border&grid layouts

Question

Hi everyone I have a problem. If anyone can help it would be great. I am using border and gridlayout and I am

Answer 1

Latest Edit :

I think, the JPanel on the LINE_START or WEST must have to be with GridLayout, and the CENTER JPanel can go with GridLayout to accomodate these images :-) . I was working on it when you accepted this answer and when @AndrewThompson, added that comment regarding GridLayout thingy, but seems like putting that JPanel on GridLayout will allow equal size JButtons. Here is my interpretation with GridLayout in code :

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class RunFurniture 
{

    /**
     * @param args
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    {


        JFrame application = new JFrame();
        PanelFurniture panel = new PanelFurniture();
        application.add(panel);
        application.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        application.pack();
        application.setLocationByPlatform(true);
        application.setVisible(true);

    }

}

class PanelFurniture extends JPanel implements ActionListener
{

    JButton center, east;
    JButton[] commandButtons = {
                                 new JButton(" Add Chair"),
                                 new JButton(" Add Table"),
                                 new JButton(" Add Desk "),
                                 new JButton(" Clear All   "),
                                 new JButton("Total Price"),
                                 new JButton("   Save       "),
                                 new JButton("   Load       "),
                                 new JButton("Summary ")
                                                        };

    JPanel centerPanel, westPanel, eastPanel;

    PanelFurniture()
    {

        this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());


        westPanel = new JPanel();
        westPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(0, 1));
        //westPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(westPanel, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
        westPanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(5, 5, 5, 5));

        for(int i=0; i<commandButtons.length; i++)      
        {
            westPanel.add(commandButtons[i]);
            commandButtons[i].addActionListener(this);

        }
//      westPanel.setSize(westDimension);   
        this.add(westPanel, BorderLayout.LINE_START);

        // start the middle panel       
        centerPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1,2));

        center = new JButton("center");
        centerPanel.add(center);
        east = new JButton("east");
        centerPanel.add(east);  


        this.add(centerPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);


    }

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
    {




    }
}

Output :

Here is my interpretation with BoxLayout in code :

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class RunFurniture 
{

    /**
     * @param args
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    {


        JFrame application = new JFrame();
        PanelFurniture panel = new PanelFurniture();
        application.add(panel);
        application.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        application.pack();
        application.setLocationByPlatform(true);
        application.setVisible(true);

    }

}

class PanelFurniture extends JPanel implements ActionListener
{

    JButton center, east;
    JButton[] commandButtons = {
                                 new JButton(" Add Chair"),
                                 new JButton(" Add Table"),
                                 new JButton(" Add Desk "),
                                 new JButton(" Clear All   "),
                                 new JButton("Total Price"),
                                 new JButton("   Save       "),
                                 new JButton("   Load       "),
                                 new JButton("Summary ")
                                                        };

    JPanel centerPanel, westPanel, eastPanel;

    PanelFurniture()
    {

        this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());


        westPanel = new JPanel();
        westPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(0, 1));
        //westPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(westPanel, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
        westPanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(5, 5, 5, 5));

        for(int i=0; i<commandButtons.length; i++)      
        {
            westPanel.add(commandButtons[i]);
            commandButtons[i].addActionListener(this);

        }
//      westPanel.setSize(westDimension);   
        this.add(westPanel, BorderLayout.LINE_START);

        // start the middle panel       
        centerPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1,2));

        center = new JButton("center");
        centerPanel.add(center);
        east = new JButton("east");
        centerPanel.add(east);  


        this.add(centerPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);


    }

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
    {




    }
}

Here is the output :

Answer 2

This is an example of what I mentioned in the comment (with a few other tweaks).

package test;

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class PanelFurniture extends JPanel
{

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 4231608548183463223L;

    JButton center, east;
    // leading/trailing spaces in these labels will be ignored.
    JButton[] commandButtons = {
            new JButton("Add Chair"),
            new JButton("Add Table"),
            new JButton("Add Desk "),
            new JButton("Clear All   "),
            new JButton("Total Price"),
            new JButton("Summary "),
            new JButton("Save"),
            new JButton("Load")
    };

    JPanel centerPanel, eastPanel;

    PanelFurniture()
    {
        this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());

        JToolBar toolBar = new JToolBar(); 

        for(int i=0; i<commandButtons.length; i++)      
        {
            if (i==3 || i==6) {
                toolBar.addSeparator();
            }
            toolBar.add(commandButtons[i]);
        }
        this.add(toolBar, BorderLayout.NORTH);

        // start the middle panel       
        centerPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1,2));

        center = new JButton("center");
        centerPanel.add(center);
        east = new JButton("east");
        centerPanel.add(east);  

        this.add(centerPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) 
    {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                JFrame application = new JFrame();
                PanelFurniture panel = new PanelFurniture();
                application.add(panel);
                application.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
                application.pack();
                application.setLocationByPlatform(true);
                application.setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }
}

---

Update

This GUI is based on the image.

package test;

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.GridLayout;

import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.border.EmptyBorder;

public class PanelFurniture extends JPanel
{

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 4231608548183463223L;

    JButton center, east;
    // leading/trailing spaces in these labels will be ignored.
    JButton[] commandButtons = {
            new JButton("Add Chair"),
            new JButton("Add Table"),
            new JButton("Add Desk "),
            new JButton("Clear All   "),
            new JButton("Total Price"),
            new JButton("Summary "),
            new JButton("Save"),
            new JButton("Load")
    };

    JPanel centerPanel, westPanel, westPanelConstrain, eastPanel;

    PanelFurniture()
    {
        super(new BorderLayout(2,2));
        this.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(4,4,4,4));

        westPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0,1,4,4));

        for(int i=0; i<commandButtons.length; i++)      
        {
            westPanel.add(commandButtons[i]);
        }
        westPanelConstrain = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
        westPanelConstrain.add(westPanel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
        this.add(westPanelConstrain, BorderLayout.WEST);

        // start the middle panel       
        centerPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1,2));

        center = new JButton("center");
        centerPanel.add(center);
        east = new JButton("east");
        centerPanel.add(east);

        this.add(centerPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) 
    {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                JFrame application = new JFrame();
                PanelFurniture panel = new PanelFurniture();
                application.add(panel);
                application.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
                application.pack();
                application.setLocationByPlatform(true);
                application.setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }
}

Answer 3

A few additional suggestions:

• Don't use spaces to do layout; use alignment.

• Let the layout do the work by using the components preferred size.

• Use the for-each construct where possible.

• Start in the EDT.

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;

/** @see http://stackoverflow.com/q/9793194/230513 */
public class FurnitureTest {

    private static final class FurniturePanel
        extends JPanel implements ActionListener {

        private static final int N = 3;
        private static final Icon icon =
            UIManager.getIcon("OptionPane.informationIcon");
        private JPanel westPanel = new JPanel();
        private JPanel centerPanel = new JPanel();
        private JButton[] commandButtons = {
            new JButton("Add Chair"),
            new JButton("Add Table"),
            new JButton("Add Desk"),
            new JButton("Clear All"),
            new JButton("Total Price"),
            new JButton("Save"),
            new JButton("Load"),
            new JButton("Summary")
        };

        FurniturePanel() {
            this.setLayout(new GridLayout());
            westPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(westPanel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));

            for (JButton b : commandButtons) {
                b.setAlignmentX(JButton.CENTER_ALIGNMENT);
                westPanel.add(b);
                b.addActionListener(this);
            }
            this.add(westPanel, BorderLayout.WEST);

            centerPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(N, N, N, N));
            for (int i = 0; i < N * N; i++) {
                centerPanel.add(new JLabel(icon));
            }
            this.add(centerPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        }

        @Override
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            System.out.println(e);
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                JFrame application = new JFrame();
                FurniturePanel panel = new FurniturePanel();
                application.add(panel);
                application.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
                application.pack();
                application.setLocationByPlatform(true);
                application.setVisible(true);
            }
        });

    }
}