Application frame layout basics

Question

Below is my attempt at organizing the components of my application. Basically I have 2 areas that I call leftBox and graphicsBox. The graphicsBox contains a JPanel object called graphics. The graphics panel is surrownded by 8 buttons to pan the display as needed.
As you can see, I put everything in boxes, but I don't get the behavior I want. I would like to accomplish the following:
1. To be able to specify the size of the graphics panel initially, so that it uses the biggest area available.
2. When resizing the window, I would like to see only the graphics area change size.
I hope you can advise me on what types of layout managers to use so I can improve my application.
Thanks for your help.
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class FrameComponents {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    JFrame frame = new TestFrame();
    frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    frame.show();
class TestFrame extends JFrame {
  public TestFrame() {
    setTitle("Frame Test");
    setSize(400, 350);
    Container contentPane = getContentPane();
    Box bigBox = Box.createHorizontalBox();
    Box leftBox = Box.createVerticalBox();
    JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea("Hello there on the left...");
    JButton closeButton = new JButton("Close");
    leftBox.add(textArea);
    leftBox.add(closeButton);
    bigBox.add(leftBox);
    Box graphicsBox = Box.createVerticalBox();
    Box topRow = Box.createHorizontalBox();
    JButton nwbutton = new JButton("nw");
    JButton nnbutton = new JButton("nn");
    JButton nebutton = new JButton("ne");
    topRow.add(nwbutton);
    topRow.add(nnbutton);
    topRow.add(nebutton);
    graphicsBox.add(topRow);
    Box centerRow = Box.createHorizontalBox();
    JButton wwbutton = new JButton("ww");
    JButton eebutton = new JButton("ee");
    JPanel graphics = new JPanel();
    graphics.setBackground(Color.white);
    centerRow.add(wwbutton);
    centerRow.add(graphics);
    centerRow.add(eebutton);
    graphicsBox.add(centerRow);
    Box bottomRow = Box.createHorizontalBox();
    JButton swbutton = new JButton("sw");
    JButton ssbutton = new JButton("ss");
    JButton sebutton = new JButton("se");
    bottomRow.add(swbutton);
    bottomRow.add(ssbutton);
    bottomRow.add(sebutton);
    graphicsBox.add(bottomRow);
    bigBox.add(graphicsBox);
    contentPane.add(bigBox);
    setVisible(true);
}

Answer 1

Read this section from the Swing tutorial on [url http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/layout/visual.html]Using Layout Managers.
Specifically, check out the BorderLayout. Size is suggested by using setPreferredSize(...).