My preference is MigLayout because it is the most complete and well documented layout manager for Swing. In addition to Swing, it also supports SWT and JavaFX, so the time you spend learning it may pay back more than once. It supports maven, refer to http://www.miglayout.com for details, which is a big plus. Also it has a very useful debug feature. You can add "debug 1" in the constructor, and you will se how the layout was created. Example:
emailButtonPanel.setLayout(new MigLayout("wrap, fill, insets 20 10 0 10, debug 1"));
Another feature that I find very useful from time to time, is the hidemode, which allows you that a component does not take part in the layout if not visible (or several other strategies).
Here is one possible approach for the image you posted, using MigLayout:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.Border;
import javax.swing.border.TitledBorder;
import net.miginfocom.layout.CC;
import net.miginfocom.swing.MigLayout;
/**
*/
public class LayoutApproach {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
@Override
public void run() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Contact information");
frame.getContentPane().add(new ContactPanel());
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(800, 450));
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null); // Center
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
static class ContactPanel extends JPanel {
private JPanel namePanel;
private TitledBorder nameTitledBorder;
private JLabel firstNameLabel;
private JTextField firstNameTextField;
private JLabel lastNameLabel;
private JTextField lastNameTextField;
private JLabel titleLabel;
private JTextField titleTextField;
private JLabel nicknameLabel;
private JTextField nickNameTextField;
private JLabel formatLabel;
private JComboBox<String> formatComboBox;
private JPanel emailPanel;
private TitledBorder emailTitledBorder;
private JLabel emailLabel;
private JTextField emailTextField;
private JList<String> emailItemsList;
private JLabel mailFormatLabel;
private JPanel emailButtonPanel;
private JButton addButton;
private JButton editButton;
private JButton removeButton;
private JButton asDefaultButton;
private JRadioButton htmlRadioButton;
private JRadioButton plainTextRadioButton;
private JRadioButton customTextRadioButton;
private JPanel buttonPanel;
private JButton okButton;
private JButton cancelButton;
public ContactPanel() {
createComponents();
makeLayout();
createHandlers();
registerHandlers();
initComponent();
i18n();
}
/**
* Create GUI components, but contains no layout.
*/
public void createComponents() {
namePanel = new JPanel();
nameTitledBorder = new TitledBorder("");
firstNameLabel = new JLabel();
firstNameTextField = new JTextField();
lastNameLabel = new JLabel();
lastNameTextField = new JTextField();
titleLabel = new JLabel();
titleTextField = new JTextField();
nicknameLabel = new JLabel();
nickNameTextField = new JTextField();
formatLabel = new JLabel();
formatComboBox = new JComboBox<>();
emailPanel = new JPanel();
emailTitledBorder = new TitledBorder("");
emailLabel = new JLabel();
emailTextField = new JTextField();
emailItemsList = new JList<>();
mailFormatLabel = new JLabel();
emailButtonPanel = new JPanel();
addButton = new JButton();
editButton = new JButton();
removeButton = new JButton();
asDefaultButton = new JButton();
htmlRadioButton = new JRadioButton();
plainTextRadioButton = new JRadioButton();
customTextRadioButton = new JRadioButton();
buttonPanel = new JPanel();
okButton = new JButton();
cancelButton = new JButton("Cancel");
}
/**
* Create listeners/handlers
*/
public void createHandlers() {
}
/**
* Registers/adds listeners/handlers.
*/
public void registerHandlers() {
}
public void makeLayout() {
layoutNamePanel();
layoutEmailPanel();
layoutButtonPanel();
MigLayout migLayout = new MigLayout("fill, insets 20");
setLayout(migLayout);
add(namePanel, "dock north");
add(emailPanel, "dock north");
add(buttonPanel, "dock south");
}
private void layoutButtonPanel() {
buttonPanel.setLayout(new MigLayout("alignX right"));
buttonPanel.add(okButton, "tag ok");
buttonPanel.add(cancelButton, "tag cancel");
}
private void layoutNamePanel() {
MigLayout nameLayout = new MigLayout("fill, wrap 4", // Layout Constraints
"15[]15[grow]15[]15[grow]", // Column constraints
""); // Row constraints
// -- Layout all components with name
namePanel.setLayout(nameLayout);
// Create this border here since I use it for layout
Border nameBorder = BorderFactory.createCompoundBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(10, 6, 10, 6), nameTitledBorder);
namePanel.setBorder(nameBorder);
namePanel.add(firstNameLabel, "alignX right");
namePanel.add(firstNameTextField, "grow");
namePanel.add(lastNameLabel, "alignX right");
namePanel.add(lastNameTextField, "grow");
namePanel.add(titleLabel, "alignX right");
namePanel.add(titleTextField, "grow");
namePanel.add(nicknameLabel, "alignX right");
namePanel.add(nickNameTextField, "grow");
namePanel.add(formatLabel, "alignX right");
namePanel.add(formatComboBox, new CC().grow().span(3)); // Alternative to using plain text'
}
private void layoutEmailPanel() {
MigLayout emailLayout = new MigLayout("fill",// Layout Constraints
"", // Column constraints
""); // Row constraints
// -- Layout all components with name
emailPanel.setLayout(emailLayout);
// Create this border here since I use it for layout
Border emailBorder = BorderFactory.createCompoundBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(10, 6, 10, 6), emailTitledBorder);
emailPanel.setBorder(emailBorder);
emailButtonPanel.setLayout(new MigLayout("wrap, fill, insets 20 10 0 10"));
emailButtonPanel.add(addButton, "growx");
emailButtonPanel.add(editButton, "growx");
emailButtonPanel.add(removeButton, "growx");
emailButtonPanel.add(asDefaultButton, "growx");
JPanel emailAndItems = new JPanel(new MigLayout("fill"));
emailAndItems.add(emailLabel, "split 2");
emailAndItems.add(emailTextField, "span, growx, wrap");
emailAndItems.add(emailItemsList, "span, grow");
JPanel radioButtons = new JPanel(new MigLayout());
radioButtons.add(htmlRadioButton);
radioButtons.add(plainTextRadioButton);
radioButtons.add(customTextRadioButton);
emailPanel.add(radioButtons, "dock south");
emailPanel.add(mailFormatLabel, "dock south, gapleft 15");
emailPanel.add(emailAndItems, "dock west, growx, push");
emailPanel.add(emailButtonPanel, "dock east, shrink");
ButtonGroup buttonGroup = new ButtonGroup();
buttonGroup.add(htmlRadioButton);
buttonGroup.add(plainTextRadioButton);
buttonGroup.add(customTextRadioButton);
}
/**
* Sets initial values for component.
*/
public void initComponent() {
formatComboBox.addItem("Item 1");
formatComboBox.addItem("Item 2");
formatComboBox.addItem("Item 3");
formatComboBox.addItem("Item 4");
DefaultListModel<String> model = new DefaultListModel<>();
emailItemsList.setModel(model);
model.insertElementAt("Item 1", 0);
model.insertElementAt("Item 2", 1);
model.insertElementAt("Item 3", 2);
model.insertElementAt("Item 4", 3);
customTextRadioButton.setSelected(true);
}
public void i18n() {
nameTitledBorder.setTitle("Name:");
firstNameLabel.setText("First Name:");
lastNameLabel.setText("Last Name:");
titleLabel.setText("Title:");
nicknameLabel.setText("Nickname:");
formatLabel.setText("Format:");
emailTitledBorder.setTitle("E-mail");
emailLabel.setText("E-mail address:");
mailFormatLabel.setText("Mail Format:");
addButton.setText("Add");
editButton.setText("Edit");
removeButton.setText("Remove");
asDefaultButton.setText("As Default");
htmlRadioButton.setText("HTML");
plainTextRadioButton.setText("Plain Text");
customTextRadioButton.setText("Custom");
okButton.setText("OK");
cancelButton.setText("Cancel");
}
}
}
The code was written in Java 7. A maven pom.xml file to go with it could be something like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>stackoverflow</groupId>
<artifactId>stackoverflow</artifactId>
<version>1.0</version>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.miglayout</groupId>
<artifactId>miglayout-core</artifactId>
<version>4.2</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.miglayout</groupId>
<artifactId>miglayout-swing</artifactId>
<version>4.2</version>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<source>1.7</source>
<target>1.7</target>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</project>
