grouping labels and buttons in a JPanel with other JPanels

[mike ryan]

Hi everyone,

So i have been working on my project "changing layouts at runtime" for quite a while now and have it finally working. I am now just trying to make the different layouts look better.
I have grouped together some things on the tempPanel() , which are the Components used in the different layouts picked by the user , using JPanel as shown below..


is this a good practice? is it ok to do it that way ?


example code:

  // tempPanel that creates the content for the changedTempPanel() // 5 different layouts at runtime

    public  JPanel tempPanel () {       

        JButton button1,button2,button3;
        
        JPanel panel = new JPanel();      

        myListener listener = new myListener();

        textfield1 = new JLabel("Text 1:");	

        text = new JTextField(10);
        text.addActionListener(listener);

        textfield2 = new JLabel("text 2:");	 

        text1 = new JTextField(10);
        text1.addActionListener(listener);         
        
        output = new JLabel("output:");
        print = new JLabel("");

        panel.setLayout(new FlowLayout());

        panel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("***Changing***"));
        
        // Grouping together text and textfield1 , is easier to layout and looks better
        
        JPanel textfieldFirst = new JPanel();
        
        textfieldFirst .add(textfield1);
        textfieldFirst .add(text);

        panel.add( textfieldFirst );
        
     // Grouping together text1 and textfield2 , is easier to layout and looks better       
        
        JPanel textfieldSecond = new JPanel();
        
        textfieldSecond .add(textfield2);
        textfieldSecond.add(text1);
        
        panel.add(textfieldSecond);
        
     // Grouping together output labels for better look and they stay on the same line in all layouts: 
        
        JPanel outputGRP = new JPanel();
        
        outputGRP.add(output);
        outputGRP.add(print);
        
        panel.add(outputGRP);

        button1 = new JButton("cancel");
        button1.addActionListener(listener);
        button1.setActionCommand("Cancel");

        panel.add(button1);

        button2 = new JButton("print text");
        button2.addActionListener(listener);
        button2.setActionCommand("PrintText");

        panel.add(button2);

        button3 = new JButton("random Layout");
        button3.addActionListener(listener);
        button3.setActionCommand("NewLayout");

        panel.add(button3);
        
        panel.setVisible(true);

        return panel;
    }

Thanks in advance
Mike

[Ranganathan Kaliyur Mannar]

when does the layout change? when clicked on a button? and how are you implementing the change in your listener?

Looking from what you are doing, I think you should make use of CardLayout to display different panels as per the need

[mike ryan]

Ranganathan Kaliyur Mannar wrote:

when does the layout change? when clicked on a button? and how are you implementing the change in your listener?

Looking from what you are doing, I think you should make use of CardLayout to display different panels as per the need

hi,

In this project i am not allowed to use CardLayout although i know how to use it, that is the reason i am doing it this way. the layout is changed either using JRadioButtons in a fixed JPanel, or with a button which produces a random layout <--- just added the random layout for fun.. Like i said, everything is working quite well, just curious if grouping Components together with a JPanel whithin a JPanel is ok to do? or is there a better way of doing it?


Thanks
Mike

[Ranganathan Kaliyur Mannar]

of course, its perfectly ok to group components through panel and also through a panel of panels.

[mike ryan]

Thanks Ranganathan!!


Everything is finally done and looking good then ;)



Mike