how do I pass dimensions to a Swing JPanel creator class?

Question

I am trying to pass dimensions to a Java Swing JPanel creator class. No luck so far. I even put the contentPane.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(intWidth, intHeight)); in a try / catch block and I did not get any system output. I am passing a pretty substantial value, frame.setContentPane(ContentPaneCreator.createContentPane("darkseagreen", 800, 255));, but the application is still as small as the components it is around. What can be done to fix it? Thanks.

import java.awt.Container;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

public final class ContentPaneCreator {

    public static Container createContentPane(String color, int intWidth, int intHeight) {

        JPanel contentPane = new JPanel();
        // Pass the colour
        contentPane.setBackground(ColorFactory.getInstance().getColor(color));
        // Pass the dimensions
        try {
        contentPane.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(intWidth, intHeight));
        }
        catch (Exception ex) {
            System.out.println(ex);
        }
        return contentPane;
    }
}

StickyNotes()

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

public class StickyNotes extends JFrame {

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    public static String appName;
    public static String fileConfirmSave;
    public static String txtConfirmChange;


    private void createStickyNotesGUI() {

        ConfigProperties config = new ConfigProperties();
        // ConfigProperties config2 = new ConfigProperties().getFileIn();

        appName = config.getConfigProperties("appName").toUpperCase();
        fileConfirmSave = config.getConfigProperties("fileConfirmSave");
        txtConfirmChange = config.getConfigProperties("txtConfirmChange");

        // Create and set up the window.
        JFrame frame = new JFrame();
        frame.setTitle(appName);

        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));
        /* BEGIN ROOT Pane: */

        /* BEGIN Layered Pane: */
        // Add Main Menu
        MainMenuBar mainMenu = new MainMenuBar();
        frame.setJMenuBar(mainMenu.createMainMenuBar(frame));

        /* BEGIN CONTENT Pane(s): */

        // Add JPanel Content // can I pass a layout object?
        frame.setContentPane(ContentPaneCreator.createContentPane("darkseagreen", 800, 255));

        // Add Tool Bar /* needs to be run AFTER we .setContentPane() in order for it to be layerd on top */
        ToolBarCreator toolBar = new ToolBarCreator();
        frame.getContentPane().add(toolBar.createToolBar(), BorderLayout.NORTH);


        // TODO
        /*
         * Pass dynamic color values to LabelCreator() once you get
         * newStickyNote() working
         */
        frame.getContentPane().add(
                LabelCreator.createLabel(frame, "Java Swing", "purple"),
                BorderLayout.NORTH);

        // Display the window here with JFrame//
        //frame.setExtendedState(JFrame.MAXIMIZED_BOTH);
        // TODO
        /* set configuration to remember frame size */
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public void doExit(JFrame frame) {
        boolean fDirty = true;
        if (fDirty)
            switch (JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(StickyNotes.this,
                    fileConfirmSave, txtConfirmChange,
                    JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION)) {
            case JOptionPane.YES_OPTION:
                // if (doSave())
                frame.dispose();
                break;
            case JOptionPane.NO_OPTION:
                frame.dispose();
            }
        else
            frame.dispose();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                new StickyNotes().createStickyNotesGUI();
            }
        });
    }
}

1) **Why** are you trying to set a size for the content pane? 2) For better help sooner, post an [SSCCE](http://sscce.org/). — Andrew Thompson, Jul 31 '12 at 00:35
If you are using `pack()` then what's wrong with the preferred sizes of the enclosed components? — trashgod, Jul 31 '12 at 00:52
@JoJo what is layout of your `JFrame` or the **parent** `Component` — Harmeet Singh, Jul 31 '12 at 05:56
@HarmeetSingh Excellent question. I was hoping it would be answered in an SSCCE. — Andrew Thompson, Jul 31 '12 at 08:43
@AndrewThompson I sent a link to myself, I am going to look into SSCCE at work today, with some Gusto! — JoJo, Jul 31 '12 at 11:17
@HarmeetSingh Hi - I don't think I really have defined any layout yet, maybe that is my problem! :) I am going to edit/post my main class just sop Ya'll can see that my main goal is to break everything out into classes instead of one long Main() class that does it all. — JoJo, Jul 31 '12 at 11:17

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 31 '12 at 00:30

1

Try:

contentPane.setSize(intWidth, intHeight);

I'm pretty sure the above is sufficient, but you can also try:

contentPane.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(intWidth, intHeight));
contentPane.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(intWidth, intHeight));
contentPane.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(intWidth, intHeight));

answered Jul 31 '12 at 00:30

Zong

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1

Yes, perhaps a better answer is to avoid having to use these methods at all. But his method signature is `createContentPane(String color, int intWidth, int intHeight)`, so I think this is a practical solution for whatever he/she's trying to do. – Zong Jul 31 '12 at 01:00

Harmeet Singh · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-31T17:23:35.600

There are some problems in your code :

Firstly, if using frame.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));(FlowLayout) then hereframe.getContentPane().add(toolBar.createToolBar(), BorderLayout.NORTH); why are you specifying BorderLayout.NORTH which has no effect

again case with frame.getContentPane().add(LabelCreator.createLabel(frame, "Java Swing", "purple"),BorderLayout.NORTH);

EDIT :
For your contentpane problem, firstly looking at following code(demo) :

JFrame frame= new JFrame();
frame.getContentPane().setBackground(Color.red);
frame.getContentPane().setPreferredSize(new Dimension(width, height));
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);

When you pass different values for width and height you will see whole size of frame will get effected as i have not specified setSize anywhere, the reason for this is

To appear onscreen, every GUI component must be part of a containment hierarchy. A containment hierarchy is a tree of components that has a top-level container as its root. We'll show you one in a bit.
Each GUI component can be contained only once. If a component is already in a container and you try to add it to another container, the component will be removed from the first container and then added to the second.
Each top-level container has a content pane that, generally speaking, contains (directly or indirectly) the visible components in that top-level container's GUI.
You can optionally add a menu bar to a top-level container. The menu bar is by convention positioned within the top-level container, but outside the content pane. Some look and feels, such as the Mac OS look and feel, give you the option of placing the menu bar in another place more appropriate for the look and feel, such as at the top of the screen.

So the conclusion is that changing contentpane size will change frame size.

As your statement frame.setContentPane(ContentPaneCreator.createContentPane("darkseagreen", 800, 255)); is making the panel as contentpane, so again changing its size is to change frame size

But the other way around is :

frame.getContentPane().add(ContentPaneCreator.createContentPane("darkseagreen", 800, 255));

add a container to jframe and then add your components to that container( jpanel in your case )

Hope this will help and one thing more i also used to code like you creating methods and classes for every little purpose, but sometimes they raise complexities instead of simplicity, so my suggestion to you is to follow a design pattern like MVC or anyother you like

Thank you! I have so much to digest here, but you helped me get the whole application started with your corrections. I was wondering why can I use this instead, and it still works: frame.add(ContentPaneCreator.createStickyNote("darkseagreen", 600, 755)); — JoJo, Jul 31 '12 at 23:29

how do I pass dimensions to a Swing JPanel creator class?

2 Answers2