Swing layouts

Hey yall,

Been trying to understand layouts for a while now,started with GridbagLayout and the only way I could get what I want is through sheer luck.
Now Im making a gui for a chat application Im working on and using BorderLayout to place components onto a frame and I can't seem to get what I want.
Can someone help me out please.

this is the panel Im adding onto the frame

Code:

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public void createConfig(){

        configPanel = new JPanel();
        portNumber = new JTextField(5);
        friend = new JTextField(5);
        ipAddresText = new JTextField(5);
        connect = new JButton("Connect");

        JLabel portNumberLabel = new JLabel("Enter port number");
        JLabel friendLabel = new JLabel("Enter name");
        JLabel ipAddress = new JLabel("Enter ip address");
        JLabel onlineFriends = new JLabel("Friends");


        configPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(configPanel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
        configPanel.setSize(500,500);
        configPanel.setBackground(Color.LIGHT_GRAY);



        //configPanel.add(portNumberLabel);
        //configPanel.add(portNumber);

        //configPanel.add(friendLabel);
        //configPanel.add(friend);

        //configPanel.add(ipAddress);
        //configPanel.add(ipAddresText);

        Dimension dimension = new Dimension(50,50);
        friendsList.setPreferredSize(dimension);


        configPanel.add(onlineFriends);
        configPanel.add(friendsList);

    }

---

this is the frame Im adding the panel onto

Code:

---


public void addToFrame() {

        createConfig();
        Container guiFrame = this.getContentPane();
        guiFrame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());

        guiFrame.add("Center", new Client(loginame));

        guiFrame.add("North", new JLabel("welcome "+loginame));

        guiFrame.add("East",configPanel);


        this.setSize(300,300);
        this.setVisible(true);

    }

---

The client constructor creates an ok chat window but its the panel (createConfig()) that Im worried about.

Thanx in advance...

Have you gone through the tutorial?
Lesson: Laying Out Components Within a Container (The Java™ Tutorials > Creating a GUI With JFC/Swing)

Also
-- a contentPane has a default BorderLayout.
-- the add(...) overload you're using is obsolete as of version 1.1. Get with the times!
Container (Java Platform SE 6)
-- Don't use setSize(...) and avoid using setPreferredSize(...) in client code. Let the layout managers do their job.

db

thanx Ill take a look at it...