How do I add put two swing components on the same line when constructing a Java GUI with BoxLayout panels?

Question

I need to be able to put two components onto one line, repeat this several times with several other labels and text fields, but have everything stacked on top of each other nice and neat. I'll post my code below.

package madLibs;

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;

import javax.swing.BoxLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextField;

public class MadLibsGUI {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        MadLibsGUI main = new MadLibsGUI();
        main.start();
    }

    public void start() {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame();
        JPanel panel = new JPanel();
        JButton madLibButton = new JButton("Lib it!");

        JLabel title = new JLabel("Welcome to mad libs! \n Put in your words and press the 'Lib It' button to play!");
        JLabel nameLabel = new JLabel("Name: ");
        JLabel verbLabel1 = new JLabel("Verb: ");
        JLabel adjLabel = new JLabel("Adjective: ");
        JLabel verbLabel2 = new JLabel("Verb: ");
        JLabel nounLabel = new JLabel("Noun: ");

        JTextField nameTxt = new JTextField(20);
        JTextField verbTxt1 = new JTextField(20);
        JTextField adjTxt = new JTextField(20);
        JTextField verbTxt2 = new JTextField(20);
        JTextField nounTxt = new JTextField(20);

        frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.SOUTH, madLibButton);
        frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.NORTH, title);

        panel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(panel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
        panel.setBackground(Color.green);
        frame.getContentPane().add(panel);

        panel.add(nameLabel, nameTxt);
        panel.add(verbLabel1);
        panel.add(verbTxt1);
        panel.add(adjLabel);
        panel.add(adjTxt);
        panel.add(verbLabel2);
        panel.add(verbTxt2);
        panel.add(nounLabel);
        panel.add(nounTxt);

        frame.setSize(500, 500);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }
}

Answer 1

Here is one way to do it using GridBagLayout :

There are plenty of other ways to solve this.

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;

import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

public class MadLibsGUI {

    public void start() {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame();
        JPanel panel = new JPanel();
        JButton madLibButton = new JButton("Lib it!");

        JLabel title = new JLabel("Welcome to mad libs! \n Put in your words and press the 'Lib It' button to play!");
        JLabel nameLabel = new JLabel("Name: ");
        JLabel verbLabel1 = new JLabel("Verb: ");
        JLabel adjLabel = new JLabel("Adjective: ");
        JLabel verbLabel2 = new JLabel("Verb: ");
        JLabel nounLabel = new JLabel("Noun: ");

        JTextField nameTxt = new JTextField(20);
        JTextField verbTxt1 = new JTextField(20);
        JTextField adjTxt = new JTextField(20);
        JTextField verbTxt2 = new JTextField(20);
        JTextField nounTxt = new JTextField(20);

        frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.SOUTH, madLibButton);
        frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.NORTH, title);

        panel.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
        panel.setBackground(Color.green);
        frame.getContentPane().add(panel);
        GridBagConstraints left = new GridBagConstraints();
        left.anchor = GridBagConstraints.EAST;
        GridBagConstraints right = new GridBagConstraints();
        right.weightx = 2.0;
        right.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        right.gridwidth = GridBagConstraints.REMAINDER;
        panel.add(nameLabel, left);
        panel.add(nameTxt, right);
        panel.add(verbLabel1, left);
        panel.add(verbTxt1, right);
        panel.add(adjLabel, left);
        panel.add(adjTxt, right);
        panel.add(verbLabel2, left);
        panel.add(verbTxt2, right);
        panel.add(nounLabel, left);
        panel.add(nounTxt, right);
        panel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(5, 5, 5, 5));
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                MadLibsGUI main = new MadLibsGUI();
                main.start();
            }
        });
    }

}

And the result:

Answer 2

Another simple example using GridBagLayout .

Requirement is to have two components side by side . Using a BorderLayout each component can have only one area in the component ie NORTH,SOUTH ,EAST or WEST etc .

This is fixed by using a GridBagLayout

        JPanel panel1 = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());

        JPanel content1 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0, 1));
        Border border = BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Workflow Files");
        content1.setBorder(border);
        ButtonGroup group = new ButtonGroup();
        JRadioButton aRadioButton = new JRadioButton("4 slices");
        content1.add(aRadioButton);
        group.add(aRadioButton);
        aRadioButton = new JRadioButton("8 slices", true);
        content1.add(aRadioButton);
        group.add(aRadioButton);
        aRadioButton = new JRadioButton("12 slices");
        content1.add(aRadioButton);
        group.add(aRadioButton);
        aRadioButton = new JRadioButton("16 slices");
        content1.add(aRadioButton);
        group.add(aRadioButton);

        GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        c.weightx = 0.5;
        c.gridx = 0;
        c.gridy = 0;
        panel1.add(content1, c);


        JPanel content2 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0,1));
        border = BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Topology Files");
        content2.setBorder(border);
        JCheckBox aCheckbox = new JCheckBox("Achivoes");
        content2.add(aCheckbox);
        aCheckbox = new JCheckBox("Grass");
        content2.add(aCheckbox);

        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        c.weightx = 0.5;
        c.gridx = 1;
        c.gridy = 0;
        panel1.add(content2, c);