Add component above JFrame's menubar

[Sean O'Donnell]

Is it possible to add a component (e.g. a JPanel representing a banner) above the menubar in a frame, but below the header/title bar? If so, could you please point me in the right direction.

Thanks!

[Darryl Burke]

please point me in the right direction.

-------> The API for JRootPane

[Sean O'Donnell]

Okay, so I need to replace the LayoutManager, thanks!

[Rob Camick]

Darryl's solution is probably the proper solution but it is more involved than just changing the layout manager. You would also need to create a custom JRootPane which would need to be added to the frame. It would need methods like addBanner(...), getBanner(...).


Another approach might be to just add the menubar directly to the content pane:

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

public class MenuHeaderTest extends JFrame
{
	JMenuItem menuItem;

	public MenuHeaderTest()
	{
		JMenuBar menuBar = new JMenuBar();
		menuBar.add( new JMenu("File") );
		menuBar.add( new JMenu("Edit") );
		menuBar.add( Box.createHorizontalGlue() );
		menuBar.add( new JMenu("Help") );

		JLabel header = new JLabel("Some header Component");

		JPanel menuHeader = new JPanel( new BorderLayout() );
		menuHeader.add(header, BorderLayout.NORTH);
		menuHeader.add(menuBar, BorderLayout.CENTER);

		add(menuHeader, BorderLayout.NORTH);
	}


	public static void main(String[] args)
	{
		MenuHeaderTest frame = new MenuHeaderTest();
		frame.setDefaultCloseOperation( EXIT_ON_CLOSE );
		frame.setSize(200, 200);
		frame.setVisible(true);
	}
}

[Darryl Burke]

Another approach might be to just add the menubar directly to the content pane:

I was thinking more in terms of using a JMenuBar as a header and nesting another JRootPane.

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

public class NestedRootPane {

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

      @Override
      public void run() {
        new NestedRootPane().makeUI();
      }
    });
  }

  public void makeUI() {
    JMenuBar banner = new JMenuBar();
    banner.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
    banner.add(new JLabel("I'm the banner"));

    JMenuBar menuBar = new JMenuBar();
    JMenu menu = new JMenu("Menu");
    menu.add(new JMenuItem("Menu Item"));
    menuBar.add(menu);

    JRootPane inner = new JRootPane();
    inner.setJMenuBar(menuBar);

    JFrame frame = new JFrame();
    frame.setJMenuBar(banner);
    frame.setContentPane(inner);

    frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    frame.setSize(400, 400);
    frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    frame.setVisible(true);
  }
}

This approach could of course benefit from extending JFrame to get a class that forwards add/remove/setLayout/getLayout to the inner root pane's contentPane.

Yet another approach (almost the same as yours) could be to nest the banner and menu bar in a JMenuBar with GridLayout(0, 1) or BoxLayout.VERTICAL or ...

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

public class NestedMenuBar {

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

      @Override
      public void run() {
        new NestedMenuBar().makeUI();
      }
    });
  }

  public void makeUI() {
    JMenuBar outerBar = new JMenuBar();
    outerBar.setLayout(new GridLayout(0, 1));

    JMenu menu = new JMenu("Menu");
    menu.add(new JMenuItem("Menu Item"));
    JMenuBar innerBar = new JMenuBar();
    innerBar.add(menu);

    outerBar.add(new JLabel("I'm the banner!", JLabel.CENTER));
    outerBar.add(innerBar);

    JFrame frame = new JFrame();
    frame.setJMenuBar(outerBar);

    frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    frame.setSize(400, 400);
    frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    frame.setVisible(true);
  }
}

[Rob Camick]

Yes, I think I like the NestedMenuBar approach better.

I think its better than playing around with the root pane.

It doesn't mess up the content pane like my solution does.