Custom label+text field component

[Aaron Roberts]

I have been having a problem with easily getting multiple pairs of labels and text fields on a JFrame. Not actually a problem, but a hassle. If I want this -
My Label ----Text Field----
Anthr Lbl ----Text Field----
Third Lbl ----Text Field----
(Thats really rough ASCII'ish art!)
I find myself having to do one of 2 things -
- Create a panel and set its layout manager to gridbag or grid, then add each pair of components
- Create a panel and set the manager to box layout, then create a sub-panel for each label/text field pair using a flow layout
My solution is to create a custom JComponet, which has a label and a text field combined. It has to at least act this way, internally it can be whatever works best.
Does anyone have any suggestions for how to implement this?
Can I do it by actually using a label and text field internally?
All help appreciated!
Regards,
Aaron R>
[ December 29, 2003: Message edited by: Aaron Roberts ]

[Nathan Pruett]

You would just make a new "component" of a JPanel with a JLabel and a JTextfield inside it, and add some methods to the class to set and get the text from the label and textfield. It would be just like the sub-panel in the box layout example you gave, only the subpanel will be a separate class.
[ December 30, 2003: Message edited by: Nathan Pruett ]

[Aaron Roberts]

Sounds like a plan.
I have a layout I did, not related to this one, where I couldn't figure out a solution, except to layer 3 or 4 panels inside each other. I'm worried about performance, due to all the nested panels. Is that really an issue? Should I even be concerned with that here with my 'component'?
Regards,
Aaron R>

[Nathan Pruett]

The impact to performance would be negligible... if any. If it was thousands of panels, maybe, but if you are using thousands of panels, you don't have a good GUI design in the first place.