Java Swings GUI, changing the display based on which button is clicked. What is the ideal way to implement this?

Question

I'm pretty new to programming Java based GUI applications. Here's what I have in mind, I want to divide the window into two areas. The first are contains buttons (or a list), and based on which button was clicked, or which item was selected, the second area changes. (finite number of buttons) Something like this:

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I can think of many ways to do this, but I am not sure what is the best practice. Do I have several invisible panels and make only 1 panel visible at a time, or do I change the ordering (bring panel x to front), or is there some other way?

Appreciate any help I receive!! Thanks in advance!

I think you are trying to implement something like a `JTabbedPane`. — Sourabh Bhat, Mar 16 '14 at 15:29

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:13

4

Although this is a primarily opinion-based answer I'd go with a Nested Layout approach:

Main panel with BorderLayout. Or you can use the frame's content pane which already has BorderLayout as default layout manager.
Left panel with BoxLayout (or GridBagLayout).
Right panel with CardLayout.

Note: Buttons in the left panel should switch right panels cards.

See Lesson: Layoing Out Components within a Container tutorial.

For complex GUIs you have also third-party layout managers available, listed in this answer:

edited May 23 '17 at 12:13

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answered Mar 16 '14 at 15:35

dic19

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Additionaly you may want to use [JSplitPane](http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/components/splitpane.html) to place left and right panels. – dic19 Mar 16 '14 at 16:04

Java Swings GUI, changing the display based on which button is clicked. What is the ideal way to implement this?

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