Using MigLayout in Java Swing

Question

I'm curious as to how I can use MigLayout to evenly distribute components on a grid when placing the components:

For example, if I were to place FOUR JRadioButtons in a ButtonGroup to span 3 rows and 2 columns (2, 3), and subsequently placed THREE JButtons, the distribution is weighted unequally, I would end up with this:

As seen in the image, A and B are the same size and C holds the remaining space: I would prefer A, B, C to be equal thirds vertically.

If this is possible in GridBagLayout I can utilize that as well, however I run into the same issue with either layout.

Here lies an example of trying to further implement this in an application

(I'd prefer to have all buttons disregarding the ButtonGroups, the decimal, and equals to be the same size)

Much thanks.

EDIT: (Thanks, to Andrew for the fixes) Here's the example code of adding the buttons using MigLayout:

    bp.add(buttonGroup1, "grow, span 2 3");
    bp.add(btnQuot );
    bp.add(btnMod);
    bp.add(btnA);
    bp.add(emptyBtn1, "grow");
    bp.add(emptyBtn2, "grow");
    bp.add(emptyBtn3, "grow");
    bp.add(emptyBtn4, "grow");
    bp.add(emptyBtn5, "grow, wrap");
    bp.add(emptyBtn6, "grow");
    bp.add(emptyBtn7, "grow");
    bp.add(btnB, "grow");
    bp.add(btnBackSpace);
    bp.add(btnClrEntr);
    bp.add(btnClear);
    bp.add(btnPlMns);
    bp.add(btnSqrt, "grow,wrap");
    bp.add(emptyBtn8, "grow");
    bp.add(emptyBtn9, "grow");
    bp.add(btnC, "grow");
    bp.add(btn7, "grow");
    bp.add(btn8, "grow");
    bp.add(btn9, "grow");
    bp.add(btnDiv, "grow");
    bp.add(btnPerc, "grow, wrap");
    bp.add(buttonGroup2, "span 2 3");
    bp.add(emptyBtn10, "grow");
    bp.add(emptyBtn11, "grow");
    bp.add(btnD, "grow");
    bp.add(btn4, "grow");
    bp.add(btn5, "grow");
    bp.add(btn6);
    bp.add(btnMult, "grow");
    bp.add(btnOneOverX, "wrap");
    bp.add(emptyBtn12, "grow");
    bp.add(emptyBtn13, "grow");
    bp.add(btnE, "grow");
    bp.add(btn1, "grow");
    bp.add(btn2, "grow");
    bp.add(btn3);
    bp.add(btnSub, "grow");
    bp.add(btnEquals, "grow,wrap, span 1 2");
    bp.add(emptyBtn14, "grow");
    bp.add(emptyBtn15, "grow");
    bp.add(btnF, "grow");
    bp.add(btn0, "grow, span 2");
    bp.add(btnDecimal, "grow");
    bp.add(btnPlus, "grow");

The issue may very well be trying to represent the button groups as a 2x3 cell, so I will attempt the multiple panels when next possible.

Answer 1

You can do this with MigLayout. Check out the section on "Merging and Splitting Cells" . Also don't be afraid to use multiple JPanels.

Here's a simplified example of what you're trying to do:

public class MigSample
{   
    public static void main (String [] args)
    {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame();

        // create radio buttons
        JRadioButton radio1 = new JRadioButton("1");
        JRadioButton radio2 = new JRadioButton("2");
        JRadioButton radio3 = new JRadioButton("3");
        JRadioButton radio4 = new JRadioButton("4");

        // create buttons
        JButton buttonA = new JButton("A");
        JButton buttonB = new JButton("B");
        JButton buttonC = new JButton("C");
        JButton buttonD = new JButton("D");
        JButton buttonE = new JButton("=");

        // create the panel that contains the radio buttons
        JPanel radioPanel = new JPanel(new MigLayout("wrap 1")); // wrap 1 let's us avoid adding the wrap constraing to every component
        radioPanel.add(radio1);
        radioPanel.add(radio2);
        radioPanel.add(radio3);
        radioPanel.add(radio4);

        // create the panel that contains the other buttons
        JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel(new MigLayout("filly, wrap 2")); // filly tells it to take up all the vertical space
        // add growy to all components so they will fit the cell height
        buttonPanel.add(buttonA, "growy");
        buttonPanel.add(buttonD, "growy");
        buttonPanel.add(buttonB, "growy");
        buttonPanel.add(buttonE, "span 1 2, growy"); // span 1 2 tells this component to span 1 column and 2 rows
        buttonPanel.add(buttonC, "growy");

        // create the main contentPane
        JPanel contentPane = new JPanel(new MigLayout("filly")); // again, we want to fill the vertical space so the 2 panels will have the same height
        contentPane.add(radioPanel);
        contentPane.add(buttonPanel, "growy");

        frame.setContentPane(contentPane);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }
}