How to set multiple buttons and add them to a gridPane

Question

for a GUI i have to set multiple buttons to a GridPane. For this i want to ask if there is a way to add multiple buttons in a Grid in a more elegant way than i do. Here is an extractof my Code.

Button button0 =new Button("0");
    Button button1 =new Button("1");
    Button button2 =new Button("2");
    Button button3 =new Button("3");
    Button button4 =new Button("4");
    Button button5 =new Button("5");
    Button button6 =new Button("6");
    Button button7 =new Button("7");
    Button button8 =new Button("8");
    Button button9 =new Button("9");
    Button cancel = new Button("C");
    Button plus = new Button("+");
    Button minus = new Button("-");
    Button multiplicate = new Button("*");
    Button divide = new Button("/");
    Button equal = new Button("=");

For all of those buttons i have to set the row and column index separately.

root.setPadding(new Insets(5,5,5,5));
    GridPane.setConstraints(root, 4, 3);
    root.getChildren();
    root.add(label, 1, 1, 3, 1);
    root.add(button1, 2, 2);
    root.add(button2, 3, 2);
    root.add(button3, 4, 2);
    root.add(button4, 2, 3);
    root.add(button5, 3, 3);
    root.add(button6, 4, 3);
    root.add(button7, 2, 4);
    root.add(button8, 3, 4);
    root.add(button9, 4, 4);
    root.add(button0, 2, 5);
    root.add(cancel, 3, 5);
    root.add(plus, 5,2);
    root.add(minus, 5,3);
    root.add(multiplicate, 5, 4);
    root.add(divide, 5,5);
    root.add(equal, 4, 5);

I would be very greateful for any suggestions.

Answer 1

You should use an FXML file as was suggested in a comment also.

But if you want to stick with Java code, you can do something like this (my suggestion is still have an FXML file):

Main.java

public class Main extends Application {
    @Override
    public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
        try {
            GridPane root = new GridPane();
            Scene scene = new Scene(root, 400, 400);
            scene.getStylesheets().add(getClass().getResource("application.css").toExternalForm());

            Button b = new Button();
            b.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {

                @Override
                public void handle(ActionEvent event) {
                }
            });

            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("0"), 2, 5);
            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("1"), 2, 2);
            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("2"), 3, 2);
            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("3"), 4, 2);
            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("4"), 2, 3);
            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("5"), 3, 3);
            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("6"), 4, 3);
            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("7"), 2, 4);
            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("8"), 3, 4);
            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("9"), 4, 4);

            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("C"), 3, 5, e -> System.out.println("C"));
            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("+"), 5, 2, e -> System.out.println("+"));
            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("-"), 5, 3);
            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("*"), 5, 4);
            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("/"), 5, 5);
            GridHelper.addToGrid(root, new Button("="), 4, 5);

            root.setPadding(new Insets(5, 5, 5, 5));

            primaryStage.setScene(scene);
            primaryStage.show();

        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    static class GridHelper {

        static void addToGrid(GridPane grid, Node c, int col, int r) {
            grid.add(c, col, r);
        }

        static void addToGrid(GridPane grid, Node c, int col, int r, EventHandler<ActionEvent> event) {
            grid.add(c, col, r);
            addButtonEvent(c, event);
        }

        static void addToGrid(GridPane grid, Node c, int col, int r, int cs, int rs) {
            grid.add(c, col, r, cs, rs);
        }

        static void addToGrid(GridPane grid, Node c, int col, int r, int cs, int rs, EventHandler<ActionEvent> event) {
            grid.add(c, col, r, cs, rs);
            addButtonEvent(c, event);
        }

        static void addButtonEvent(Node button, EventHandler<ActionEvent> event) {
            if (button instanceof Button)
                ((Button) button).setOnAction(event);
        }

    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        launch(args);
    }
}

It just simply introduces a static class that exposes some static methods to add a Node to a GridPane to the specified position, and optionally set the spans (row/colum). If it is a Button you can add a press event also. Could be generalized further of course, it is just a sample for the exact question.

Also you could make a loop for Buttons 0 - 9 (as it was proposed in the comment).

Answer 2

public class MainController implements Initializable {

    int z1=0,y2=0,x=0; 

    @FXML
    GridPane gp;

    public void initialize(URL arg0, ResourceBundle arg1) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        while(z1<4){    //add 4 buttons
            addButton();
            z1++;
        }   
    }   

    private void addButton() {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        final Button temp1=new Button("Button "+ y2);
        final int numberButton=y2;
        temp1.setId(""+y2);
        temp1.setText("whatever u want!!");
        temp1.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {

            @Override
            public void handle(ActionEvent arg0) {
                // TODO Auto-generated method stub
                System.out.println("id("+temp1.getId()+")="+numberButton);
            }
        });
        gp.add(temp1, x, 0);  //x is column index and 0 is row index
        x++;
    }
}