListener(new NewButton());
pane.add(old);
JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane(new JTextArea(50,20));
pane.add(scroll);
pane.validate();
}
}
private class NewButton implements ActionListener
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
pane.setLayout(new GridLayout(1,2));
JButton old = new JButton("old");
old.addActionListener(new OldButton());
pane.add(old);
JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane(new JTextArea(50,20));
pane.add(scroll);
pane.validate();
}
}
}
This code should replace the preexisting layout with a new one anytime the button in the corner is pressed, but instead, it just adds the new layout to the frame. Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?
EDIT:
Adding some information. A picture for reference:
I'm making a set of components like this inside the scroll pane. whenever I press the "Make new field" button, I want it to add a "field" (the name of the field followed by a textarea or some such) to the set in that scrollpane. This means changing the layout of the area inside the scrollpane to include the new field.
OK -- so it looks like what you want to do (and please correct me if I'm wrong) is to add a new component to a JPanel that is displayed within a JScrollPane. If so, then you do not want to change or swap layouts, and you certainly don't want to keep adding new JScrollPanes. Instead consider doing:
Create one JScrollPane and add to your GUI. Don't re-add this as you'll only need one.
add a JPanel to the JScrollPane's viewport that uses a layout that allows multiple components to be easily added to it. Perhaps a GridLayout or a BoxLayout, depending on what you need.
Also consider not adding the above JPanel directly to the viewport but rather adding it to another JPanel, one that uses BorderLayout, adding the first JPanel to the BorderLayout-using JPanel's BorderLayout.PAGE_START position, and then add this to the JScrollPane's viewport. This way the first JPanel won't stretch to fill the viewport initially.
Then in your button's ActionListener, add your components to the first JPanel by calling .add(...) on it, and then call revalidate() and repaint() on that first JPanel to layout the newly added components and repaint the JPanel and its contents.
Ok, so it turns out this wasn't a layout problem at all. I had failed to realize that setting a new layout doesn't cause the previous layout's components to disappear, you have to remove them before adding the new components. That's why I was getting duplication.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, though.
I am trying to use Java Swing to create a simple GUI in which I have a drawing pad and some buttons it all works fine until I add this code for the JTextField:
String text = "hello";
JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea(text);
textArea.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 50));
textArea.setEditable(false);
Before adding this code the drawpad displays on the left of the screen followed by the buttons, when I add this only the drawpad is displayed unless I resize the frame in which case the buttons and text field reappear although the text field is hidden behind the drawpad slightly. Here is the full code:
public class testGUI extends Frame{
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Neural Networks");
frame.setSize(700, 300); //set the size of the frame
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setVisible(true); //make it visible
Container content = frame.getContentPane();
content.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
final PadDraw drawPad = new PadDraw();
drawPad.setSize(100, 100);
content.add(drawPad);
JButton clearButton = new JButton("Clear");
clearButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
drawPad.clear();
}
});
JButton loadButton = new JButton("Load");
loadButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
//Load something here
}
});
JButton testButton = new JButton("Test Draw Pad Image");
testButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
//
}
});
JButton loadImage = new JButton("Test image from file");
loadImage.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
//String filename = textField.getText();
}
});
String text = "hello";
JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea(text);
textArea.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 50));
textArea.setEditable(false);
mainPanel.add(clearButton);
mainPanel.add(loadButton);
mainPanel.add(testButton);
mainPanel.add(loadImage);
mainPanel.add(textArea);
content.add(mainPanel);
}
}
You're adding the drawPad and the mainPanel to the content panel, which uses BorderLayout, without specifying any location. They thus end up both in the center position of the border layout, which is supposed to contain only one component.
See How to use BorderLayout in the Swing tutorial.
Also note that setting the preferred size is not something you should do. Instead, the preferred size is supposed to be automatically computed based on other sttings (the contained components, the number of rows and columns of a text area, etc.)
And a JTextArea should be enclosed into a JScrollPane to be good-looking and allow you to scroll.
JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
The default layout for a JPanel is a FlowLayout, so all the components flow on a single row. If there is not enough room on the row then the components wrap to the next row.
So when you add the JTextArea the flow is disturbed. The solution is to use a combination of layout managers to get your desired layout effect. Read the section from the Swing tutorial on Using Layout Managers for more information and examples.
JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea(text);
textArea.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 50));
Also, you should NOT set the preferred size of the text area (or any Swing component for that matter). Instead you should do something like:
JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea(rows, columns);
and let the component determine its own preferred size. Also a text area is typically used with a JScrollPane and then you add the scroll pane to your panel:
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane( textArea );
Edit:
Taking a second look at your code you have many more problems.
The point of using a layout manager is to have the layout manager set the size and location of the components. So your code should not have any logic related to the size/location of a component.
When you use the add(...) statement on a BorderLayout without a constraint, the component gets added to the CENTER. However only the last component added is managed by the BorderLayout. So only the "mainPanel" is given a size/location by the layout manager. That is why you need the setSize(...) statement on the drawPad to make the component visible. Although you now have the problem that two components are painted in the same space.
So to see the drawPad on the left you might want to use:
content.add(drawPad.BorderLayout.LINE_START);
However this still probably won't work because I'm guessing you are doing custom painting on the draw pad which means you will also need to override the getPreferredSize() method of the class so the layout manager can use the information to determine the size of the component. Read the section from the Swing tutorial on Custom Painting for more information and working examples.
Finally some other issues:.
The setVisible(...) statement should be invoked AFTER all the components have been added to the frame.
To follow Java standards, class names should start with an upper case character.
You should NOT be extending "Frame". There is no need to extend any class in your example.
Read the tutorial and download the demos for examples of better structured code.
So I would like to have three JButtons all on top of each other, but not to large in width or height either. I am not too familiar with Java's layouts, and to be honest I am not too keen on them. Please view the image a code below to explain to me how, thanks.
package com.aqagame.harrykitchener;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
public class Main
{
private JButton playGame, playerNames, exitGame;
public Main()
{
JPanel mainCard = new JPanel(new BorderLayout(8, 8));
playGame = new JButton("Play Game");
playerNames = new JButton("Player Names");
exitGame = new JButton("Exit Game");
mainCard.add(playGame, BorderLayout.NORTH);
mainCard.add(playerNames, BorderLayout.CENTER);
mainCard.add(exitGame, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
JFrame window = new JFrame("Harry's AQA game");
window.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
window.getContentPane().add(mainCard);
window.setSize(900, 800);
window.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
window.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
new Main();
}
});
}
}
Check out the Java Documentation for the different layout managers. I know you're not familiar with them, which is why you should probably start. Once you get used to them there is no end to their benefits. There is a lot of excellent information in the documentation and I am sure you will learn a lot. Personally, I recommend looking at the Box Layout:
Create JPanel that uses a GridLayout and add all the buttons to the panel. The GridLayout will automactially size the buttons to be the same size.
Set the layout manager of your main window to use a GridBagLayout.
add the panel to the main window using the default GridBagConststraints. Then the panel will automatically be centered both horizontally and vertically.
To not use Box or GridBag, I think a combination such as this may work out:
Have main panel (let's call it A) have a BorderLayout
Create another panel (let's call it B), with a FlowLayout, with constructor aligning components to the center
Create another panel (let's call it C), with a GridLayout, 1 column 3 rows
Add each button to a new JPanel with a FlowLayout (1 JPanel per button, so buttons are wrapped by a FlowLayout), and then add each of those JPanels to C
Add C to B
Add B to A (center position)
I think this should cause buttons to be on top of each other with small amount of padding while not being stretched widthwise and while appearing in the center of the screen.
I am trying to setup my JPanel's position to the right using i.add(jp, BorderLayout.EAST); but it is not working. Any ideas why? Thanks for the help in advance.
/* INSTANCE DECLARATIONS */
private JTextField tf;//text field instance variable
private JLabel jl2;//label instance variable
/*****************
* WINDOW METHOD *
* ***************/
public void window() {
LoadImageApp i = new LoadImageApp();//calling image class
JFrame gameFrame = new JFrame();//declaration
JPanel jp = new JPanel();
JLabel jl = new JLabel("Enter a Letter:");//prompt with label
tf = new JTextField(1);//length of text field by character
jl2 = new JLabel("Letters Used: ");
jp.add(jl);//add label to panel
jp.add(tf);//add text field to panel
jp.add(jl2);//add letters used
gameFrame.add(i); //adds background image to window
i.add(jp, BorderLayout.EAST); // adds panel containing label to background image panel
gameFrame.setTitle("Hangman");//title of frame window
gameFrame.setSize(850, 600);//sets size of frame
gameFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);//exit when 'x' button pressed
gameFrame.setIconImage(new ImageIcon("Hangman-Game-grey.png").getImage());//set the frame icon to an image loaded from a file
gameFrame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);//window centered
gameFrame.setResizable(false);//user can not resize window
gameFrame.setVisible(true);//display frame
}//end window method
What layout manager does i, your LoadImageApp instance, use? I'm betting it's not BorderLayout. I'm betting that the LoadImageApp class extends JPanel and if so and if you never explicitly set its layout, then it uses a FlowLayout by default, and as you're finding out, FlowLayout doesn't respect the BorderLayout.EAST int constant.
The solution is likely quite simple: make it use a BorderLayout:
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
Edit
You state in comment:
When I set the border layout of i to EAST, my background image shifts to the right also, is there a way to get around that?
No, you're missing the point. You need to set the layout of LoadImageApp to BorderLayout. You're not supposed to add i BorderLayout.EAST. This was never recommended to you.
i.e.,
public class LoadImageApp extends JPanel {
// in the constructor
public LoadImageApp() {
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
}
// .... etc....
}
THe LoadImageApp instance (which I would name loadImageApp, not i), should be added BorderLayout.CENTER, which you were doing before. Please read the layout manager tutorials which you can find here.
(Say) I've created a JPanel with three buttons. I want to place the buttons as follows (I've done this using netbeans GUI editor. But I need to write the whole GUI manually).
Can some one show me a way to achieve this.
(In words, I need to place some buttons right aligned, some other left aligned.)
I guess you want the Configure button to be as far to the left as possible, and the ok and cancel grouped together to the right. If so, I would suggest using a BorderLayout and place the Configure button in WEST, and a flow-layout for Ok, Cancel and place that panel in the EAST.
Another option would be to use GridBagLayout and make use of the GridBagConstrant.anchor attribute.
Since you're taking the time to avoid the NetBeans GUI editor, here's a nice example for you :-)
Code below:
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import javax.swing.*;
public class FrameTestBase {
public static void main(String args[]) {
// Will be left-aligned.
JPanel configurePanel = new JPanel();
configurePanel.add(new JButton("Configure"));
// Will be right-aligned.
JPanel okCancelPanel = new JPanel();
okCancelPanel.add(new JButton("Ok"));
okCancelPanel.add(new JButton("Cancel"));
// The full panel.
JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
buttonPanel.add(configurePanel, BorderLayout.WEST);
buttonPanel.add(okCancelPanel, BorderLayout.EAST);
// Show it.
JFrame t = new JFrame("Button Layout Demo");
t.setContentPane(buttonPanel);
t.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
t.setSize(400, 65);
t.setVisible(true);
}
}