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Dynamic changing of layouts in swing

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.

Why can I not get my components back out of JFrame?

I have extended the JPanel class with some additional functionality I require, and I then created an instance of it like so:
CustomPanel pan = new CustomPanel();
I then add it to my to my frame:
frame.getContentPane().add(pan);
I then need to the panel back off the frame, I do this like so:
for (Component c : frame.getComponents())
{
if(c instanceof CustomPanel)
{
System.out.println("Should get here");
}
}
But it doesn't exist in memory as a CustomPanel, instead it exists as a JPanel, why is this?

From what I understand, the JFrame contains a JPanel, when you add your custom Panel to the JFrame using getContentPane().add(pan), you're actually adding your custom panel to the JFrame's JPanel. I'm guessing you'll have to call frame.getContentPane().getComponents(); to iterate over the components contained in the JFrame's panel.

Your for should read:
for (Component c : frame.getContentPane().getComponents())
You didn't add your Panel to the frame, you added it to the content pane.

add components to a panel in Java

I'm creating an applet which consists of a class which extends JApplet, with a menubar and a class which extends a JPanel.(So there is a menubar and a JPanel shown in the applet).
In this class I add and remove some textfields to the JPanel. This all works fine. Here's where it gets tricky: it only works the first time. When I add some new textfields to the JPanel, they are added and visible in the JPanel, but the menubar in the JFrame stops working.
Since the code is too extensive I'll only post parts of it.
Here's the code where I add the JPanel to the JApplet:
public class Simulator extends JApplet implements ItemListener, ActionListener {
Container pane = getContentPane();
canvas = new DrawCanvas();
pane.add(canvas, BorderLayout.LINE_END);
}
Here's the code of the JPanel:
class DrawCanvas extends JPanel {
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
if(textfield != null)
remove(textfield);
textfield = new JTextField();
this.add(textfield);
}
}
This works the first time(when nothing is removed), but the second time the menubar stops working.
When I leave out the this.add(textfield); line, the menubar keeps working.

I once had similar problems with popup menus beeing painted behind other components.
Try calling static JPopupMenu.setDefaultLightWeightPopupEnabled(false); or the setLightWeightPopupEnabled on your specific submenu. This will make (all) popup menus (i.e. submenus) to heavy weight components that have a native peer.

I believe you are running into issues with threading. Adding and removing JComponents during painting might mess up the EDT (which is calling the paint method in the first place).

How do I close a frame yet open a new frame? (revisited)

I'm trying to close a frame yet open a new frame.
My application has page A, a JPanel with some controls and a specific button, and when the user clicks the button, I want page A to disappear and page B to appear (page B has controls that depend on the choices that are made by the user on page A).
This has been asked before, but there was no satisfactory answer. Inside the ActionListener implementation, namely public void ActionPerformed(ActionEvent e) from my jpanelForPageA class, I can comfortably write this.setVisible(false), but how can I set page B to a visible state?

You can do the removal of panel a and then the addition of panel b trick. Another is to use a CardLayout.
When you create your panels, you add them to a containing JPanel that you initialize with a CardLayout:
JPanel container = new JPanel(new CardLayout());
containter.add(getPanelA(), "PANEL_A");
containter.add(getPanelB(), "PANEL_B");
Then, in your actionPerformed, when you want to show panelB, you do this:
CardLayout cl = (CardLayout) container.getLayout();
cl.show("PANEL_B");
Take a look at this tutorial for some more ideas.

For some reason, I can never to get setVisible() to work for me to do what you're describing. Instead, I do this:
frame.remove(panelA);
frame.add(panelB);
"frame" is just the JFrame you want to put the panels in. Try this if the setVisible() method doesn't work :)
To your original question, all you have to do is (like aioobe said):
panelB.setVisible(true);
((btw, posting some of your code would help me figure out what you're trying to ask))
And this is just a guess as to what you're trying to do -- I'm guessing your JPanels are in different classes. Then, you'll need to do this:
class pages extends JFrame implements ActionListener
{
public pages()
{
panelA a = new panelA(this)
}
changeToA(panelB b)
{
remove(panelB);
add(new panelA(this));
}
changeToB(panelA a)
{
remove(panelA);
add(new panelB(this));
}
}
class panelA extends JPanel implements ActionListener
{
pages p;
public panelA(pages p)
{
this.p = p
}
// all that actionlistener code stuff
p.changeToB(this);
}
class panelB extends JPanel implements ActionListener
{
pages p;
public panelB(pages p)
{
this.p = p
}
// all that actionlistener code stuff
p.changeToA(this);
}
You pass the pages class to the panels so the panels can tell the pages class to remove themselves.
((I don't know if there is an easier way, but this is what I do all the time))
I hope I helped :)

You have to remove Panel A from the frame, add Panel B to the frame, and call invalidate on the frame (or containing panel). At least in Swing, I'm not sure about AWT, there you might need repaint or revalidate instead of invalidate.
You could also just create a whole new JFrame and dispose the one containing panel A.

Hide a button from Layout in Java Swing

I am trying something very basic:
I have a list of 5 buttons. They are in a FlowLayout and the general idea should be that once I click one it should disappear and the others should reorder themselves accordingly.
Now, if I call setVisible(false) the button becomes invisible, but it still occupies it's space in the Layoutmanager.
Is there any way to keep the Button in the JPanel while hiding it so it doesn't get picked up by Layout?
Update:: Thanks for all the answers, the problem with removing the buttons is that the order is important. The problem I was trying to solve was a find as you type szenario where a very long list of buttons gets filtered down to only the ones matching the characters entered so users can easily click them. Since users can delete characters from the search field ordering is important and buttons have to pop back in once they match again.

Works fine for me.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class FlowLayoutInvisible extends JFrame
implements ActionListener
{
JPanel north;
int i;
public FlowLayoutInvisible()
{
north = new JPanel();
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
JButton button = new JButton("North - " + i);
button.addActionListener(this);
north.add(button);
}
getContentPane().add(north, BorderLayout.NORTH);
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
Component c = (Component)e.getSource();
c.setVisible(false);
((JPanel)c.getParent()).revalidate();
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
FlowLayoutInvisible frame = new FlowLayoutInvisible();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation( EXIT_ON_CLOSE );
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo( null );
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}
If you need more help post your SSCCE.
Update: I don't know if the revalidate() is required. I seemed to have a problem once but now I can't duplicate the problem.

Just remove it:
panel.remove( button );
What's wrong with this option?
Layout managers are thought precisely to avoid having the "user" to make tricks in order to have each component it the right place ( although it seems to provoke the opposite effect )
Removing the button from the panel will have the effect of laying out again all the remaining components. That's why it's name is "Layout manager" it manages to layout the components for you.

I see two possibilities:
Write your own layout manager that listens for changes to its children's visible property - shouldn't be too hard, you can probably subclass FlowLayout to do it.
actually remove the clicked-button from the panel and, if necessary, re-add it later.

You could override each button's getPreferredSize() methods (and possibly getMinimumSize() as well to return 0,0 when the component is invisible; and you need to call, I think, invalidate() (or revalidate or validate, I can never keep them straight) on the container.