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How do I make one component visible in more than one pane in a JTabbedPane?

I was wondering if there was a way to make one component (in this case a JPanel) visible in more than one of the tabs.
I have a simple JFrame which is completely filled with a JTabbedPane. Each tab has a slightly different function, which is why they're in different tabs. However, they each output the same type of information. I was wondering if there was a way to make it so the same output panel could be seen in all the tabs, without having to create one panel for each tab.
I realize that it is impossible to add one component multiple times (and have it display independently each time), which is why I'm not optimistic about this being possible, however if it is, it would make my code much cleaner. In the case that this is not possible, I am completely open to alternate suggestions that achieve a similar result. I am in the very beginning of my project, so it won't be too difficult to change things.
This image gives a rough idea of what I'm trying to make it look like:
I have searched around for anyone dealing with this issue, however I have had little luck finding anything relevant. If I missed something, I apologize for wasting your time.

JPanel overriding revalidate()

For my program I have a JPane that as the game progresses it adds labels to the panel, however the only way I can make the panels show up is by using add(label) then revalidating and vice versa for removing labels.
My problem is that once it gets to the point that I have more than 40 labels on the screen the revalidate has to process too many things, so how can I override the revalidate(), ether works, so that it only revalidates the specific component that was added, and not every component on the screen. I know there is a loop somewhere within the revalidate() method that will run through a loop of all components, but I just can not for the life of me find it. I would like to be able to call revalidate(component-here) or validate (component-here) and have it only update that specific component.
I know there are other ways of writing this program but I am only interested in how to override revalidate() so no "you could have redone your whole code this way which should only take you like 6 hours >.<".
http://www.fileserve.com/file/jFdQ6nv/FINAL_PROJECT.zip a link to my eclipse project, if anyone who wants to help would like to see what im actually talking abouyt

I just tried this example. Adding 1000 text areas only takes a second, and updates are instant. Labels go even faster. You might want to look at something else slowing it down.
Also, you could look at CellRendererPane. It overrides invalidate() to do nothing.
public void invalidate() {}

Java JPanel/GUI contents appear only sometimes when run

i'm new to Java programming, but I've done C++ for a while now. the whole GUI thing is new to me. i created two JPanels and added them to JFrame using FlowLayout. When I run the program, i get http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/43/36213853.jpg/ as opposed to http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/88/86682510.jpg/ only SOME of the times. the other times, the content appears just fine
for some reason, when i resize the window when the window is blank, the contents appear fine.
i'm not sure what the problem is that gives me this inconsistency!
any help would be appreciated. thanks!

It's hard to answer without code, but by chance are you calling setVisible(true) before packing your GUI and before adding components to the GUI? Do the components show up if you resize your GUI?
If so, you'll want to make this call only after your GUI has been fully populated with components, and usually after it has been packed (so that your layout managers can lay out all components and size the GUI correctly).
If this advice doesn't help, then you'll likely need to post some of the offending code. How much to post -- it's hard to say -- enough so that we can identify the problem ;) but not to much as to be drowned in code not related to your problem. The best code to post is an SSCCE if you have the ability to create one.

Netbeans 6.7.1 mainPanel resizing problem

I've created a small gui app in Netbeans. As I was adding in some buttons and text areas the mainPanel resized itself. Now it is really wide [probably 4x as wide as I want] but when I try to drag the edge in it won't resize back down. If I drag it out, making it bigger, it takes that change. I would just like to return the mainPanel back to a reasonable size. Not sure what I'm doing wrong here. I've tried to change the min size, max size, and preferred size settings for the mainPanel with no success. I've even tried to change the menuBar & statusPanel settings at the same time as the mainPanel [thinking that one of them was making the others too big] without success.
Any ideas?

Netbeans does do really stupid things like that sometimes, and I generally get around them using either of these two methods:
First thing to try is to change the layout used. Try the Grid Bag Layout, or any of the others and see if you get better results.
If that doesn't work, then probably the easiest thing to do is to change stuff in the code. You will notice that Netbeans automatically adds a call to initComponents(); in the constructor (you have to switch to Code view from Design view). And if you look at initComponents, it will have a whole heap of auto-generated code to create the GUI. Do NOT edit this, because it's just a matter of time before Netbeans overwrites your changes. What I do is to create a new method initComponentsFix, and call that immeidtaely after initComponents in the constructor. In initComponentsFix, I would add the code to resize the component to the preferred size, and any other things you you want to fix.
BTW I empathise with you - Netbeans' GUI editor is still in need of much work. However, it's code auto-generation is still very useful, so I wouldn't recommend coding the GUI the good ol' fashioned way. That's why I'm advocating using it up until you start felling its limitations, after which you "take control".
There is also a third way, which I would not recommend, is to edit the file that Netbeans stores the Design view in, which is basically shares the same file name as your frame's class' source code, except with a .form extension.
This file is XML, and is pretty easy to edit. I don't recommend this because it is sorta going around the back door, but as a last resort, you can still try it.

Java GUI LayoutManagers

I'm busy with an asignment where i have to make a graphical interface for a simple program. But i'm strugling with the layout.
This is the idea:
What is the easiest way to accomplish such a layout?
And what method do you use to make layouts in java. Just code it, or use an IDE like netbeans?

And what method do you use to make layouts in java. Just code it, or use an IDE like netbeans?
NetBeans for GUI developers is like a calculator for grade schoolers: you really shouldn't use it until you know how to do things without it, but then it will save you a lot of time.
(I'd love to answer your primary question, but the firewall I'm behind is blocking the picture.)

Well considering how simple the layout is I would suggest you use a BorderLayout with NORTH set to the top section in a container and the JTable in the CENTER of the BorderLayout. For the Top it appears to be a simple BorderLayout again with NORTH as the Instruction: south as the black box (possibly in a container with a FlowLayout). The center of the top pane appears to be 2 Containers of GridLayouts with 2 rows and 2 columns, so put thos in another container with a GirdLayout.
So in pseudo:
Container(BorderLayout)
{
#NORTH
Container(BorderLayout)
{
#NORTH
Label(Instruction);
#CENTER
Container(GridLayout(2,1))
{
Container(GirdLayout(2,2))
{
Label() TextField()
Label() TextField()
}
Container(GirdLayout(2,2))
{
Label() TextField()
Label() TextField()
}
}
#SOUTH
Container(FlowLayout())
{
JButton() //shaded thing?
}
}
#CENTER
{
JTable
}
}

I build everything by hand. Like Christian, I've had bad experiences with GUI builders; they always either refused to configure a couple of components quite right, or they generated huge amounts of unnecessary code which made later maintenance impractical, or both.
I used to do build a lot of UIs using GridBagLayout, but for years, I've never seen an office-environment UI that couldn't be built with nested BorderLayouts, GridLayouts, and the occasional BoxLayout or FlowLayout. About 98% of the stuff I've seen is doable with nested BorderLayouts.
In your case, the layout organization will be as bmeck says. Speaking from memory, using CENTER for the JTable (remember to put it in a JScrollPane!) and NORTH for everything else ensures that if you resize your JFrame, the JTable will get all of the extra space, and that should be exactly what you want. For the top labels and fields, the nested GridLayouts should ensure that each "column" of labels and fields will take up equal horizontal space. (They'll get only enough vertical space to be completely visible, and no more, since the JTable is taking up everything else.)
Everything else is just a matter of adding borders and setting the GridLayout padding reasonably.

For myself gui-builders for swing or swt never worked that well that's why i code layouts myself using layout managers.
Your question doesn't mention which gui-system you are using but i assume you want to use swing. If that's the case I would recommend to use GridBagLayout for your layout. It is not that easy to use in the beginning but as soon as you know how it works you can do most layouts in the way you want it to be and i think it is also the layoutmanager of choice for the layout you want to do.

I've used GUI layout generating tools for super rapid development (maybe get the first 2 or 3 iterations of an interface out of the way). I've ultimately found that using a simple fixed layout (no layout manager) with these tools is the best approach. Once we are starting to hone in on a design, we switch to manual layout.
Whenever I've tried to use GUI generators to create code for layout managers, I've almost always been bitten eventually where the layout would just stop working and I spent more time debugging the impossible to read auto-generated code than if I'd done the layout by hand anyway. For what it's worth, when we are doing the early phase of layouts, we use the Jigloo plugin for Eclipse. It's very inexpensive, and does a good job.
I'm a big fan of MiGLayout. I've found that it is incredibly easy to use for simple layouts, and is capable of doing extremely complicated layouts. All without the need to resort to nested panels, etc... JGoodies Forms is also good, but harder to use.

I wrote an article a while back on layout managers:
http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/onlineTraining/GUI/AWTLayoutMgr
It describes how nesting (as bmeck above demonstrates) can be used very effectively for many UI designs.

Try table layout. Works great.
https://tablelayout.dev.java.net/

Use GroupLayout
:)
All the alignments are pretty easy to do

I used to love Motif's XmForm for this sort of thing. In Java, I usually put Boxes inside of boxes. So I have a vertical box. First row of the box contains a JLabel for the Instruction. Second row contains something for the label/result stuff, possibly some sort of grid. Third row contains whatever that blacked out thing, Fourth row contains the JTable. Then I'd spend some time to try to figure out how to do the lable/result stuff. Then I'd probably end up saying "dammit", and doing it as a GridBagLayout.