JLabel text in narrow column instead of spread out

Question

I am trying to have a frame that has a JLabel on it. I have succeeded in adding it to the frame but the text shows up in a narrow column instead of taking up more space in the window. How do I fix this? I tried using the html with no luck.

EDIT: The intro panel is the one I am having trouble with.

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.Insets;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.text.DecimalFormat;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextField;

public class Window implements ActionListener{

    JFrame frame = new JFrame("Loan Program");
    JFrame intro = new JFrame("Welcome To The Loan Program!");
    JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
    JPanel panel2 = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
    JPanel panel3 = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
    JPanel descriptionPanel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
    JPanel descriptionPanel1 = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
    GridBagConstraints g = new GridBagConstraints();
    JButton calculate;
    JButton cancel;
    JButton reset;
    JButton introOk;
    JLabel loanAmount;
    JLabel loanInterest;
    JLabel loanPeriod;
    JLabel monthlyRepayment;
    JLabel introLabel;
    JTextField laField;
    JTextField liField;
    JTextField lpField;
    JTextField mrField;
    DecimalFormat df = new DecimalFormat("#.##");

    public Window() {

        g.insets = new Insets(10, 10, 20, 10); //For the spacing between elements


        //Initalizing components
        introLabel = new JLabel();
        introOk = new JButton("Ok");

        //Setting up text for intro panel
        String text = "<html><h1 align='center'>Loan Program 1.0</h1>";
        text = text + "This program lets you calculate the various aspects of loans <br />";
        text = text + "If you are leaving a field empty then use 0 for its place <br />";
        text = text + "<h1 align='center'>Text Fields To Enter</h1>";
        text = text + "Monthly Payment: Enter values for: Loan Period, Loan Amount, and Loan Interest. Enter 0 for Monthly Payment. <br />";
        text = text + "Loan Period: Enter Values for: Loan Amount, Loan Interest, and Monthly Payment. Enter 0 for Loan Period. <br />";

        //Setting text to the label
        introLabel.setText(text);

        //Positioning introLabel
        descriptionPanel.add(introLabel, g);


        //Positioning button
        descriptionPanel1.add(introOk, g);

        //Actionlistener for buttont to dipose current frame.
        introOk.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                intro.dispose();

            }
        });

        intro.add(descriptionPanel);
        intro.add(descriptionPanel1, BorderLayout.SOUTH);


        //Initializing buttons here and adding them to panel
        calculate = new JButton("Calculate");
        reset = new JButton("Reset");
        cancel = new JButton("Cancel"); 
        panel.add(calculate, g);
        panel.add(reset, g);
        panel.add(cancel, g);

        //Adding the Actionlistener for buttons
        calculate.addActionListener(this);
        reset.addActionListener(this);
        cancel.addActionListener(this);

        //Initializing the labels
        loanAmount = new JLabel("Loan Amount:");
        loanInterest = new JLabel("Loan Interest:");
        loanPeriod = new JLabel("Loan Period:");
        monthlyRepayment = new JLabel("Monthly Payment:");

        //Positioning loanAmount label
        g.gridx = 0;
        g.gridy = 0;
        panel2.add(loanAmount, g);

        //Positioning loanInterest label
        g.gridx = 0;
        g.gridy = 2;
        panel2.add(loanInterest, g);

        //Positioning loanPeriod label
        g.gridx = 0;
        g.gridy = 3;
        panel2.add(loanPeriod, g);

        //Positioning monthlyRepayment label
        g.gridx = 0;
        g.gridy = 4;
        panel2.add(monthlyRepayment, g);

        //Initializing the text fields
        laField = new JTextField("", 20);
        liField = new JTextField("", 20);
        lpField = new JTextField("", 20);
        mrField = new JTextField("", 20);

        //Positioning laField
        g.gridx = 1;
        g.gridy = 0;
        panel2.add(laField, g);

        //Positioning liField
        g.gridx = 1;
        g.gridy = 2;
        panel2.add(liField, g);

        //Positioning lpField
        g.gridx = 1;
        g.gridy = 3;
        panel2.add(lpField, g);

        //Positioning mrField
        g.gridx = 1;
        g.gridy = 4;
        panel2.add(mrField, g);

        //Adding panels to the frame using boarderlayout
        frame.add(panel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        frame.add(panel2, BorderLayout.WEST);

        // Creating the window
        frame.setSize(500, 500);
        frame.setVisible(true);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        //popup window for intro 
        intro.setSize(500, 500);
        intro.setVisible(true);
        intro.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    }

    @Override
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {

        Object o = e.getSource();

        if(o == cancel) {

            //Initializing components for the window
            JFrame frame1 = new JFrame("Are you sure?");
            JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
            JPanel panel2 = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
            JLabel label = new JLabel("Are you sure you want to exit?");
            JButton yes = new JButton("Yes");
            JButton no = new JButton("No");

            //Positioning Label
            g.gridx = 0;
            g.gridy = 0;
            panel.add(label, g);

            //Positioning yes button
            g.gridx = 0;
            g.gridy = 0;
            g.gridwidth = 1;
            panel2.add(yes, g);

            //Positioning no button
            g.gridx = 1;
            g.gridy = 0;
            panel2.add(no, g);

            //Action to close program when yes is clicked
            yes.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
                @Override
                public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                    System.exit(0);
                }

            });

            //Action to close current window if no is clicked
            no.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

                @Override
                public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                    frame1.dispose();
                }

            });

            //Adding the panels to frame with borderlayout
            frame1.add(panel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
            frame1.add(panel2, BorderLayout.SOUTH);

            //Setting up frame 
            frame1.setSize(300, 300);
            frame1.setVisible(true);;
            frame1.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

            //Adding actionListener once again for second level of menu 
            //No to close the current window
            Object b = e.getSource();
            if(b == no) {
                System.out.println("heres");
                frame1.dispose();
            } 

            //Yes to close the program completely
            if(b == yes) {
                System.exit(0);
            }

        }

        //New instance of window to reset it
        if(o == reset) {
            frame.dispose();
            new Window();
        }

        //Calculate buttons actions
        if(o == calculate) {

            //Test values to see if they are being passed
            System.out.println(laField.getText() + "\n" + liField.getText() + "/n" + lpField.getText() + "\n" + mrField.getText());

            //If statement for monthly payment with the correct fields filled out
            if(laField.getText() != null && liField.getText() != null && lpField.getText() != null && mrField.getText() == "0") {
                //Strings and double and ints to convert from text field number.
                String sRate, sMonths, sPrincipal;
                sRate = liField.getText();
                sMonths = lpField.getText();
                sPrincipal = laField.getText();
                double rate = Double.parseDouble(sRate);
                int months = Integer.parseInt(sMonths);
                double principal = Double.parseDouble(sPrincipal);

                //Setting up components for new window
                JFrame frame = new JFrame("Monthly Payment");
                JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
                JPanel panel2 = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
                JLabel label = new JLabel("The monthly payment is: " + df.format(calculateMonthlyRepayment(rate, months, principal)));
                JButton button = new JButton("Ok");

                //Action listener for okay button to just close current frame.
                button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
                    @Override
                    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                        frame.dispose();
                    }

                });

                //Padding for element
                g.insets = new Insets(5, 5, 5, 5);

                //Adding components to panel
                panel.add(label, g);
                panel2.add(button, g);

                //Adding panels to frame
                frame.add(panel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
                frame.add(panel2, BorderLayout.SOUTH);

                //Intializing frame
                frame.setSize(300, 300);
                frame.setVisible(true);
                frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);


            }

            //If statement for period calculation checks to see proper fields filled
            if(mrField.getText() != null && liField.getText() != null && laField.getText() != null && lpField.getText() == "0"); {

                //String and doubles to convert to numbers from text box
                String sMonthlyPayment, sloanAmount, sinterestRate;
                sMonthlyPayment = mrField.getText();
                sloanAmount = laField.getText();
                sinterestRate = liField.getText();
                double monthlyPayment = Double.parseDouble(sMonthlyPayment);
                double loanAmount = Double.parseDouble(sloanAmount);
                double interestRate = Double.parseDouble(sinterestRate);

                //Initializing the components
                JFrame frame = new JFrame("Total Loan Period");
                JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
                JPanel panel2 = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
                JLabel label = new JLabel("Total number of periods is : " + calculatePeriod(monthlyPayment, interestRate, loanAmount));
                JButton button = new JButton("Ok");

                //Button listener to close current frame
                button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
                    @Override
                    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                        frame.dispose();
                    }

                });

                //Padding for the components
                g.insets = new Insets(5, 5, 5, 5);

                //Adding componeents to panel with gridbag
                panel.add(label, g);
                panel2.add(button, g);

                //Adding panels to frame
                frame.add(panel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
                frame.add(panel2, BorderLayout.SOUTH);

                //Initializing the frame
                frame.setSize(300, 300);
                frame.setVisible(true);
                frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
            }
        }

    }

    public double calculateMonthlyRepayment(double rate, int months, double principal) {
        String input = mrField.getText();
        double totalMr = Double.parseDouble(input);
        double mrpayment = (rate + ((rate)/((Math.pow(1 + rate, months) - 1)))) * principal;
        return mrpayment;
    }

    double calculatePeriod(double monthlyPayment, double interestRate, double loanAmount) {
        return (Math.log(monthlyPayment) - Math.log(monthlyPayment - (loanAmount * interestRate))) / Math.log(1 + interestRate);
    }

}

you must set the size by using setPreferredSize() on your components and call pack() before setVisible(true) — gantners, Nov 19 '14 at 10:43
@gantners: [Don't use `setPreferredSize()` when you really mean to override `getPreferredSize()`](http://stackoverflow.com/q/7229226/230513). — trashgod, Nov 19 '14 at 11:15

gantners · Answer 1 · 2014-11-20T08:50:46.630

First, a recommendation, please try using a gui designer like window builder or matisse. they really ease your daily work and limit the badness of code on defining layout constraints.

if you experience troubles with the layout and non appearing or misaligned components, it´s usually a sign of wrong usage of your desired layout manager. There are excellent posts about it throughout stackoverflow.

Your most significant error in the code is reusing the GridBagConstraints, which is a bad idea because

As you might have guessed from the above example, it is possible to reuse the same GridBagConstraints instance for multiple components, even if the components have different constraints. However, it is recommended that you do not reuse GridBagConstraints, as this can very easily lead to you introducing subtle bugs if you forget to reset the fields for each new instance.

so try to share your constraints only if they are the same for each component, e.g. constraints for the labels and another one for the textfield columns.

There also lies your error on narrow columns. if you also want to specify a desired width for all labels, set the gridwidth on the label contstraint. this applies to the textfield constraint, too.

Check out the GridBagLayout Example again, for better understanding of its usage.

Some more advises: Naming your class Window maybe mislead others because they could assume they are using java.awt.window, which is totally different from your class and can be overseen as you see it only on the import statement.

Any gui element must be called from the EDT, so invoke your class using the SwingUtilities, like

SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
    public void run() {
        new Window();
    }
});

dont forget to call pack() to let the layout manager do its work based on your constraints.

Try also to avoid using tons of frames, instead use dialogs. Frames should only be used if its needed to have them in a separate context, like they would be totally indepedent from each other.

An example for you to start with:

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;

import javax.swing.JPanel;

import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.Insets;

import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.JButton;

import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;

public class GridExample extends JFrame{
    public GridExample() {
        initComponents();
        pack();
        setTitle("GridExample");
        setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setLocationRelativeTo(null); //Center, could also be setLocationByPlatform(true);
    }

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

    private void initComponents() {
        getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout(0, 0));

        JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
        getContentPane().add(mainPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        GridBagLayout gbl_mainPanel = new GridBagLayout();
        gbl_mainPanel.columnWidths = new int[]{0, 0, 0, 0};
        gbl_mainPanel.rowHeights = new int[]{0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0};
        gbl_mainPanel.columnWeights = new double[]{0.0, 1.0, 0.0, Double.MIN_VALUE};
        gbl_mainPanel.rowWeights = new double[]{0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, Double.MIN_VALUE};
        mainPanel.setLayout(gbl_mainPanel);

        JLabel lblLoanAmount = new JLabel("Loan Amount:");
        GridBagConstraints gbc_lblLoanAmount = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc_lblLoanAmount.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gbc_lblLoanAmount.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 5, 5);
        gbc_lblLoanAmount.gridx = 0;
        gbc_lblLoanAmount.gridy = 0;
        mainPanel.add(lblLoanAmount, gbc_lblLoanAmount);

        txtLoanAmount = new JTextField();
        GridBagConstraints gbc_txtLoanAmount = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc_txtLoanAmount.gridwidth = 2;
        gbc_txtLoanAmount.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 5, 0);
        gbc_txtLoanAmount.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gbc_txtLoanAmount.gridx = 1;
        gbc_txtLoanAmount.gridy = 0;
        mainPanel.add(txtLoanAmount, gbc_txtLoanAmount);
        txtLoanAmount.setColumns(10);

        JLabel lblLoanInterest = new JLabel("Loan Interest:");
        GridBagConstraints gbc_lblLoanInterest = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc_lblLoanInterest.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 5, 5);
        gbc_lblLoanInterest.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
        gbc_lblLoanInterest.gridx = 0;
        gbc_lblLoanInterest.gridy = 1;
        mainPanel.add(lblLoanInterest, gbc_lblLoanInterest);

        txtLoanInterest = new JTextField();
        GridBagConstraints gbc_txtLoanInterest = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc_txtLoanInterest.gridwidth = 2;
        gbc_txtLoanInterest.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTH;
        gbc_txtLoanInterest.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 5, 0);
        gbc_txtLoanInterest.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gbc_txtLoanInterest.gridx = 1;
        gbc_txtLoanInterest.gridy = 1;
        mainPanel.add(txtLoanInterest, gbc_txtLoanInterest);
        txtLoanInterest.setColumns(10);

        JLabel lblLoanPeriod = new JLabel("Loan Period:");
        GridBagConstraints gbc_lblLoanPeriod = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc_lblLoanPeriod.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gbc_lblLoanPeriod.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 5, 5);
        gbc_lblLoanPeriod.gridx = 0;
        gbc_lblLoanPeriod.gridy = 2;
        mainPanel.add(lblLoanPeriod, gbc_lblLoanPeriod);

        txtLoanPeriod = new JTextField();
        GridBagConstraints gbc_txtLoanPeriod = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc_txtLoanPeriod.gridwidth = 2;
        gbc_txtLoanPeriod.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTH;
        gbc_txtLoanPeriod.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 5, 0);
        gbc_txtLoanPeriod.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gbc_txtLoanPeriod.gridx = 1;
        gbc_txtLoanPeriod.gridy = 2;
        mainPanel.add(txtLoanPeriod, gbc_txtLoanPeriod);
        txtLoanPeriod.setColumns(10);

        JLabel lblMonthlyPayment = new JLabel("Monthly Payment:");
        GridBagConstraints gbc_lblMonthlyPayment = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc_lblMonthlyPayment.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gbc_lblMonthlyPayment.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 5, 5);
        gbc_lblMonthlyPayment.gridx = 0;
        gbc_lblMonthlyPayment.gridy = 3;
        mainPanel.add(lblMonthlyPayment, gbc_lblMonthlyPayment);

        txtMonthlyPament = new JTextField();
        GridBagConstraints gbc_txtMonthlyPament = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc_txtMonthlyPament.gridwidth = 2;
        gbc_txtMonthlyPament.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 5, 0);
        gbc_txtMonthlyPament.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTH;
        gbc_txtMonthlyPament.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gbc_txtMonthlyPament.gridx = 1;
        gbc_txtMonthlyPament.gridy = 3;
        mainPanel.add(txtMonthlyPament, gbc_txtMonthlyPament);
        txtMonthlyPament.setColumns(10);

        JButton btnCalculate = new JButton("Calculate");
        btnCalculate.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                calculate();
            }

            private void calculate() {
                //do the math here
                txtResult.setText("Calculate pressed!");
            }
        });

        JLabel lblResult = new JLabel("Result:");
        GridBagConstraints gbc_lblResult = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc_lblResult.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gbc_lblResult.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 0, 5);
        gbc_lblResult.gridx = 0;
        gbc_lblResult.gridy = 4;
        mainPanel.add(lblResult, gbc_lblResult);

        txtResult = new JTextField();
        GridBagConstraints gbc_txtResult = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc_txtResult.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 0, 5);
        gbc_txtResult.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gbc_txtResult.gridx = 1;
        gbc_txtResult.gridy = 4;
        mainPanel.add(txtResult, gbc_txtResult);
        txtResult.setColumns(10);
        GridBagConstraints gbc_btnCalculate = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc_btnCalculate.gridx = 2;
        gbc_btnCalculate.gridy = 4;
        mainPanel.add(btnCalculate, gbc_btnCalculate);
    }

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    private JTextField txtLoanAmount;
    private JTextField txtLoanInterest;
    private JTextField txtLoanPeriod;
    private JTextField txtMonthlyPament;
    private JTextField txtResult;

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            public void run() {
                GridExample g = new GridExample();

                 String text = "<html><h1 align='center'>Loan Program 1.0</h1>";
                    text = text + "This program lets you calculate the various aspects of loans <br />";
                    text = text + "If you are leaving a field empty then use 0 for its place <br />";
                    text = text + "<h1 align='center'>Text Fields To Enter</h1>";
                    text = text + "Monthly Payment: Enter values for: Loan Period, Loan Amount, and Loan Interest. Enter 0 for Monthly Payment. <br />";
                    text = text + "Loan Period: Enter Values for: Loan Amount, Loan Interest, and Monthly Payment. Enter 0 for Loan Period. <br />";

                g.setVisible(true);
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(g, new JLabel(text));
            }
        });
    }

}

JLabel text in narrow column instead of spread out

1 Answers1