Enumerating all controls on JFrame - java

I am quite new to Java and am trying to set the visible property to false for all JPanels
on my JFrame (frame.)
When I execute the following, It returns null to console:
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e){
for (Component c : frame.getComponents()) {
System.out.println(c.getName());
if (c instanceof JPanel) {
((JPanel)c).setVisible(false);
}
}
panelDispatch.setVisible(true);
panelDispatch.requestFocus();
}
What I want it to do is set all the panels visibility to false then
set the selected panels visibility to true.
3 JPanels are added to frame.
What am I doing wrong here?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Components are added to a ContentPane of a JFrame rather than the RootPane. You're seeing null displayed to the console as you probably havent set the name property of the component
for (Component c : getContentPane().getComponents()) {

I can't tell why you're seeing null, and I'm not sure in what way you're seeing it, a NullPointerException perhaps, but I do know that you appear to be removing the JFrame's contentPane, glassPane and rootPane inadvertently, a dangerous thing to do. Instead just use a CardLayout that should allow you to easily and simply swap your GUI views as this is exactly what CardLayout was built for. Please check out the CardLayout Tutorial for more information.
Edit
For examples of CardLayout-using GUI's, please check out:
getting Jcomponent from other class changes frame size
Java CardLayout Main Menu Problem
Change size of JPanel using CardLayout
Java CardLayout JPanel moves up, when second JPanel added
Java swing; How to toggle panel's visibility?
Clear components of JFrame and add new componets on the same JFrame
gui multiple frames switch
JLabel displaying countdown, java
This one is unusual in that it uses a CardLayout and has one panel fading into the other panel:
CardLayout showing two panels, flashing.

Related

How to set a JPanel to a different one [duplicate]

To put it simple, there's a simple java swing app that consists of JFrame with some components in it. One of the components is a JPanel that is meant to be replaced by another JPanel on user action.
So, what's the correct way of doing such a thing? I've tried
panel = new CustomJPanelWithComponentsOnIt();
parentFrameJPanelBelongsTo.pack();
but this won't work. What would you suggest?
Your use case, seems perfect for CardLayout.
In card layout you can add multiple panels in the same place, but then show or hide, one panel at a time.
1) Setting the first Panel:
JFrame frame=new JFrame();
frame.getContentPane().add(new JPanel());
2)Replacing the panel:
frame.getContentPane().removeAll();
frame.getContentPane().add(new JPanel());
Also notice that you must do this in the Event's Thread, to ensure this use the SwingUtilities.invokeLater or the SwingWorker
frame.setContentPane(newContents());
frame.revalidate(); // frame.pack() if you want to resize.
Remember, Java use 'copy reference by value' argument passing. So changing a variable wont change copies of the reference passed to other methods.
Also note JFrame is very confusing in the name of usability. Adding a component or setting a layout (usually) performs the operation on the content pane. Oddly enough, getting the layout really does give you the frame's layout manager.
Hope this piece of code give you an idea of changing jPanels inside a JFrame.
public class PanelTest extends JFrame {
Container contentPane;
public PanelTest() {
super("Changing JPanel inside a JFrame");
contentPane=getContentPane();
}
public void createChangePanel() {
contentPane.removeAll();
JPanel newPanel=new JPanel();
contentPane.add(newPanel);
System.out.println("new panel created");//for debugging purposes
validate();
setVisible(true);
}
}
On the user action:
// you have to do something along the lines of
myJFrame.getContentPane().removeAll()
myJFrame.getContentPane().invalidate()
myJFrame.getContentPane().add(newContentPanel)
myJFrame.getContentPane().revalidate()
Then you can resize your wndow as needed.
Game game = new Game();
getContentPane().removeAll();
setContentPane(game);
getContentPane().revalidate(); //IMPORTANT
getContentPane().repaint(); //IMPORTANT
It all depends on how its going to be used. If you will want to switch back and forth between these two panels then use a CardLayout. If you are only switching from the first to the second once and (and not going back) then I would use telcontars suggestion and just replace it. Though if the JPanel isn't the only thing in your frame I would use
remove(java.awt.Component) instead of removeAll.
If you are somewhere in between these two cases its basically a time-space tradeoff. The CardLayout will save you time but take up more memory by having to keep this whole other panel in memory at all times. But if you just replace the panel when needed and construct it on demand, you don't have to keep that meory around but it takes more time to switch.
Also you can try a JTabbedPane to use tabs instead (its even easier than CardLayout because it handles the showing/hiding automitically)
The other individuals answered the question. I want to suggest you use a JTabbedPane instead of replacing content. As a general rule, it is bad to have visual elements of your application disappear or be replaced by other content. Certainly there are exceptions to every rule, and only you and your user community can decide the best approach.
Problem: My component does not appear after I have added it to the container.
You need to invoke revalidate and repaint after adding a component before it will show up in your container.
Source: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/layout/problems.html
I was having exactly the same problem!! Increadible!! The solution I found was:
Adding all the components (JPanels) to the container;
Using the setVisible(false) method to all of them;
On user action, setting setVisible(true) to the panel I wanted to
show.
// Hiding all components (JPanels) added to a container (ex: another JPanel)
for (Component component : this.container.getComponents()) {
component.setVisible(false);
}
// Showing only the selected JPanel, the one user wants to see
panel.setVisible(true);
No revalidate(), no validate(), no CardLayout needed.
The layout.replace() answer only exists/works on the GroupLayout Manager.
Other LayoutManagers (CardLayout, BoxLayout etc) do NOT support this feature, but require you to first RemoveLayoutComponent( and then AddLayoutComponent( back again. :-) [Just setting the record straight]
I suggest you to add both panel at frame creation, then change the visible panel by calling setVisible(true/false) on both.
When calling setVisible, the parent will be notified and asked to repaint itself.
class Frame1 extends javax.swing.JFrame {
remove(previouspanel); //or getContentPane().removeAll();
add(newpanel); //or setContentPane(newpanel);
invalidate(); validate(); // or ((JComponent) getContentPane()).revalidate();
repaint(); //DO NOT FORGET REPAINT
}
Sometimes you can do the work without using the revalidation and sometimes without using the repaint.My advise use both.
Just call the method pack() after setting the ContentPane, (java 1.7, maybe older) like this:
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
JPanel panel1 = new JPanel();
JPanel panel2 = new JPanel();
....
frame.setContentPane(panel1);
frame.pack();
...
frame.setContentPane(panel2);
frame.pack();
...

Is there a way I can swap JPanel classes into and out of a JFrame? [duplicate]

To put it simple, there's a simple java swing app that consists of JFrame with some components in it. One of the components is a JPanel that is meant to be replaced by another JPanel on user action.
So, what's the correct way of doing such a thing? I've tried
panel = new CustomJPanelWithComponentsOnIt();
parentFrameJPanelBelongsTo.pack();
but this won't work. What would you suggest?
Your use case, seems perfect for CardLayout.
In card layout you can add multiple panels in the same place, but then show or hide, one panel at a time.
1) Setting the first Panel:
JFrame frame=new JFrame();
frame.getContentPane().add(new JPanel());
2)Replacing the panel:
frame.getContentPane().removeAll();
frame.getContentPane().add(new JPanel());
Also notice that you must do this in the Event's Thread, to ensure this use the SwingUtilities.invokeLater or the SwingWorker
frame.setContentPane(newContents());
frame.revalidate(); // frame.pack() if you want to resize.
Remember, Java use 'copy reference by value' argument passing. So changing a variable wont change copies of the reference passed to other methods.
Also note JFrame is very confusing in the name of usability. Adding a component or setting a layout (usually) performs the operation on the content pane. Oddly enough, getting the layout really does give you the frame's layout manager.
Hope this piece of code give you an idea of changing jPanels inside a JFrame.
public class PanelTest extends JFrame {
Container contentPane;
public PanelTest() {
super("Changing JPanel inside a JFrame");
contentPane=getContentPane();
}
public void createChangePanel() {
contentPane.removeAll();
JPanel newPanel=new JPanel();
contentPane.add(newPanel);
System.out.println("new panel created");//for debugging purposes
validate();
setVisible(true);
}
}
On the user action:
// you have to do something along the lines of
myJFrame.getContentPane().removeAll()
myJFrame.getContentPane().invalidate()
myJFrame.getContentPane().add(newContentPanel)
myJFrame.getContentPane().revalidate()
Then you can resize your wndow as needed.
Game game = new Game();
getContentPane().removeAll();
setContentPane(game);
getContentPane().revalidate(); //IMPORTANT
getContentPane().repaint(); //IMPORTANT
It all depends on how its going to be used. If you will want to switch back and forth between these two panels then use a CardLayout. If you are only switching from the first to the second once and (and not going back) then I would use telcontars suggestion and just replace it. Though if the JPanel isn't the only thing in your frame I would use
remove(java.awt.Component) instead of removeAll.
If you are somewhere in between these two cases its basically a time-space tradeoff. The CardLayout will save you time but take up more memory by having to keep this whole other panel in memory at all times. But if you just replace the panel when needed and construct it on demand, you don't have to keep that meory around but it takes more time to switch.
Also you can try a JTabbedPane to use tabs instead (its even easier than CardLayout because it handles the showing/hiding automitically)
The other individuals answered the question. I want to suggest you use a JTabbedPane instead of replacing content. As a general rule, it is bad to have visual elements of your application disappear or be replaced by other content. Certainly there are exceptions to every rule, and only you and your user community can decide the best approach.
Problem: My component does not appear after I have added it to the container.
You need to invoke revalidate and repaint after adding a component before it will show up in your container.
Source: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/layout/problems.html
I was having exactly the same problem!! Increadible!! The solution I found was:
Adding all the components (JPanels) to the container;
Using the setVisible(false) method to all of them;
On user action, setting setVisible(true) to the panel I wanted to
show.
// Hiding all components (JPanels) added to a container (ex: another JPanel)
for (Component component : this.container.getComponents()) {
component.setVisible(false);
}
// Showing only the selected JPanel, the one user wants to see
panel.setVisible(true);
No revalidate(), no validate(), no CardLayout needed.
The layout.replace() answer only exists/works on the GroupLayout Manager.
Other LayoutManagers (CardLayout, BoxLayout etc) do NOT support this feature, but require you to first RemoveLayoutComponent( and then AddLayoutComponent( back again. :-) [Just setting the record straight]
I suggest you to add both panel at frame creation, then change the visible panel by calling setVisible(true/false) on both.
When calling setVisible, the parent will be notified and asked to repaint itself.
class Frame1 extends javax.swing.JFrame {
remove(previouspanel); //or getContentPane().removeAll();
add(newpanel); //or setContentPane(newpanel);
invalidate(); validate(); // or ((JComponent) getContentPane()).revalidate();
repaint(); //DO NOT FORGET REPAINT
}
Sometimes you can do the work without using the revalidation and sometimes without using the repaint.My advise use both.
Just call the method pack() after setting the ContentPane, (java 1.7, maybe older) like this:
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
JPanel panel1 = new JPanel();
JPanel panel2 = new JPanel();
....
frame.setContentPane(panel1);
frame.pack();
...
frame.setContentPane(panel2);
frame.pack();
...

Adding content to a JPanel

I'm new to Java and actually designing the GUI for an application.
My main is a JFrame with 5 buttons and 1 panel which will have the "content", for the first button for example, I've designed a Jframe which has a JTabbedPane.
Now I would like to know how can I incorporate the content from that frame to the "content" panel when clicking on the button ?
I tried to use .add but I get:
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: adding a window to a container
(seems we can't add Jframe to Jpanel).
I also tried the setVisible way but it doesn't meet what I need since it will hide the panel completely and I will get a tiny window with the buttons.
![Jframe content][1]
![Main Jframe with buttons and Jpanel to show the jframe content][2]
The code is generated by netbeans, and I forgot to mention that I did research on adding a Jframe into another Jframe but here isn't my problem at all.
I tried by changing the Jframe by JInternalFrame but clicking on button doesn't do anything.
Button has
contentPanel.add(new GestionUtilisateur());
So basically when you click on the "Gestion Utilisateur" button for example, you get that JTabbedPane that has to appear in the content area (which is blank here)
You should not be putting JFrames inside JPanels. If you have multiple panels you would like to display, depending on something like a button, look in to LAYOUTS.
In particular, it sounds like a CardLayout would work well for your needs. CardLayouts allow you to swap which panel is displayed in a frame by bringing it to the "front" of a list of panels. This would let you display your JTabbedPane on one button click, then click another to change the content pane.
JFrame can not be added in a JPanel.
use JInternalFrame
Make and hold references to JPanels containing your content. A JFrame is really just that, it's a frame (though you can add a single component to it).
You can't add a JFrame to a JPanel. If you want multiple components to be visible use layouts such as BorderLayout, GridBag, etc. Check out some of the Swing layout tutorials here.
Content should be designed as JPanel (you can design it with drag&drop just like JFrame) but if you really have to put a JFrame to JPanel for some reason, you can do it by
myJPanel.add(myJFrame.getContentPane());
however i would suggest modification of your program.

Why does only the last JPanel I add to a JFrame resize?

So I am working on a GUI application using the swing framework. In short, I have 3 JPanels that act as different views of my application. Now the problem is that no matter the order I add the JPanels to my JFrame, only the final JPanel I add resizes when I switch to that view.
Some relevant bits of code:
When creating the window, I first create each individual JPanel, and add it to the JFrame:
JPanel newPanel = new SomeClassExtendingJPanel();
this.jframe.add(newPanel);
Next, whenever I switch between views of the application, I hide the panel that is currently active:
jframe.validate();
jframe.repaint();
oldPanel.setVisible(false);
And then activate the to be shown panel:
jframe.validate();
jframe.repaint();
newPanel.setVisible(true);
Does anyone know what could be wrong?
To resize the JFrame with each swap, you could call pack() on it, but this is kludgy having a GUI resize all the time. A better solution is to use the mechanism that Swing has for swapping views -- a CardLayout. This will size the container to the largest dimension necessary to adequately display all of the "card" components.
Check out the CardLayout tutorial and the CardLayout API for more on this.
JFrame's ContentPane has implemented BorderLayout by Default, and there is possible to put only one JComponents to the one Area,
you have to change used LayoutManager or put another JPanels to the other Areas

How do I add a bunch of JPanels to my JFrame using Java Swing?

I generate a bunch of JPanels and then pass them into a class that extends JFrame. How do I add an indefinite number of JPanels to this JFrame. I was also reading about JScrollPane should I incorporate this somehow into the design?
Example Code:
class foo extends JPanel
{
//generate JPanels
}
class bar extends JFrame
{
//grab some amount of foo classes and put them into this JFrame and show it
}
Also is there anything I need to watch out for when showing this JFrame?
Thanks
How do I add an indefinite number of JPanels to this JFrame?
CardLayout, JDesktopPane/JInternalFrame, JTabbedPane, JScrollPane - there are a number of options.
Also is there anything I need to watch out for when showing this JFrame?
(shrugs)
Construct and show GUI components on the EDT.
pack() the GUI before setting the position and calling setVisible(true).
Don't rely on the default layouts of content panes.
Don't implement custom painting in a top level container.
..
JFrame -> JScrollPane -> fathers JPanel then you'll decide which of LayoutManager will lay your bunch of JPanels, by defalut FlowLayout, don't forget to play with PreferedSize for childsPanels

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