How should I go about inserting a layout and what layout?

Question

So here is what I have so far, I will be adding a lot more in but here is my so called skeleton. What I am having trouble doing is deciding what layout I should use, if I should just make my own, and how will I go about doing that?

Some information about my creation will be useful: I am going to have multiple tags and input spaces to the right of them on the left-most area of the GUI, on the bottom right there will be a button, and on the top right there will be a textbox that will constantly stream information of what the bot is doing.

Please help me to find a layout I can use and tell me how to easily implement it (FYI I am using Ubuntu).

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class dogedice {

    public static void createWindow() {

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Framework Michael+Dalin");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        JLabel textLabel = new JLabel("Welcome to the framework of our future bots!");
        JLabel textLabel2 = new JLabel("Username");
        JTextField textField = new JTextField("Username");

        JPanel panel = new JPanel();// Any new parts must be added here!
        panel.add(textLabel);
        panel.add(textField);
        panel.add(textLabel2);

        textLabel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800, 750));
        frame.add(panel);

        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        createWindow();
    }
}

Answer 1

First take a look at the Visual Guide to Layout Managers . Then, you'll notice that with a little creativity, you can achieve just about any desired layout either with just one layout manager or a combination of several for all your components.

Based on your description, you could use a BorderLayout with a JPanel in each of the quadrants.

• In the SOUTH quadrant, a FlowLayout could be used with a right alignment.
• In the WEST quadrant, a GridBagLayout could be used to create two columns, one for the tag (which I assumed was a JLabel ) and one for an input space ( JTextField ).
• In the CENTER quadrant, the text area can be used to display output ( JTextArea encapsulated in a JScrollPanel )

Here's an example:

import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.EmptyBorder;
import java.awt.*;

public class LayoutExample1 extends JFrame {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    private JPanel contentPane;
    private JTextField textField;

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                try {
                    LayoutExample1 frame = new LayoutExample1();
                    frame.setVisible(true);
                } catch (Exception e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
        });
    }

    public LayoutExample1() {
        setTitle("Title of GUI");
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        contentPane = new JPanel();
        contentPane.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(5, 5, 5, 5));
        contentPane.setLayout(new BorderLayout(0, 0));
        setContentPane(contentPane);

        JPanel panel = new JPanel();
        contentPane.add(panel, BorderLayout.WEST);
        GridBagLayout gbl_panel = new GridBagLayout();
        gbl_panel.columnWidths = new int[]{0, 0};
        gbl_panel.rowHeights = new int[]{0, 0};
        gbl_panel.columnWeights = new double[]{0.0, 1.0};
        gbl_panel.rowWeights = new double[]{0.0, Double.MIN_VALUE};
        panel.setLayout(gbl_panel);

        JLabel lblTag = new JLabel("Tag 1");
        GridBagConstraints gbc_lblTag = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc_lblTag.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 0, 5);
        gbc_lblTag.anchor = GridBagConstraints.EAST;
        gbc_lblTag.gridx = 0;
        gbc_lblTag.gridy = 0;
        panel.add(lblTag, gbc_lblTag);

        textField = new JTextField();
        GridBagConstraints gbc_textField = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc_textField.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gbc_textField.gridx = 1;
        gbc_textField.gridy = 0;
        panel.add(textField, gbc_textField);
        textField.setColumns(10);

        JPanel panel_1 = new JPanel();
        contentPane.add(panel_1, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        panel_1.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.RIGHT, 5, 5));

        JButton btnConfirm = new JButton("Confirm");
        panel_1.add(btnConfirm);

        JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane();
        contentPane.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea("I am a bot and I will tell you what I am doing to your systems!");
        textArea.setColumns(20);
        scrollPane.setViewportView(textArea);

        pack();
    }

}

Answer 2

If the UI is that simple, put all the tags and inputs in a JPanel with GridLayout and put it in the center of a mainPanel with BorderLayout.

If you are interested in a more complex layout and want to learn how to use one, I recommend http://miglayout.com/