How to resize JPanels individually?

Question

I am trying to design a simple gui interface. The frame consists of a main panel which contains another four panels "Staff Details", "Job Details" "Photo" and buttons. The output is as follows:

output

I used gridLayout for all the panels except for the "buttons panel" which has borderLayout.

Now I want to reduce the height of the bottom two panels so it won't have the extra space. How do I do that?

Here is the code for the "photo" panel and "button" panel. Both panels now have flow layout.

        photoPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300,70));
        photoPanel.add(browsebx);
        photoPanel.add(browseBtn);


        btnPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300,70));
        btnPanel.add(addBtn);
        btnPanel.add(editBtn);
        btnPanel.add(deleteBtn);
        btnPanel.add(cancelBtn);

the code is just too long...I also didnt want to provide only a part of the code since it won't be compilable — Charlie, Mar 28 '15 at 08:29
I just thought it would be more helpful for others having the same problem if I didn't post the code as it is very difficult to read through a long code — Charlie, Mar 28 '15 at 15:38

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 28 '15 at 06:57

1

you can use this.

jPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(x, y));

jPanel.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(x, y));  
jPanel.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(x, y));

answered Mar 28 '15 at 06:57

Dyrandz Famador

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Do I have to use all three? – Charlie Mar 28 '15 at 07:10
nope, just use the first one. if it didn't solve, use all of them. – Dyrandz Famador Mar 28 '15 at 07:16
It didn't work... I tried setPreferredSize and then all three of them together. – Charlie Mar 28 '15 at 07:48
did you set the jpanel size first before adding it to jframe? – Dyrandz Famador Mar 28 '15 at 07:53
yes...I have added the code for "Photo Panel" and "Button Panel" – Charlie Mar 28 '15 at 08:25
[Don't use `setPreferredSize()` when you really mean to override `getPreferredSize()`](http://stackoverflow.com/q/7229226/230513). – trashgod Mar 28 '15 at 14:36

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 28 '15 at 14:43

Your main panel is using a GridLayout, which means all four panels will be the exact same size. Don't use a GridLayout.

Instead maybe you can use a GridBagLayout. This allows your to add each panel to a specific grid, but each panel will maintain its preferred size as determines by the layout manager used on each of the individual panels.

Read the section from the Swing tutorial on How to Use GridBagLayout for more information and examples.

Remember each of the 4 child panels can use a different layout manager if desired. For example you would probably want to use a FlowLayout for the buttons panel.

Thanks a lot...I was using grid layout for simplicity but it is producing the extra space — Charlie, Mar 28 '15 at 15:44

How to resize JPanels individually?

2 Answers2