GridLayout to GridBagLayout Questions

Question

So I used to be a great GUI programmer but it seems I have lost quite a bit of my GridBagLayout knowledge.

What I am trying to do is make a customized box with JPanels inside of it. I first used GridLayout, however from what I have researched there is really no way to customize the "% width/height" for each box, it simply evens them all out.

So my fist attempt resulted in this.

(GridLayout)

I continued looking around and I believe I need to use GridBagLayout. So I spent a good hour looking at examples and I feel like I am simply just "not getting it" for a lack of better words. I have tried implementing a variety of test codes for GridBagLaout but I can never get anything to fully work for what I need.

My question is, may someone please give me a skeleton setup of what I am looking for? I do not want the entire code, just the basic skeleton so that I can take a shot at figuring it out myself (that way I actually "get it").

So by skeleton, what I mean is make just one of the boxes for me and then please dumb down each step of what does what so that I can try to follow that same process for the rest of the boxes.

What I am looking to end up with is...

(My desired GridBagLayout)

As far as actually percents, I am looking at doing:

Width: 80% for green/red side, and 20% for blue side.

Height: 80% for red, and 20% for green/white.

I am currently finishing up a project today, but I hope that I can start working on this sometime this evening.

Thank you very much for all the future help! -Austin

Answer 1

Try this:

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

public class GridBagDemo implements Runnable
{
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new GridBagDemo());
  }

  public void run()
  {
    JComponent redComp = new JPanel();
    redComp.setBackground(Color.RED);

    JComponent greenComp = new JPanel();
    greenComp.setBackground(Color.GREEN);

    JComponent blueComp = new JPanel();
    blueComp.setBackground(Color.BLUE);

    JComponent whiteComp = new JPanel();
    whiteComp.setBackground(Color.WHITE);

    GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints();
    // we'll use this anchor/fill for all components
    gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
    gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;

    JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());

    gbc.gridx = 0;
    gbc.gridy = 0;
    gbc.gridwidth = 2;
    gbc.gridheight = 1;
    gbc.weightx = 0.8;  // use 80% of the overall width
    gbc.weighty = 0.8;  // use 80% of the overall height
    panel.add(redComp, gbc);

    gbc.gridx = 2;
    gbc.gridy = 0;
    gbc.gridwidth = 1;
    gbc.gridheight = 2;
    gbc.weightx = 0.2;  // use 20% of the overall width
    gbc.weighty = 1.0;  // use 100% of the overall height
    panel.add(blueComp, gbc);

    gbc.gridx = 0;
    gbc.gridy = 1;
    gbc.gridwidth = 1;
    gbc.gridheight = 1;
    gbc.weightx = 0.8;  // use 80% of the width used by green/white comps
    gbc.weighty = 0.2;  // use 20% of the overall height
    panel.add(greenComp, gbc);

    gbc.gridx = 1;
    gbc.gridy = 1;
    gbc.gridwidth = 1;
    gbc.gridheight = 1;
    gbc.weightx = 0.2;  // use 20% of the width used by green/white comps
    gbc.weighty = 0.2;  // use 20% of the overall height
    panel.add(whiteComp, gbc);

    JFrame frame = new JFrame("GrigBag Demo");
    frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    frame.getContentPane().add(panel);
    frame.setSize(400, 300);
    frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    frame.setVisible(true);
  }
}