Work with some windows in one window

[Jose Pérez]

Hi guys, I´m making an interface for some math exercises. I have a window per exercise (3 now) and now I want to work with all of them in one single window, by clicking a button in the main window, and replacing the content of it with the content of the window of the exercises choose.

But with my actual skills, what I get is a new window over the main. I think I should change the constructor of the exercises classes, but I don´t know how.

¿How can I fix this?


The code for each exercise window (all whit the same structure) is this:

public class Exercise1{

	private JFrame jFrame = null;  //  @jve:decl-index=0:visual-constraint="175,32"
	private JPanel jContentPane1 = null;
	
	private JButton jButton1 = null;
	private JButton jButton2 = null;

	
	public Exercise1(){
		getJFrame();
	}
	private JFrame getJFrame() {
		if (jFrame == null) {
			jFrame = new JFrame();
			jFrame.setSize(new Dimension(507, 389));
			jFrame.setTitle("Exercise 1");
			jFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
			jFrame.setContentPane(getJContentPane1());
			jFrame.setVisible(true);
			jFrame.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(400,400));
			jFrame.setExtendedState(JFrame.MAXIMIZED_BOTH);
		}
		return jFrame;
	}


	private JPanel getJContentPane1() {
		if (jContentPane1 == null) {
			jContentPane1 = new JPanel();
			jContentPane1.setLayout (new GridBagLayout());
			GridBagConstraints constraints = new GridBagConstraints();
			
			//Radio
			constraints.gridx = 0; 
			constraints.gridy = 0;	
			constraints.gridwidth = 2;	
			constraints.gridheight = 1;
			constraints.weighty = 1.0; 
			constraints.weightx = 1.0;
			constraints.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
			
			ImageIcon icon = null;
			java.net.URL imageURL = Exercise1.class.getResource("image.png");
			if (imageURL != null) {
			    icon = new ImageIcon(imageURL);
			}
			JLabel label = new JLabel(icon);
			
			jContentPane1.add(label, constraints);
			
		
			constraints.gridx = 0; 
			constraints.gridy = 1; 
			constraints.gridwidth = 1; 
			constraints.gridheight = 1; 
			jContentPane1.add(getJButton1(), constraints);
			
			constraints.gridx = 1;
			constraints.gridy = 1; 
			constraints.gridwidth = 1; 
			constraints.gridheight = 1; 
			jContentPane1.add(getJButton2(), constraints);
		}
		return jContentPane1;
	}

	
	
	private JButton getJButton1() {
		if (jButton1 == null) {
			jButton1 = new JButton();
			jButton1.setBounds(new Rectangle(16, 211, 231, 119));
			jButton1.setText("Generate Report");
			jButton1.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
				public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent e) {
					executeExercise1(); //Generates a text file
				}
			});
		}
		return jButton1;
	}

	
	private JButton getJButton2() {
		if (jButton2 == null) {
			jButton2 = new JButton();
			jButton2.setBounds(new Rectangle(256, 210, 227, 123));
			jButton2.setText("Open Report");
			jButton2.setEnabled(false);
			jButton2.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
				public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent e) {
					try{
						Process proc = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("notepad I:\\reportExercise1.txt");
					}catch (Exception e1){
						JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "There was an error while opening the report");
					}
				}
			});
		}
		return jButton2;
	}
	
	
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		new Exercise1();
	}

}

And the code for the three JButton of the main window is:

private JButton getJButton1() {
		if (jButton1 == null) {
			jButton1 = new JButton();
			jButton1.setBounds(new Rectangle(16, 211, 231, 119));
			jButton1.setText("Exercise1");
			jButton1.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
				public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent e) {
					jFrame.removeAll();
					Exercise1 ex = new Exercise1(); 
					jFrame.add(ex.getJContentPane1()); //Previously ex.getJContentPane1() was private in the class, but I changed to public to try this. 
					jFrame.doLayout();
					jFrame.repaint();
				}
			});
		}
		return jButton1;
	}

Cheers.

[Rob Camick]

Read the section from the Swing tutorial on How to Use CardLayout.

[Jose Pérez]

Thanks for the point Rob. In the CardLayout tutorial, I found the JTabbedPane, that I think its more suitable for my scenario.

But now I get a similar problem, for each exercise I put in the tabbedpane, I got a blank window under the main window.

In the image, I have put one exercise (tab 1, I don´t modified the title), and that is the blank window under I get:



¿Is the problem then in the classes constructor I put above?

[Rob Camick]

Thats the way layout managers work. By default a JFrame uses a BorderLayout. When you add the tabbed pane to the center of the BorderLayout, the tabbed pane will now occupy all the space available in the frame. If this is not what you want the use (for example):

add(tabbedPane. BorderLayout.SOUTH);

to see the difference.

[Jose Pérez]

Sorry Rob, I think I expressed myself wrong ( I´m from Spain)

The point its that the program generates a blank window under the main program for each exercise class of mine that I add to the main program, like I pointed in the image:



That means, I have 3 blank windows when I execute my complete main program with my three exercises together.

¿What you say is that is the normal thing? because if it is, I prefer to do 3 separated jars.

[Jose Pérez]

I finally found the solution

Then, it´s just simple like comment the .setVisible(true) in the frames of the classes that you are going to put in one single window in a main program.

Cheers.