resizeable panels

[simo_mon]

Hi i am trying to do this,( sorry for crappy diagram :) )

__________________________
|-------------------|--------|
|-------------------|--------|
|----graph-panel----|-button-|
|-------------------|-panel--|
|-------------------|--------|
|-------------------|--------|
|-------------------|--------|
__________________________

and have the graph panel take 75% of the parent JFrame and the button panel
take up 25 %

i am attempting to use a gridBagLayout with the code below

public class DynamicGraphFrame extends JFrame implements ActionListener,WindowListener{
	
	
	private Container ContentPane;
	private Point FrameCoOrdinates;
	private Dimension FrameDimension;
	private String FrameName;
	private JFrame ref = this;
	private GridBagLayout GBL;
	


	public DynamicGraphFrame(String FrameName,Point FrameCoOrdinates,Dimension frameDimension)
	{
		this.FrameCoOrdinates = FrameCoOrdinates;
		this.FrameDimension = frameDimension;
		this.FrameName = FrameName;
		this.ContentPane = this.getContentPane();
		// set the layout
		//ContentPane.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
		
		this.setDefaultCloseOperation(DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE);
		this.addWindowListener(this);
		// set up default frame position and coordinates
		setFrameBounds();
		this.setFrameName(FrameName);
		//set the pack
		GBL = new GridBagLayout();
		ContentPane.setLayout(GBL);
		GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints();
	

		
		
		this.addFrameSizeListener();
		gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.PAGE_START;

		gbc.gridx = 0;
		gbc.gridy = 0;
		gbc.ipady = 100;
		gbc.ipadx = 100;
		gbc.gridwidth = 2;
		gbc.gridheight =1;


	        ContentPane.add(this.GraphPanel(),gbc);
                
                // set the constraints
	        gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.PAGE_END;
		gbc.gridx = 0;
		gbc.gridy = 1;
		gbc.gridwidth = 1;
		gbc.gridheight =1;
	       
                ContentPane.add(this.buttonPanel(),gbc);
	
		//this.pack();
		this.setVisible(true);
		
		
			
	}
	
	
	// set up default frame position and coordinates
	
	
	public JPanel GraphPanel()
	{
		JPanel graphPanel = new JPanel();
		graphPanel.setBackground(Color.black);
		//graphPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension (50,50));
		graphPanel.setBounds(20,50,100,100);
		
			
		return graphPanel;
	}
	
	
	public JPanel buttonPanel()
	{
		JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel();
		buttonPanel.setBackground(Color.red);
		buttonPanel.setBounds(100,20,100,100);
		
			
		return buttonPanel;
	}
	
	
	etc...

- is this that the layout managers will only start adjusting sizes when components ( ie buttons, labels etc) are added....

- or ?

[Fubarable]

Please read up on the different layouts at the Sun layout tutorial. setBounds has no place when using layout managers. Myself, I avoid GridBagLayout unless absolutely necessary. Better here would be perhaps to use a BorderLayout with the graph panel BorderLayout.CENTER and the button panel BorderLayout.EAST.

Does the Button Panel have to be exactly 1/4 the width of the Graph panel, or can they be in that position, but sized as they naturally prefer? What is your ultimate goal for this layout and why?

[hardwired]

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

public class DGF extends JFrame {
    JPanel left;
    JPanel right;

    public DGF(String name, Point coords, Dimension size)
    {
        super(name);
        this.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        // set frame position and size
        setSize(size);
        this.setLocation(coords);

        Container contentPane = getContentPane();
        contentPane.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
        GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc.insets = new Insets(5,5,5,5);
        gbc.weighty = 1.0;

        gbc.fill = //GridBagConstraints.PAGE_START;
                   GridBagConstraints.BOTH;

        gbc.gridx = 0;
        gbc.gridy = 0;
        gbc.weightx = 0.5;
//        gbc.ipady = 100;
//        gbc.ipadx = 100;
//        gbc.gridwidth = 2;
//        gbc.gridheight = 1;

        contentPane.add(left = getGraphPanel(), gbc);

        // set the constraints
//        gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.PAGE_END;
        gbc.gridx = //0;
                    1;
        gbc.gridy = //1;
                    0;
        gbc.weightx = 0.15;
//        gbc.gridwidth = 1;
//        gbc.gridheight = 1;

        contentPane.add(right = getButtonPanel(), gbc);

        //this.pack();
        this.setVisible(true);
    }

    public JPanel getGraphPanel()
    {
        JPanel graphPanel = new JPanel();
        graphPanel.setBackground(Color.blue);
//        graphPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(50,50));
//        graphPanel.setBounds(20,50,100,100);
        return graphPanel;
    }

    public JPanel getButtonPanel()
    {
        JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel();
        buttonPanel.setBackground(Color.red);
//        buttonPanel.setBounds(100,20,100,100);
//        buttonPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 100));
        return buttonPanel;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        DGF test = new DGF("Layout Test", new Point(100, 100),
                            new Dimension(400, 400));
        test.addComponentListener(test.cl);
    }

    private ComponentAdapter cl = new ComponentAdapter() {
        public void componentResized(ComponentEvent e) {
            int leftWidth = left.getWidth();
            int rightWidth = right.getWidth();
            double total = leftWidth + rightWidth;
            System.out.printf("leftWidth = %d  %.1f%%  " +
                              "rightWidth = %d  %.1f%%%n",
                               leftWidth, 100*(leftWidth/total),
                               rightWidth, 100*(rightWidth/total));

        }
    };
}

[josemoncas]

For the layout your are showing us, the best layout manager to use is BorderLayout:

Use BorderLayout.CENTER for the graph panel and BorderLayout.EAST for the button panel.

GridBagLayout is a very powerful layout but I don't see its usefulness in this simple case.

Hope it helps.

[simo_mon]

thanks very much to all the contributors

and just quietly and embarrassingly, i only post when i get stuck, i have read
the sun tutorials a number of times :o but clearly need to read again :D what tends to happen is that you
try something, gain a little context but then somehow in the iterations you misunderstand something ... and viola :confused: ... and i guess i was trying
to just master one layout manager for all occasions...

The idea here was to have a graph pane which displays a graph on adjustable axis, so that when you adjust the size of the parent pane, the axis adjust ...
done ...
on the right hand side i have a panel of buttons so that the user can
set things like colour, max value for axis etc... done ...

thanks very much to hardwired for the code help :)

i wasn't using the weighty aspects of the grdibagconstraints at all and after
revisiting the reading ... i think i've got a better handle on things

i guess the conceptual part i wasn't getting was that your'e only really setting the preffered size for the smallest components ... textbox, label etc..


thanks again to all who contributed
very helpful and appreciated :)