CODEWITHSUNDEEP
swingjbuttongridbaglayout
xabanop
xabanop

Reputation: 11

Labeling buttons and maintaining dimensions

I am struggling with JButtons, specifically with keeping them all the same size, as it seems that adding anything to a button causes it to stretch to accommodate said addition.

As a result, a button labeled 'yes' won't be the same size as a button labelled as 'no', even if while blank both buttons should have been more than large enough to comfortably contain either string.

Essentially, I would like to know whether there is a way to label buttons without altering the dimensions of said buttons.

I am employing a GridBagLayout, here is a relevant sample of my code for reference:

Edit

I managed to get the effect I was looking for by using Icons... You probably won't be able to see it in it's entirety, as I am calling the Icons directly from my hard drive... Regardless, I'll leave the completed code for reference...

Game.java:

package com.Sitrom.Words.Window;

import java.awt.Canvas;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyListener;
import java.awt.event.MouseListener;
import java.awt.event.MouseMotionListener;
import java.io.IOException;

public class Game extends Canvas implements Runnable{

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 8433819262022712795L;

    private boolean running = false;
    private Thread thread;

    public synchronized void start(){

        if(running){
            return;
        }

        running = true;
        thread = new Thread(this);
        thread.start();


    }

    public void run() {

    }

    public static void main(String[]args) throws IOException{

        new Window(800,600,"Words",new Game());
    }

}

Window.java:

package com.Sitrom.Words.Window;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.PipedInputStream;
import java.io.PipedOutputStream;
import java.io.PrintStream;
import java.io.PrintWriter;

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;



public class Window extends PanePrimary{

     public static class Nav{
            public static boolean A1;
            public static boolean A_B1;
            public static boolean A_C1;
            public static boolean A_D1;
            public static boolean A_E1;
    }

    public Window(int w, int h, String title, Game game) throws IOException{

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Words");


        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        frame.setLocation(0, 0);
        frame.setExtendedState(JFrame.MAXIMIZED_BOTH);
        frame.setUndecorated(true);



        frame.add(game);
        PaneCore((JPanel) frame.getContentPane());
        frame.pack();
        game.start();
        frame.setVisible(true);


    }

}

PanePrimary.java:

package com.Sitrom.Words.Window;

import java.awt.AlphaComposite;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.Insets;
import java.awt.TextField;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.KeyAdapter;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.io.PipedInputStream;
import java.io.PipedOutputStream;
import java.io.PrintStream;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Scanner;
import javax.annotation.processing.Messager;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.Icon;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
//import javax.swing.JTextField;






import com.Sitrom.Words.Window.Window.Nav;

public class PanePrimary {



      public static void main(String[] args){

          return;     

        }   




            public static void PaneCore(JPanel paneC){

                if(Nav.A1 == true){
                    System.out.println(".");
                    paneC.removeAll();
                    Pane2(paneC);

                }else{
                    System.out.println("..");
                    paneC.removeAll();
                    Pane1(paneC);
                }
            }

            public static String repeat(int count, String with) {
                return new String(new char[count]).replace("\0", with);
            }

            public static String repeat(int count) {
                return repeat(count, " ");
            }

            public static void Pane1(JPanel pane1) {

                JButton button;

                final JTextArea textA = new JTextArea(11, 60);
                JScrollPane scroll;

                pane1.setBackground(Color.black);
                pane1.setVisible(true);

            pane1.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
            GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();

            scroll = new JScrollPane(textA);
            c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
            c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.PAGE_START;
            c.insets = new Insets(10,10,0,10);
            c.ipady = 300;
            c.ipadx = 300;
            c.weightx = 1;
            c.weighty = 0.8;
            c.gridwidth = 6;
            c.gridx = 0;
            c.gridy = 0;
            textA.setFont(new Font("8bitoperator JVE", Font.BOLD, 25));
            textA.append(" Segment A0... ");
            textA.append((new String(new char[2]).replace("\0", "\n")));
            textA.append(" ~~~~~~~~~");
            textA.append((new String(new char[3]).replace("\0", "\n")));
            textA.append(" Begin?");
            textA.append((new String(new char[3]).replace("\0", "\n")));
            textA.append(" ~~~~~~~~~");
            textA.append((new String(new char[2]).replace("\0", "\n")));
            textA.append("* Yes (Y)");
            textA.append((new String(new char[1]).replace("\0", "\n")));
            textA.append("* No (N)");
            textA.setBackground(Color.black);
            textA.setForeground(Color.white);
            scroll.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.white));  
            textA.setLineWrap(true);
            textA.setWrapStyleWord(false);
            textA.setEditable(false);

            pane1.add(scroll, c);

            button = new JButton();
            c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
            c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.BELOW_BASELINE;
            c.insets = new Insets(15,10,10,10);
            c.ipady = 40;
            c.ipadx = 40;
            c.weightx = 0.25;
            c.weighty = 0.2;
            c.gridwidth = 1;
            c.gridx = 0;
            c.gridy = 1;

            button.setIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\Icon_Y.png"));
            button.setPressedIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\PressedIcon_Y.png"));
            button.setBackground(Color.black);
            button.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.white));
            button.setFocusPainted(false);
            button.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){

                public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
                    Nav.A1 = true;

                    pane1.setVisible(false);

                    PaneCore(pane1);

                }});
            pane1.add(button, c);

            button = new JButton();
            c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
            c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.BELOW_BASELINE;
            c.insets = new Insets(15,10,10,10);
            c.ipady = 40;
            c.ipadx = 40;
            c.weightx = 0.25;
            c.weighty = 0.2;
            c.gridwidth = 1;
            c.gridx = 1;
            c.gridy = 1;

            button.setBackground(Color.black);
            button.setIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\Icon_Blank1.png"));
            button.setPressedIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\PressedIcon_Blank1.png"));            
            button.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.white));
            button.setFocusPainted(false);

            pane1.add(button, c);

            button = new JButton();
            c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
            c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.BELOW_BASELINE;
            c.insets = new Insets(15,10,10,10);
            c.ipady = 40;
            c.ipadx = 40;
            c.weightx = 0.25;
            c.weighty = 0.2;
            c.gridwidth = 1;
            c.gridx = 2;
            c.gridy = 1;

            button.setBackground(Color.black);
            button.setIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\Icon_Blank1.png"));
            button.setPressedIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\PressedIcon_Blank1.png"));
            button.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.white));
            button.setFocusPainted(false);

            pane1.add(button, c);

            button = new JButton();
            c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
            c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.BELOW_BASELINE;
            c.insets = new Insets(15,10,10,10);
            c.ipady = 40;
            c.ipadx = 40;
            c.weightx = 0.25;
            c.weighty = 0.2;
            c.gridwidth = 1;
            c.gridx = 3;
            c.gridy = 1;

            //button.setFont(new Font("8bitoperator JVE", Font.BOLD, 25));
            button.setBackground(Color.black);
            //button.setForeground(Color.white);
            button.setIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\Icon_N.png"));
            button.setPressedIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\PressedIcon_N.png"));
            //button.setMargin(null);
            //button.setContentAreaFilled(false);
            button.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.white));
            button.setFocusPainted(false);
            button.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){

                public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
                    System.exit(0);

                }});
            pane1.add(button, c);

            }

            public static void Pane2(JPanel pane2){

                pane2.setBackground(Color.black);
                pane2.setVisible(true);

                JScrollPane scroll;             
                final JTextArea textA = new JTextArea(11, 30);
                JButton button;

                pane2.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
                GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();

                scroll = new JScrollPane(textA);
                c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
                c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.PAGE_START;
                c.insets = new Insets(10,10,0,10);
                c.ipady = 300;
                c.ipadx = 300;
                c.weightx = 1;
                c.weighty = 0.8;
                c.gridwidth = 6;
                c.gridx = 0;
                c.gridy = 0;
                textA.append("Segment A1..." + (new String(new char[5]).replace("\0", "\n") + "Introductory exposition..." + (new String(new char[5]).replace("\0", "\n") + "You may travel North, South, east, or West...")));
                textA.setFont(new Font("8bitoperator JVE", Font.BOLD, 25));
                textA.setBackground(Color.black);
                textA.setForeground(Color.white);
                scroll.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.white));
                textA.setLineWrap(true);
                textA.setWrapStyleWord(false);
                textA.setEditable(false);
                pane2.add(scroll, c);

                button = new JButton("");
                c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
                c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.BELOW_BASELINE;
                c.insets = new Insets(15,10,10,10);
                c.ipady = 40;
                c.ipadx = 40;
                c.weightx = 0.25;
                c.weighty = 0.2;
                c.gridwidth = 1;
                c.gridx = 0;
                c.gridy = 1;

                button.setBackground(Color.black);
                button.setIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\Icon_N.png"));
                button.setPressedIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\PressedIcon_N.png"));
                button.setFocusPainted(false);
                button.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.white));
                button.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){

                    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
                        Nav.A1 = false;
                        Nav.A_B1 = true;

                        pane2.setVisible(false);

                        PaneCore(pane2);

                    }});
                pane2.add(button, c);

                button = new JButton("");
                c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
                c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.BELOW_BASELINE;
                c.insets = new Insets(15,10,10,10);
                c.ipady = 40;
                c.ipadx = 40;
                c.weightx = 0.25;
                c.weighty = 0.2;
                c.gridwidth = 1;
                c.gridx = 1;
                c.gridy = 1;
                button.setBackground(Color.black);
                button.setIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\Icon_S.png"));
                button.setPressedIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\PressedIcon_S.png"));
                button.setFocusPainted(false);
                button.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.white));
                button.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){

                    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
                        Nav.A1 = false;
                        Nav.A_C1 = true;

                        pane2.setVisible(false);

                        PaneCore(pane2);

                    }});
                pane2.add(button, c);

                button = new JButton("");
                c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
                c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.BELOW_BASELINE;
                c.insets = new Insets(15,10,10,10);
                c.ipady = 40;
                c.ipadx = 40;
                c.weightx = 0.25;
                c.weighty = 0.2;
                c.gridwidth = 1;
                c.gridx = 2;
                c.gridy = 1;
                button.setBackground(Color.black);
                button.setIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\Icon_E.png"));
                button.setPressedIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\PressedIcon_E.png"));
                button.setFocusPainted(false);
                button.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.white));
                button.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){

                    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
                        Nav.A1 = false;
                        Nav.A_D1 = true;

                        pane2.setVisible(false);

                        PaneCore(pane2);

                    }});
                pane2.add(button, c);

                button = new JButton("");
                c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
                c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.BELOW_BASELINE;
                c.insets = new Insets(15,10,10,10);
                c.ipady = 40;
                c.ipadx = 40;
                c.weightx = 0.25;
                c.weighty = 0.2;
                c.gridwidth = 1;
                c.gridx = 3;
                c.gridy = 1;
                button.setBackground(Color.black);
                button.setIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\Icon_W.png"));
                button.setPressedIcon(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\Exmortis\\Pictures\\Projects\\PressedIcon_W.png"));
                button.setFocusPainted(false);
                button.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.white));
                button.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){

                    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
                        Nav.A1 = false;
                        Nav.A_E1 = true;

                        pane2.setVisible(false);

                        PaneCore(pane2);

                    }});
                pane2.add(button, c);

            }

}

Upvotes: 1

Views: 42

Answers (1)

Freek de Bruijn
Freek de Bruijn

Reputation: 3622

Can you add more code and perhaps a screenshot to show what your application currently looks like (see stackoverflow.com/help/mcve for more details on what an ideal code example on Stack Overflow could look like)?

I often prefer to use sub panels with simple layout managers over using a single panel with a large number of components and a complex layout manager. You could consider using multiple panels and/or different layout managers (This is a nice overview of some of the layout managers that are available by default: A Visual Guide to Layout Managers.)

As a short example, this piece of code creates a panel with two buttons using a GridLayout (with gaps and a border to add some spacing):

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

public class ButtonWidths {
    public static void main(final String[] arguments) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> new ButtonWidths().createAndShowGui());
    }

    private void createAndShowGui() {
        final JFrame frame = new JFrame("Stack Overflow");
        frame.setBounds(100, 100, 240, 200);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        final JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(2, 1, 28, 28));
        panel.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(28, 28, 28, 28));
        final JButton yesButton = new JButton("Yes");
        final JButton noButton = new JButton("No");
        panel.add(yesButton);
        panel.add(noButton);

        frame.getContentPane().add(panel);
        frame.setVisible(true);

        System.out.println("yesButton: " + yesButton.getSize());
        System.out.println("noButton: " + noButton.getSize());
    }
}

Setting the minimum size?

The GridBagLayout should use the button's minimum (and/or preferred) sizes, so this might be a way to make the width of the buttons equal; from the GridBagLayout documentation:

In addition to its constraints object, the GridBagLayout also considers each component's minimum and preferred sizes in order to determine a component's size.

However, a search returned several Stack Overflow discussions where using the minimum size is advised against:

Upvotes: 1

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