How to use CardLayout Manager

[Mike Drozz]

This is what I want:
when i click on one of the radio buttons (in the west panel), i want the center panel to display one of 3 cards. problem is, i can't seem to pull it off!
here's the code for that particular tab and the action listener method for it:

    protected Component makeAddPanel() {
        JPanel addPanel = new JPanel(true);         
        addPanel.setLayout (new BorderLayout ());
        
        JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel();   
        buttonPanel.setLayout (new BoxLayout(buttonPanel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
        
        JPanel textPanel = new JPanel();
        textPanel.setLayout (new BoxLayout(textPanel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
   
        JPanel cards = new JPanel();
        cards.setLayout(new CardLayout());
        
        JPanel p1 = new JPanel();
        p1.add(new JButton("Button 1"));
        p1.add(new JButton("Button 2"));
        p1.add(new JButton("Button 3"));
        
        JPanel p2 = new JPanel();
        p2.add(new JTextField("TextField", 20));
        
        JPanel p3 = new JPanel();
        p3.add(new JTextField("TextField", 20));
        
        cards.add(p1, PHONEPANEL);
        cards.add(p2, EMAILPANEL);
        cards.add(p3, POSTALPANEL);
        addPanel.add(cards, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        TextField textName = new TextField();
        JLabel addLabel = new JLabel("Add an Item to the Database");
  
        ButtonGroup radioButtons = new ButtonGroup();
        JRadioButton phoneButton = new JRadioButton("Phone");
        JRadioButton emailButton = new JRadioButton("E-Mail");
        JRadioButton postalButton = new JRadioButton("Postal");
        
        radioButtons.add(phoneButton);
        radioButtons.add(emailButton);
        radioButtons.add(postalButton);
        
        textPanel.add(textName);
        buttonPanel.add(phoneButton);
        buttonPanel.add(emailButton);
        buttonPanel.add(postalButton);
        addPanel.add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.WEST);
        addPanel.add(addLabel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
        addLabel.setHorizontalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER);
                      
        return addPanel;
    }
    
    public void itemStateChanged(ItemEvent evt) {
        CardLayout cl = (CardLayout)(cards.getLayout());
        cl.show(cards, (String)evt.getItem());
    }  

thanks in advance!

[Chris Brat]

create some panel with a gridlayout (or layout of your choice)
create the 3 buttons, assign action listeners to them and add to the panel.

create ANOTHER panel ('cardPanel') and assign it with a CardLayout
Create 3 more different panels (you can add whatever components to these or make them whatever colours you want to distinguish them).

add your 3 unique panels to 'cardPanel' with the following
cardPanel.add(panel1,"panel1Identifier");
cardPanel.add(panel2,"panel2Identifier");
cardPanel.add(panel3,"panel3Identifier");

in each of your 3 action listeners for the 3 buttons do the following to call the appropriate form.
CardLayout cLay = cardPanel.getLayout();
cLay.show(cardPanel,"panel1Identifier");

keep in mind that you have to substitute the correct string identifier for the appropriate panel..
my method names might not be 100% correct (doing this quickly) , but you should be able to get the idea.
NOTE that with the show() method you are calling it on the layout manager and then giving the parent container as a parameter.