Java: How do I move a JLabel to the center of a JPanel?

Question

So in my GUI, I have a JFrame that's a borderlayout. There's a menubar, and some GUI stuff in NORTH and WEST. In CENTER, there is one JLabel. I want it to move to the center (both horizontally and vertically) of the JPanel. How do I do that correctly? I tried box layout and grid layout. One requirement is that I cannot use gridbag layout.

public class NewClass extends JFrame{
    public NewClass () {
        setVisible(true);
        setSize(500,500);
        setDefaultCloseOperation (EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

//menubar
        JMenuBar bar = new JMenuBar();
        JMenu editMenu = new JMenu("Edit");
        JMenuItem mItem = new JMenuItem("Cut"); // edit->cut
        editMenu.add(mItem);
        mItem = new JMenuItem("Copy"); // edit->copy
        editMenu.add(mItem);
        mItem = new JMenuItem("Paste"); // edit->paste
        editMenu.add(mItem);
        bar.add(editMenu);
        this.setJMenuBar(bar);

//north panel
        JPanel topPanel = new JPanel();
        this.add(topPanel,BorderLayout.NORTH);
        JLabel myLabel = new JLabel ("Label:") ;
        topPanel.add(myLabel);
        JButton mytopButton = new JButton ("Push Me");
        topPanel.add(mytopButton);

//left panel
        JPanel leftPanel = new JPanel();
        leftPanel.setBorder (new TitledBorder("Commands:"));
        leftPanel.setLayout (new GridLayout (10,1));
        this.add(leftPanel,BorderLayout.WEST);
        JButton myLeftButton1 = new JButton ("Button 1");
        leftPanel.add(myLeftButton1);
        JButton myLeftButton2 = new JButton ("Button 2");
        leftPanel.add(myLeftButton2);
        JButton myLeftButton3 = new JButton ("Button3");
        leftPanel.add(myLeftButton3);

//center panel
        JPanel centerPanel = new JPanel();
        this.add(centerPanel,BorderLayout.CENTER);
        JLabel mapLabel = new JLabel("Test_String"); //move this to center of JPanel
        centerPanel.add(mapLabel);
        centerPanel.setBorder (new EtchedBorder(Color.black,Color.black));
        centerPanel.setBackground (Color.white);
    }
}

See also [this answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/7181197/418556) for the Right-Hand two layouts (to center a component). — Andrew Thompson, Oct 30 '13 at 05:22

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 30 '13 at 05:13

1

Check the API for methods that affect the alignment of the component.

There are methods that affect the alignment of the component within the layout manager and others that affect the alignment of the text within the label itself.

answered Oct 30 '13 at 05:13

camickr

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 30 '13 at 05:14

1

Start by taking a look at the JavaDocs for JLabel

Specifically, JLabel#setHorizontalAlignment and JLabel#setVerticalAlignment

answered Oct 30 '13 at 05:14

MadProgrammer

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score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 30 '13 at 05:35

Answered. Thanks everyone.

    JPanel centerPanel = new JPanel();
    centerPanel.setLayout (new GridLayout ()); //added
    this.add(centerPanel,BorderLayout.CENTER);
    JLabel mapLabel = new JLabel("Test_String");
    mapLabel.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.CENTER); //added
    mapLabel.setVerticalAlignment(SwingConstants.CENTER); //added
    centerPanel.add(mapLabel);
    centerPanel.setBorder (new EtchedBorder(Color.black,Color.black));
    centerPanel.setBackground (Color.white);

Then you should accept the answer that led you to the setHorizontalAlignment and setVerticalAlignment methods. — camickr, Oct 30 '13 at 15:35

Java: How do I move a JLabel to the center of a JPanel?

3 Answers3