Best way to create a fixed size centered Panel?

Question

I'm trying to figure out what the best way is to create a fixed size Panel that stays positioned in the center of its parent component/panel, even as the frame is resized. Is there a way to do this with some layout or will I need to write some code to reposition my panel each time the frame is resized?
Thanks
Jonathan

Answer 1

This approach seems good. One thing I'm wondering, why does the GridBagLayout draw my Panel based on the preferred size and not the bounds? If I want to do some sort of fancy painting with my panel, I'll probably have to set the bounds as well I'd think.
jonathan
Here's a way. I won't go so far as to say "best",
but it gets the
job done. You need to control the layout of the
parent in order for
any solution to work -- some layouts will ignore the
preferred,
maximum, and minimum sizes of their components.
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class CenterTest {
     public static void main(final String[] argv) {          
          final JPanel fixedPanel = new JPanel();
fixedPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100,
0, 100));
          fixedPanel.setBackground(Color.BLUE);
final JPanel panel = new JPanel(new
ew GridBagLayout());
          panel.setBackground(Color.CYAN);
          panel.add(fixedPanel);
          final JFrame frame = new JFrame("GridBagLayout");
          frame.getContentPane().add(panel);
          frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE)
          frame.setSize(200, 200);
          frame.setVisible(true);