Spreading out JLabels in a panel

[Gulshan Singh]

Here's my code:

  package scoresheet;

import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.table.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;

public class ScoreSheet {
    /* Table Creation Start*/
    String[] columnNames = {"Rank",
                            "Name",
                            "Material Total",
                            "Presentation Total",
                            "Total"};
    Object[][] data = {
                        {"","","","",""},
                        {"","","","",""}
    };

    JTable table = new JTable(data, columnNames){
        @Override public boolean isCellEditable(int row, int column){
            return false;
        }
    };    
    /* Table Creation End*/

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ScoreSheet sheet = new ScoreSheet();
        sheet.buildGUI();
    }

    public void buildGUI(){
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Score Sheet");
        JPanel tablepanel = new JPanel();
        JPanel txtPanel = new JPanel();
        JPanel lblPanel = new JPanel();
        JPanel inputPanel = new JPanel();
        
        /* Label Creation */
        JLabel namelabel = new JLabel("Name: ");
        JLabel judge = new JLabel("Judge Number: ");
        JLabel material = new JLabel("Material Score: ");
        JLabel presentation = new JLabel("Presentation Score: ");
        JLabel materialtotal = new JLabel("Material Total: ");
        JLabel presentationtotal = new JLabel("Presentation Total: ");
        JLabel totalscore = new JLabel("Total Score: ");

        /* Text Field Creation */
        JTextField name = new JTextField();
        JTextField mat1 = new JTextField();
        JTextField mat2 = new JTextField();
        JTextField mat3 = new JTextField();
        JTextField pres1 = new JTextField();
        JTextField pres2 = new JTextField();
        JTextField pres3 = new JTextField();
        JEditorPane mattotal = new JEditorPane();
        JEditorPane prestotal = new JEditorPane();
        JEditorPane total = new JEditorPane();
        mattotal.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.BLACK));
        prestotal.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.BLACK));
        total.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.BLACK));
        mattotal.setEditable(false);
        prestotal.setEditable(false);
        total.setEditable(false);

        /* Table Panel Setup*/
        JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane(table);
        table.setFillsViewportHeight(true);
        tablepanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(tablepanel, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
        tablepanel.add(scroll);
        tablepanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(600,300));

        /* Label Panel Setup */
        lblPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(lblPanel, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
        lblPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 300));
        lblPanel.add(namelabel);
        lblPanel.add(judge);
        lblPanel.add(material);        
        lblPanel.add(materialtotal);        
        lblPanel.add(presentation);        
        lblPanel.add(presentationtotal);        
        lblPanel.add(totalscore);

        /* Text Panel Setup */
        txtPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(txtPanel, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
        txtPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 300));
        txtPanel.add(name);
        txtPanel.add(mat1);
        txtPanel.add(mat2);
        txtPanel.add(mat3);
        txtPanel.add(mattotal);
        txtPanel.add(pres1);
        txtPanel.add(pres2);
        txtPanel.add(pres3);
        txtPanel.add(prestotal);
        txtPanel.add(total);

        inputPanel.add(lblPanel);
        inputPanel.add(txtPanel);
        
        /* Frame Setup*/
        frame.getContentPane().add(inputPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        frame.getContentPane().add(tablepanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);

        frame.setSize(900, 650);
        frame.setLocation(200, 100);
        frame.setVisible(true);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        /* Main Loop */
        while(true){
            int row = table.getSelectedRow();
            int column = table.getSelectedColumn();
            if(row >= 0 && column >= 0){
                name.setText((String)table.getValueAt(row, 1));
                mattotal.setText((String)table.getValueAt(row, 2));
                prestotal.setText((String)table.getValueAt(row, 3));
                total.setText((String)table.getValueAt(row, 4));
                while(true){
                    int newrow = table.getSelectedRow();
                    int newcolumn = table.getSelectedColumn();
                    if(newrow != row || newcolumn != column) break;
                    table.setValueAt(name.getText(), row, 1);
                    table.setValueAt(mattotal.getText(), row, 2);
                    table.setValueAt(prestotal.getText(), row, 3);
                    table.setValueAt(total.getText(), row, 4);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
  

If you run it you'll see how the labels don't match up with the text areas... I'm very bad at position components using swing, so I was wondering if anyone could help me find a way to line them up. I have all my JLabels in one panel and my JTextFields in another because that was the easiest way to get them side by side like that.

[Rob Camick]

Read the Swing tutorial on Usint Layout Managers. You could use two panels each with a GridLayout. Or you could use a single panel with a SpringLayout. In both case you will need to use a dummy component for your text field that doesn't have a related label. Box.createVerticalStrut() can be used for this.

[Fred Hamilton]

This article helped me a lot with layout management, when the tutorial was a bit of a struggle.

http://java.sun.com/developer/onlineTraining/GUI/AWTLayoutMgr/shortcourse.html

[Ramses Butarbutar]

Gulshan Singh

To make you have imagination at position components using swing, maybe this will help :

    
public class ScoreSheetSample{
   public JLabel label1;
   public JLabel label2;
   public JTextField field1;
   public JTextField field2;
   public JPanel panel1;

   public Component createComponents(){
	label1 = new JLabel();
	label1.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.LEFT);
	label1.setForeground(new Color(0, 0, 255));
	label1.setText("Name : ");

	label2 = new JLabel();
	label2.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.LEFT);
	label2.setForeground(new Color(0, 0, 255));
	label2.setText("Judge No : ");

	field1 = new JTextField();
	field1.setForeground(new Color(0, 0, 255));
	field1.setSelectedTextColor(new Color(0, 0, 255));

	field2 = new JTextField();
	field2.setForeground(new Color(0, 0, 255));
	field2.setSelectedTextColor(new Color(0, 0, 255));
    
	panel1 = new JPanel();
	panel1.setLayout(null);

	addComponent(panel1, label1, 20,80,106,18 );
	addComponent(panel1, label2, 20,110,97,18 );
	addComponent(panel1, field1, 110,80,183,22 );
	addComponent(panel1, field2, 110,110,183,22 );
	// so on..
    return panel1;
   }
   private void addComponent(Container container,Component c,int x,int y,int width,int height){
	c.setBounds(x,y,width,height);
	container.add(c);
   }
   public static void createAndShowGUI(){
   	JFrame frame = new JFrame();
	frame.setLocation(new Point(350, 250));
	frame.setSize(new Dimension(400, 250));
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
	frame.setResizable(false);
        frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
   	ScoreSheetSample score = new ScoreSheetSample();
       Component contents = score.createComponents();
       frame.getContentPane().add(contents, BorderLayout.CENTER);
       frame.setVisible(true);
   }

   public static void main(String[] args){
	javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable(){
		public void run(){
			createAndShowGUI();
		}
	});
   }
}

Layout Manager

[Maneesh Godbole]

Layout managers were created for a reason. Using null layout and specifying the absolute location of components will land you into all kinds of trouble and give you immense grief in the end.

[Maneesh Godbole]

Gulshan,

You can either get your UI straight with the Gridbag layout (it takes some time to get used to it) or check out Mig Layout

[Ramses Butarbutar]

Maneesh Godbole wrote:Layout managers were created for a reason. Using null layout and specifying the absolute location of components will land you into all kinds of trouble and give you immense grief in the end.

Yes Maneesh, I'm totally agree with you, set layout into null is suicide.. I just wanna show how to play with component coordinates... Thanks for "the light"...