Creating Vertical Scrollable Pane for JPanels

Question

I am trying to make a JScrollPane that contains JPanels that have charts from the JFreeChart API. GenerateChartPanel is a method that return the charts in a JPanel so I can quickly make a bunch of them. So far I have this in main:

 public static void main (String[] args){ 
    JFrame main = new JFrame();
    main.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
    main.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500,500));

    //Creates specFrame
    JScrollPane specScrollPane = new JScrollPane();
    JPanel container = new JPanel();
    container.setLayout(new GridLayout());

    container.add(generateSpecPanelFromSmiles("C"));
    container.add(generateSpecPanelFromSmiles("CC"));
    container.add(generateSpecPanelFromSmiles("CCC"));

    container.setVisible(true);
    specScrollPane.setVisible(true);
    specScrollPane.add(container);
    main.add(specScrollPane);

    RefineryUtilities.centerFrameOnScreen(main);
    main.setVisible(true);

When I run this, nothing shows up. Apparently you can't pack, setCloseOp, setLayout, or center these panes so I commented them out. What am I missing?

EDIT: Getting Dimensions

 specPanel.addComponentListener(new java.awt.event.ComponentAdapter() {
        @Override
        public void componentResized(ComponentEvent event) {
            specPanel.setSize(Math.min(specPanel.getPreferredSize().width, specPanel.getWidth()),
                    Math.min(specPanel.getPreferredSize().height, specPanel.getHeight()));
        }
    });

thanks

For better help sooner, post an [MCVE](http://stackoverflow.com/help/mcve) (Minimal Complete and Verifiable Example). — Andrew Thompson, Jun 26 '14 at 07:42

mKorbel · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-26T07:51:17.187

JScrollPane is designated to nest only one JComponent
you have to put another JPanel to JScrollPane, to this JPanel you can to add your three components
have to change default Layout Manager (FlowLayout) for parent JPanel (contains three components), which one to depends of those components, how they returns its PreferredSize, maybe to start with GridLayout(all childs has the same size on the screen)

EDIT

whatever the generateSpecPanelFromSmiles is it, to must returns PreferredSize to parentPanel, e.g. (playing with PreferredSize with GridLayout and BoxLayout - box accepting min, max and preferred size)

.

enter image description here

.

enter image description here

.

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.LayoutManager;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.BoxLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;

public class JPanelsInsideJScrollPane {

    private JFrame frame = new JFrame("JPanels Inside JScrollPane");
    private JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane();
    private JPanel parentPanel, childOne, childTwo, childThree;
    private JButton button = new JButton("Change, Switch Layout Manager to BoxLayout");

    public JPanelsInsideJScrollPane() {
        parentPanel = new JPanel() {
            @Override
            public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
                return new Dimension(new Dimension(800, 600));
            }

            @Override
            public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
                int margin = 10;
                Dimension dim = getSize();
                super.paintComponent(g);
                g.setColor(Color.DARK_GRAY);
                g.fillRect(margin, margin, dim.width - margin * 2, dim.height - margin * 2);
            }
        };
        parentPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(0, 1));
        childOne = new JPanel() {
            @Override
            public Dimension getMinimumSize() {
                return new Dimension(100, 100);
            }

            @Override
            public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
                return new Dimension(200, 300);
            }

            @Override
            public Dimension getMaximumSize() {
                return new Dimension(500, 300);
            }

            @Override
            public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
                int margin = 10;
                Dimension dim = getSize();
                super.paintComponent(g);
                g.setColor(Color.GREEN);
                g.fillRect(margin, margin, dim.width - margin * 2, dim.height - margin * 2);
            }
        };
        childTwo = new JPanel() {
            @Override
            public Dimension getMinimumSize() {
                return new Dimension(100, 100);
            }

            @Override
            public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
                return new Dimension(400, 300);
            }

            @Override
            public Dimension getMaximumSize() {
                return new Dimension(600, 400);
            }

            @Override
            public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
                int margin = 10;
                Dimension dim = getSize();
                super.paintComponent(g);
                g.setColor(Color.BLUE);
                g.fillRect(margin, margin, dim.width - margin * 2, dim.height - margin * 2);
            }
        };
        childThree = new JPanel() {
            @Override
            public Dimension getMinimumSize() {
                return new Dimension(100, 100);
            }

            @Override
            public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
                return new Dimension(400, 300);
            }

            @Override
            public Dimension getMaximumSize() {
                return new Dimension(800, 600);
            }

            @Override
            public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
                int margin = 10;
                Dimension dim = getSize();
                super.paintComponent(g);
                g.setColor(Color.ORANGE);
                g.fillRect(margin, margin, dim.width - margin * 2, dim.height - margin * 2);
            }
        };
        parentPanel.add(childOne);
        parentPanel.add(childTwo);
        parentPanel.add(childThree);
        scrollPane.setViewportView(parentPanel);
        scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().setUnitIncrement(30);
        scrollPane.getHorizontalScrollBar().setUnitIncrement(30);
        button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                LayoutManager manager = parentPanel.getLayout();
                if ((manager != null) && (manager instanceof BoxLayout)) {
                    parentPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(0, 1));
                    button.setText("Change, Switch Layout Manager to BoxLayout");
                } else if ((manager != null) && (manager instanceof GridLayout)) {
                    parentPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(parentPanel, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
                    button.setText("Change, Switch Layout Manager to GridLayout");
                }
                parentPanel.revalidate();
                parentPanel.repaint();
            }
        });
        frame.add(scrollPane);
        frame.add(button, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        frame.setSize(400, 300);
        frame.setVisible(true);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    }

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                new JPanelsInsideJScrollPane();
            }
        });
    }
}

I did as you suggested and I now have a JPanel(container) to which I added the 3 JPanels. I added the container JPanel to the ScrollPane, but now I just get a tiny box that contains nothing. (see above) — bforcer, Jun 26 '14 at 06:59
depends of (my point 3rd) how the childs to returns its PreferredSize back to the container (JPanel), you can to set [PreferredSize to parent JPanel by using getPreferredSize (correct ways)](http://stackoverflow.com/a/7760310/714968) — mKorbel, Jun 26 '14 at 07:03
pretty sure I implemented what you suggested. I added the code edited in above after the specPanel is created (SpecPanel is the Jpanel that the chart sits in). Is that what you meant? — bforcer, Jun 26 '14 at 07:22
not ComponentListener isn't good way, I'll edit my post with something about — mKorbel, Jun 26 '14 at 07:24

Creating Vertical Scrollable Pane for JPanels

1 Answers1