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Can't left align a JLabel within a JPanel when adding to a BorderLayout

This seems like a simple thing to do, but I can't get it to work.
I have a BorderLayout. I want to use the top part for a title bar. I want to add a JPanel with labels, buttons and other components. However, the PAGE_START part of the border layout won't left align the panel. Here's the situation, with comments in where I've tried to set the alignment.
I noticed that when I don't add a panel to the border layout, and just write the JLabel straight in, it has left alignment by default.
This is not what I want, though, because I am planning on putting a BoxLayout.X_AXIS horizontally through the BorderLayout.PAGE_START title area. Seems to be a reasonable thing to do?
The Container pane argument to the static method is just the single panel on the main JFrame.
public static void addComponentsToPane(Container pane)
{
JLabel jlabel = new JLabel("I want to left align this inside a JPanel");
// Doesn't work: jlabel.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);
JPanel jpanel = new JPanel();
//Doesn't work: jlabel.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);
jpanel.add(jlabel);
pane.add(jpanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);
// Other parts of the BoxLayout (works fine)
JButton button = new JButton("Button 2 (CENTER)");
button.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 100));
pane.add(button, BorderLayout.CENTER);
button = new JButton("Button 3 (LINE_START)");
pane.add(button, BorderLayout.LINE_START);
button = new JButton("Long-Named Button 4 (PAGE_END)");
pane.add(button, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);
button = new JButton("5 (LINE_END)");
pane.add(button, BorderLayout.LINE_END);
}
Even when I tell the panel to left align the label, it doesn't appear left aligned.
Does anyone know what I am doing wrong?

By default a JPanel uses a FlowLayout with "center" alignment.
if you want components "left" aligned, then you need to set the layout on the panel to use a FlowLayout with "left" alignment.
Read the FlowLayout API for the proper constructor to use to set the alignment.
Or you can also read the Swing tutorial on How to Use FlowLayut which gives the constructors and valid values to specify the alignment.

How to have one component on the left and one on the right by FlowLayout

In a part of my software I have a layout on bottom that holds couple of JButtons and a JLabel. I want to keep buttons one the right side of the panel, and label on the left side. I could manage to put buttons on the right, but do not know how to keep the JLabel on the left side.
Here is the code:
bottomPanel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.RIGHT));
ftpBack = new JButton("Back");
ftpNext = new JButton("Next");
label = new JLabel("Text);
bottomPanel.add(label);
bottomPanel.add(ftpBack);
bottomPanel.add(ftpNext);
mainPanel.add(bottomPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
This is what I am trying to achieve:
Any idea how to make it ?

You can't do this with a FlowLayout.
You can use a horizontal BoxLayout:
Box box = Box.createHorizontalBox();
box.add(label);
box.add(Box.createHorizontalGlue());
box.add(backButton);
box.add(Box.createHorizontalStrut(5));
box.add(nextButton);
Read the section from the Swing tutorial on How to Use BoxLayout for more information and examples.
Or another approach is to nest layout managers:
JPanel main = new JPanel( new BorderLayout() );
main.add(label, BorderLayout.WEST);
JPanel buttonPanel= new JPanel();
buttonPanel.add(back);
buttonPanel.add(next);
main.add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.EAST);

Designing specific UI in java

I want to create a UI in java using swings and awt such that :
**** BUTTON1 , BUTTON2,BUTTON3, BUTTON4, BUTTON5 **** (in a row )
***** GRID OF SIZE 20 X 20 ****** (next)
frame.setSize(1000,700);
frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
smile = new ImageIcon("C:/Users/RISHABH/Desktop/PP/MineSweeper/sm.png");
sad = new ImageIcon("C:/Users/RISHABH/Desktop/PP/MineSweeper/smb.png");
mine = new ImageIcon("C:/Users/RISHABH/Desktop/PP/MineSweeper/mine.png");
panel1.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
panel2.setLayout(new GridLayout());
smiley.setIcon(smile);
Dimension d = new Dimension(30,20);
smiley.setPreferredSize(d);//.setSize(30, 20);
panel1.add(timer);
panel1.add(score);
panel1.add(smiley);
panel1.validate();
//frame.add(smiley,BorderLayout.NORTH);
//smiley.addActionListener(this);
//Button grid
buttons = new JButton[nrows][ncols];
grid.setLayout(new GridLayout(nrows,ncols));
for(int i=0;i<nrows;i++){
for(int j=0;j<ncols;j++){
buttons[i][j] = new JButton();
buttons[i][j].addActionListener(this);
grid.add(buttons[i][j]);
}
}
panel2.add(grid,BorderLayout.CENTER);
//frame.add(grid,BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.add(panel1);
frame.add(panel2);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setVisible(true);
i created two panels ..
1st panel was added with all 3 buttons with layout set as BorderLayout
2nd panel contained the grid ..
and then added the two panels to the frame which has the layout border layout
but buttons are not added and the grid appears small ... when I click that grid button it expands ..
Can anybody help me to create this UI ? I am new to java . Please help.

but buttons are not added
frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
...
frame.add(panel1);
frame.add(panel2);
You are using a BorderLayout. You can't add to components to the CENTER, only the last component added will be displayed. Try:
frame.add(panel1, BorderLayout.NORTH);
frame.add(panel2.CENTER);
and the grid appears small
frame.setSize(1000,700);
Don't hardcode the size. Let the layout manager do its job by invoking the pack() method:
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
Don't har

Vertical alignment of components of jpanels using GridLayout

I am making KenKen as my term project using java swing library. For alignment I have used gridbag and gridlayout, But now i want to add one more component of JPanel to the UI. These screenshots will make the problem more clear:
Now I select the grid cell to which i want to add respective candidates of in the left most panel.
It disturbs the adjacent alignments of the grid and panels.
Here are the panels with their respective layouts:
JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel();
buttonPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 4, 5, 5));
buttonPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(20,40));
buttonPanel.add(undoButton);
buttonPanel.add(redoButton);
buttonPanel.add(eraseButton);
buttonPanel.add(hintButton);
JPanel cellPanel = new JPanel();
cellPanel.setName("cellPanel");
cellPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(pSize, pSize, 0, 0));
JPanel numPanel = new JPanel();
numPanel.setName("numPanel");
numPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(1,1,5,5));
numPanel.setPreferredSize((new Dimension(50,60)));
JPanel candPanel = new JPanel();
candPanel.setName("candidatesPanel");
JLabel candidates = new JLabel("Candidates");
candidates.setFont(new Font("Courier New", Font.ITALIC, 14));
candidates.setForeground(Color.GRAY);
candPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(0,1));
candPanel.add(candidates);
Then it all goes into the content panel:
content.add(buttonPanel, pos.nextCol().expandW());
content.add(candPanel, pos.nextRow());
content.add(new Gap(GAP) , pos.nextRow()); // Add a gap below
content.add(cellPanel, pos.nextCol());
content.add(numPanel,pos.nextCol().expandW());
The buttons are all generated on runtime, and they are added to the candPanel in an action listener.

You appear to be using a GridBagConstraints subclass of which I am unaware (variable pos), though I can guess its function from context.
Assuming your problem is that you want the candidates panel to be to the left of the cellPanel, and not above it, you need to swap the lines which add the candPanel and the new Gap(GAP) as follows:
content.add(buttonPanel, pos.nextCol().expandW());
content.add(new Gap(GAP), pos.nextRow()); // These two lines
content.add(candPanel, pos.nextRow()); // swapped over
content.add(cellPanel, pos.nextCol());
content.add(numPanel,pos.nextCol().expandW());

Java swing layouts and/or labels not in order

I have got a window that should display the following:
JLablel "Have you used GUI before?" on the top, centered
two radioButtons "Yes" and "No" below it, somewhat in the center, a little bit towards the left
a JButton "NEXT" in the bottom-right corner
All three elements should have green font and darkGrey background.
The problem is that the window which is showing up, does not look like I would like it to.
And this is my code:
yesButton = new JRadioButton(yes);
//yesButton.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_B); // doesn't work?
yesButton.setActionCommand(yes);
noButton = new JRadioButton(no);
// noButton.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_C); // doesn't work?
noButton.setActionCommand(no);
ButtonGroup group = new ButtonGroup();
group.add(yesButton);
group.add(noButton);
nextButton = new JButton("NEXT");
nextButton.setActionCommand(next);
yesButton.addActionListener(this);
noButton.addActionListener(this);
nextButton.addActionListener(this);
JPanel radioPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0, 1));
radioPanel.add(yesButton);
radioPanel.add(noButton);
add(radioPanel, BorderLayout.WEST);
// setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(20,20,20,20));
// radioPanel.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(250, 250, 20, 20));
// there is no difference between the above two, right?
String q = "Have you used GUI before?";
JPanel area = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
area.setBackground(Color.darkGray);
JLabel textLabel2 = new JLabel("<html><div style=\"text-align: center;\">"
+ q + "</html>", SwingConstants.CENTER);
textLabel2.setForeground(Color.green);
Font font2 = new Font("SansSerif", Font.PLAIN, 30);
textLabel2.setFont(font2);
//textLabel2.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(0, 0, 250, 0)); //top, left, bottom, right
area.add(textLabel2, BorderLayout.NORTH);
area.add(nextButton, BorderLayout.EAST);
add(area, BorderLayout.CENTER);
I feel I'm nearly there, thanks for any help!
--EDIT--
A screenshot:

You need to use nested panels.
for the BorderLayout.NORTH you can add the JLabel directly. You will need to set the horizontal text alignment to center.
for the radio buttons you can create a JPanel with a FlowLayout and then add the buttons to the panel and add the panel to the CENTER.
for the button you add the button to a panel using a FlowLayout that is right aligned, then add the panel to the SOUTH.
There are other choices. You could also use a Vertical BoxLayout as the layout of the main panel and then add child panels to it.

You won't be able to get much control with just a BorderLayout. Try something else like MigLayout or one of the other many many layout managers Java has (GridBag, Box, etc).
In MigLayout it would look something like:
area.setLayout(new MigLayout("fill"));
area.add(textLabel2, "wrap");
area.add(radioPanel, "wrap");
area.add(nextButton, "tag right");