Recommendation for Layout Manager

Question

I am creating a GUI for an arcade game. It consist of a single JFrame with some JPanels and one JMenu as shown in the figure:

enter image description here

I've been trying using BorderLayout but it doesn't show the panels properly. What I get is that the JMenu shows properly. [1] adjusts its width to content the buttons inside it. The JPanel [2] fulfill almost the rest of the screen. And [3] shows just as a thin line at the end.

Here's the fragment of code that I use to put them in position:

    add(new TopMenu(), BorderLayout.PAGE_START);    // JMenu
    add(new LeftPanel(), BorderLayout.WEST);        // [1]
    add(new StatusPanel(), BorderLayout.CENTER);    // [2]
    add(new GameUI(), BorderLayout.LINE_END);       // [3]

Any suggestions of what could be provoking this behavior are welcome.

I guess this is Hovercraft's answer, but nest JPanel_2 and JPanel_3 in a rightPanel. JPanel_1 would be the leftPanel. — Gilbert Le Blanc, Aug 13 '12 at 16:47

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 13 '12 at 16:35

3

You can always nest JPanels/containers, each using its own layout. So the overall layout could be a BorderLayout with the menu at the BorderLayout.NORTH and the JPanel [1] on the BorderLayout.EAST side, then nest a JPanel into the BorderLayout.CENTER position using either another BorderLayout or a BoxLayout and put your other two JPanels into this JPanel. For instance this CENTER JPanel could use BorderLayout and it could hold JPanel [2] in its BorderLayout.NORTH position and JPanel [3] in its BorderLayout.CENTER position.

answered Aug 13 '12 at 16:35

Hovercraft Full Of Eels

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I hope your GUI code isn't as convoluted as your paragraph construction. :-) – Gilbert Le Blanc Aug 13 '12 at 16:45
Thats a solution. Thanks! But, is there any other Layout Manager that could be more useful in cases like this? – Ángel Araya Aug 13 '12 at 16:46
@GilbertLeBlanc Sorry for that, english isn't my main language. But I'm learning =) – Ángel Araya Aug 13 '12 at 16:47
1

@al arayaq: There's nothing wrong with nesting JPanels. You do have to take note of each JPanel's margins. If the margins become a concern, you can always use the GridBagLayout, where you have more control over the margins. I learned the GridBagLayout once, and now I just use it for every GUI I build. – Gilbert Le Blanc Aug 13 '12 at 16:52
@GilbertLeBlanc I'll have that in mind for the next time 'coz right now I'm a little short of time. Thanks any way. – Ángel Araya Aug 13 '12 at 16:54
tldr; Add another JPanel that contains 2 and 3. – Chris Nava Aug 13 '12 at 16:55

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 13 '12 at 17:05

Your JPanel's have to have Swing components inside, or else they will shrink to the minimum size when you call pack() on the JFrame.

Since you're creating a game, you'll need to set the preferred size on your JPanel's, and set the preferred size on the JFrame. I'm assuming you'll want to paint at least one of the JPanel components directly using the paintComponent method.

You can nest JPanel-2 and JPanel-3 in a rightPanel. You can use FlowLayout for the rightPanel itself, as well as putting JPanel-1 and rightPanel into the JFrame.

If you insist on using a layout manager that will lay out the 3 JPanel's without nesting, you will have to use the GridBagLayout. JPanel-1 will be 1 column wide and 2 rows deep. JPanel-2 will be 1 column wide and 1 column deep. JPanel-3 will be 1 column wide and 1 column deep.

You'll still have to set the preferred size of the 3 JPanel's.

Recommendation for Layout Manager

2 Answers2