Componenets alignment in GridBagLayout

Question

I am using GridBagLayout to align components. Actually, i have two buttons which i want to align like this:

Desired layout:

But the following code results in the following layout:

Resulted layout:

My code:

    iconAdd = new ImageIcon(getClass().getResource("../images/add.png"));
    add = new JButton(iconAdd);
    add.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(130, 100));
    add.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.decode("#9b9999"), 1, true));
    add.setCursor(Cursor.getPredefinedCursor(12));
    gbc.gridx = 0;
    gbc.gridy = 0;
    gbc.weightx = 1;
    gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.WEST;
    gbc.insets = new Insets(5, 5, 5, 5);
    pane.add(add, gbc);

    iconSearch = new 
    ImageIcon(getClass().getResource("../images/search.png"));
    search = new JButton(iconSearch);
    search.setCursor(Cursor.getPredefinedCursor(12));
    search.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(130, 100));
    search.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.decode("#9b9999"), 1, true));
    gbc.gridx++;
    gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.WEST;
    gbc.insets = new Insets(5, 5, 5, 5);
    pane.add(search, gbc);

Any help would be highly appreciated.

Answer 1

gbc.weightx = 1;

You are telling the layout to give extra space to each component. So essentially each component becomes half the size of the frame.

You really only want that constraint set for the second button, so it takes up all the remaining space.

Read the section from the Swing tutorial on How to Use GridBagLayout which explains how the weightx/y constraints should be used.

Also, an easier solution would be do just use a FlowLayout. Create a panel with a FlowLayout. Add the buttons to the panel. Then add the panel to the BorderLayout.PAGE_START of the frame.

Answer 2

import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;

public class GridBagLayoutDemo extends JFrame{

    GridBagLayoutDemo(){

        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        GridBagLayout gridBagLayout = new GridBagLayout();
        gridBagLayout.columnWeights = new double[]{1.0, 1.0, 1.0};
        gridBagLayout.columnWidths = new int[]{0,0,300};
        getContentPane().setLayout(gridBagLayout);

        JButton button1 = new JButton("Long Button");
        GridBagConstraints c1 = new GridBagConstraints();
        c1.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        c1.weightx = 0.0;
        c1.gridwidth = 3;
        c1.gridx = 0;
        c1.gridy = 0;
        getContentPane().add(button1, c1);

        JButton button2 = new JButton("Button 2");
        GridBagConstraints c2 = new GridBagConstraints();
        c2.weightx = 0.5;
        c2.gridx = 0;
        c2.gridy = 1;
        getContentPane().add(button2, c2);

        JButton button3 = new JButton("Button 3");
        GridBagConstraints c3 = new GridBagConstraints();
        c3.weightx = 0.5;
        c3.gridx = 1;
        c3.gridy = 1;
        getContentPane().add(button3, c3);

        pack();
        setVisible(true);
    }


    public static void main(String[] args) {

        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                new GridBagLayoutDemo();
            }
        });
    }
}