Java SE (Java Platform, Standard Edition)

Hi!

At first, I have to complain, that these Layout Managers drive me crazy. Even as an experienced developer, very often, I am frustrated and I am never 100% sure which layout manager I should choose (according to the Sun How Tos) and once I have decided, the never do what I'd expect them to do. I'm not sure if I am just too dumb or if there might be an unreasonable API architecture/design...

OK, here again is a problem with layouts. And it's basically like this (See code for details):
Row one: Text Area 1, Button 1; Row two: Text Area 2, Button 2.

I just want to have the buttons aligned, the text areas should be same sized. Moreover, I want to disable vertical resizing and on horizontal resizing, I want the TextArea to be resized as well.

But it doesn't. I could partly solve the vertical resizing by setting the minimum size, but the maximum size dosen't seem to work. I can still enlarge the window. The horizontal resizing doesn't work at all. I tried border layout before and set the Text area as center, but it also doesn't work. I read that some layout managers use only preferred size, some also use min and max size and this is very confusing.

And I saw that component resizing should work for box layout as well (see Sun box layout how to). If this problem is easy to solve, please excuse my question, but I couldn't find it in the forum.

OK, here is an SSCCE:

/*
 * To change this template, choose Tools | Templates
 * and open the template in the editor.
 */

package com.ettex.componentresizetest;

import java.awt.ComponentOrientation;
import java.awt.Container;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import javax.swing.BoxLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextField;

/**
 *
 * @author Jan Wedel
 */
public class ComponentResizeTest extends JFrame{

	static ComponentResizeTest frame;
	JPanel mainPanel;
	JPanel firstPanel;
	JPanel secondPanel;
	JPanel statusPanel;
	JButton firstButton;
	JButton secondButton;
	JTextField firstField;
	JTextField secondField;
	JLabel statusText;

	public ComponentResizeTest(String name) {
		super(name);
	}

	public void addComponentsToPane() {
		Container pane = this.getContentPane();

		mainPanel = new JPanel();
		firstPanel = new JPanel();
		secondPanel = new JPanel();
		statusPanel = new JPanel();

		pane.setLayout(new BoxLayout(pane, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));

		firstField = new JTextField();
		secondField = new JTextField();

		statusText = new JLabel("Status Bar");

		firstField.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 25));
		secondField.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 25));

		secondButton = new JButton("A Button");
		firstButton = new JButton("Another Button");

		firstPanel.add(firstField);
		firstPanel.add(secondButton);
		firstPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(firstPanel, BoxLayout.X_AXIS));

		secondPanel.add(secondField);
		secondPanel.add(firstButton);
		secondPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(secondPanel, BoxLayout.X_AXIS));

		mainPanel.add(firstPanel);
		mainPanel.add(secondPanel);
		mainPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(mainPanel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));

		statusPanel.add(statusText);

		FlowLayout tabLayout = new FlowLayout();
		tabLayout.setAlignment(FlowLayout.LEFT);

		firstPanel.setLayout(tabLayout);
		firstPanel.setComponentOrientation(ComponentOrientation.LEFT_TO_RIGHT);

		secondPanel.setLayout(tabLayout);
		secondPanel.setComponentOrientation(ComponentOrientation.LEFT_TO_RIGHT);

		statusPanel.setLayout(tabLayout);
		statusPanel.setComponentOrientation(ComponentOrientation.LEFT_TO_RIGHT);

		pane.add(mainPanel);
		pane.add(statusPanel);
	}

	/**
	 * Create the GUI and show it.  For thread safety,
	 * this method should be invoked from the
	 * event dispatch thread.
	 */
	private static void createAndShowGUI() {
		//Create and set up the window.
		frame = new ComponentResizeTest("Component Resize Test");
		frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
		//Set up the content pane.
		frame.addComponentsToPane();

		/* Layout componets */
		frame.pack();
		/* Prevent vertical resize */
		Dimension cur = frame.getSize();
		Dimension max = frame.getMaximumSize();

		frame.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(cur.width, cur.height));
		frame.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(max.width, cur.height));

		frame.invalidate();

		/* show frame */
		frame.setVisible(true);
	}

	/**
	 * @param args the command line arguments
	 */
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		//Schedule a job for the event dispatchi thread:
		//creating and showing this application's GUI.
		javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

			public void run() {
				createAndShowGUI();
			}
		});

	}

}

Thanks, Jan

Edited by: stelzbock on Nov 9, 2009 6:54 AM