How is it possible to get the coordinates of a Swing components, irrespective to its parent?

Question

I am trying to get the coordinates of a component, for example a label. I tried getBounds, and getLocation, however they do not give accurate coordinates if the label is on 2 or more panels. Besides getLocationOnScreen, is there a way to be able to get accurate components' coordinates, even though they are on more than 1 panel?

what I mean is, you have more than one panel layered on each other, each containing their components, and the label is not directly on the primary panel — ict1991, Apr 09 '12 at 08:50
Ah, you mean in more than one (nested) `Container`. What's wrong with `getLocationOnScreen()`? — trashgod, Apr 09 '12 at 08:54
yes your right sorry, for some reason it is still not giving me accurate location, especially when I maximize the frame — ict1991, Apr 09 '12 at 08:56
the x and y coordinate returned are being 8 and 29 units respectively more then they actually are, so I have to stay decreasing these values. When I maximize the windows, the difference would be bigger — ict1991, Apr 09 '12 at 09:05
I am unable to reproduce this. It may help to edit your question to include an [sscce](http://sscce.org/) that exhibits the problem you describe. — trashgod, Apr 09 '12 at 09:09
*"I am trying to get the coordinates of a component,.."* Why exactly? What program feature does that support? — Andrew Thompson, Apr 09 '12 at 09:12

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 18 '15 at 12:40

6

If you want it relative to a JFrame, then you'll have to do something like this:

public static Point getPositionRelativeTo(Component root, Component comp) {
    if (comp.equals(root)) { return new Point(0,0); }
    Point pos = comp.getLocation();
    Point parentOff = getPositionRelativeTo(root, comp.getParent());
    return new Point(pos.x + parentOff.x, pos.y + parentOff.y);
}

Or you can just use the built-in solution SwingUtilities.convertPoint(comp, 0, 0, root).

edited Sep 18 '15 at 12:40

fredoverflow

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answered Apr 09 '12 at 09:09

daveb

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I can't argue with _that_! :-) Edit, well wanting this should make one question the need. – trashgod Apr 09 '12 at 09:23

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 09 '12 at 08:59

3

Try Component.getLocationOnScreen()

As the Javadoc says,

Gets the location of this component in the form of a point specifying the component's top-left corner in the screen's coordinate space.

answered Apr 09 '12 at 08:59

COD3BOY

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@AndrewThompson Thank you :) It took me almost a month for the last 100 reps! #LazyTheseDays :D – COD3BOY Apr 09 '12 at 09:45
No stress, we all give what time we can. No obligations (& no regrets). – Andrew Thompson Apr 09 '12 at 09:58
@AndrewThompson Thats it! :) and I'm waiting to wish you on the 50K milestone :) – COD3BOY Apr 09 '12 at 10:03

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:06

3

As an alternative to getLocationOnScreen(), you may be able to use getXOnScreen() and getYOnScreen() from a MouseEvent. Zoom is an example.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:06

Community

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answered Apr 09 '12 at 09:06

trashgod

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How is it possible to get the coordinates of a Swing components, irrespective to its parent?

3 Answers3