Dynamically resize multiple JPanels in BoxLayout

[Benjamin Schwanke]

Hello,

I am programming a GUI witch a JFrame containing a JScrollPane, which has a JPanel (my mainPanel, BoxLayout.Y_Axis) as its viewPortView.
I can add muliple JPanels to the mainPanel with button clicks. Defined by the BoxLayout these panels align top-down.
Attached a picture of my frame with 3 added panels.

Now my need/problem:
These panels heights should be resizable by mouse (drag/drop) similar to the JSplitPane. But JSplitPane does only support 2 components. Otherwise I needed nested once, which is pretty ugly.

My Approach:
After some research I found this to resize my panels: http://groups.google.com/group/de.comp.lang.java/browse_thread/thread/3a23402f8871f10c
But when I use this I need to invoke setpreferredSize(Dimension) explicitly and that makes my BoxLayout fail, when I change my window size. That means, if a resize the main window smaller than preferred size of the panels, my panels do not resize automatically like before.

scrollPane      = new JScrollPane();
scrollPane.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(ScrollPaneConstants.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
scrollPane.setHorizontalScrollBarPolicy(ScrollPaneConstants.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_NEVER);
scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().setUnitIncrement(10);  

mainPanel       = new JPanel();
mainPanel.setLayout(new javax.swing.BoxLayout(mainPanel, javax.swing.BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));

scrollPane.setViewportView(mainPanel);
getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());
getContentPane().add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
....

//Button click action:
getMainPanel().add(newPanel);

My Question:
Do you know a better solution or is there even an existing one out there to resize JPanels within a main panel?
Or can you help me out with the automatic "fit-to-windowsize" after invoking setpreferredSize(...)?

I tried a lot, but no approach fullfills my requierements. Sorry for bothering you again.

[Rob Camick]

Maybe you can override the setPreferredSize() method, instead of using the setPreferredSize() method.

Maybe you need to implement the Scrollable interface on your panels and then override the getScrollableTracksViewportWidth() method to return true.

If you need further help then you need to create a SSCCE (Short, Self Contained, Compilable and Executable, Example Program), that demonstrates the incorrect behaviour.

Don't forget to use the Code Formatting Tags so the posted code retains its original formatting. That is done by selecting the code and then clicking on the "Code" button above the question input area.

And you say the problem is when you use setPreferredSize(), so in the SSCCE you don't need to include the custom resizing class. You can add 3 panels to the frame. One will use the setPreferredSize() method. The other two won't. If the problem is the setPreferredSize method then two of the panels should resize correctly, while the third won't.

[Benjamin Schwanke]

Ok, this is my first SSCCE. I hope it helps to describe my problem.
I added three dummy panels - resizable with a DragBar (inner class).
Again the problem:
If I resize the panel with the drag bar, it keeps its current width even if I reduce the frame's width. I would expect an automatic resize of the panel to the main frame's width. It would be great if you can help me out somehow.

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.BevelBorder;
import javax.swing.plaf.ComponentUI;

public class PanelResizer extends JFrame
{
    private JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
    private JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane();

    // inner class DragBar: bar to drag&drop for panel resize
    class DragBar extends JComponent
        implements MouseListener,
                   MouseMotionListener
    {
        private Point pointPressed;
        private Point pointReleased;
        private JPanel panel;

        public DragBar(JPanel panel)
        {
             this.panel = panel;

             setBackground(Color.red);
             setOpaque(true);
             setUI(new ComponentUI() {});
             setPreferredSize(new Dimension(5,5));

             addMouseListener(this);
             addMouseMotionListener(this);
        }

        private void updateCursor(boolean on)
        {
            if (on) {
                setCursor(Cursor.getPredefinedCursor(Cursor.S_RESIZE_CURSOR));
            } else {
                setCursor(null);
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e)
        {
             pointPressed = e.getLocationOnScreen();
             updateCursor(true);
        }

        @Override
        public void mouseDragged(MouseEvent e)
        {
            mouseReleased(e);
            pointPressed = e.getLocationOnScreen();
        }
        
        @Override
        public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e)
        {
            pointReleased = e.getLocationOnScreen();

            int deltaY = pointReleased.y - pointPressed.y;

            Point panelLocation = panel.getLocation();
            Dimension size = panel.getSize();
            size.height += deltaY;

            panel.setBounds(panelLocation.x, panelLocation.y, size.width, size.height);
            panel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(size.width, size.height));

            scrollPane.revalidate();
            pointPressed = null;
            pointReleased = null;
        }

        @Override
        public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e)
        {
            updateCursor(true);
        }

        @Override
        public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e){}

        @Override
        public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e){}

        @Override
        public void mouseMoved(MouseEvent e){}
    }//end: inner class DragBar

    //inner class ResizablePanel
    class ResizablePanel extends JPanel
    {
        public ResizablePanel()
        {
            setMaximumSize(new java.awt.Dimension(2147483647, 2147483647));
            setMinimumSize(new java.awt.Dimension(300, 80));
            setPreferredSize(new java.awt.Dimension(300, 130));
            setBorder(BorderFactory.createBevelBorder(BevelBorder.RAISED));
            setLayout(new BorderLayout());
            JLabel myLabel = new JLabel("Test label");
            myLabel.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.CENTER);

            add(myLabel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
            add(new DragBar(this), BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        }
    }// end inner class ResizablePanel

    public PanelResizer()
    {
        setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setMinimumSize(new Dimension(100, 200));

        scrollPane.setHorizontalScrollBarPolicy(ScrollPaneConstants.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_NEVER);
        scrollPane.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(ScrollPaneConstants.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);

        mainPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(mainPanel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
        
        mainPanel.add(new ResizablePanel());
        mainPanel.add(new ResizablePanel());
        mainPanel.add(new ResizablePanel());

        scrollPane.setViewportView(mainPanel);
        getContentPane().add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        pack();
    }

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        new PanelResizer().setVisible(true);
    }
}