Borderlayout east west rotate

Question

I'm a beginner, and i would like to ask if there is a way to rotate the view of a hand with cards.
I want a hand on the north, on the south, on the west (i want to show this vertical) and the east (vertical too)
Who can help me with this?
this is my code so far.
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
* This is the BlackjackGUI window. The user can play a game of blackjack
* through this window. The BlackjackGUI creates the players and starts the game.
* @author Tony Sintes
public class BlackjackGUI extends JFrame {
public static void main( String [] args ) {
JFrame frame = new BlackjackGUI();
frame.getContentPane().setBackground( FOREST_GREEN );
frame.setSize( 1024, 860 );
frame.show();
private BlackjackDealer dealer;
private GUIPlayer human;
private JPanel players = new JPanel( new BorderLayout() );
private static final Color FOREST_GREEN = new Color( 35, 142, 35 );
public BlackjackGUI() {
setUp();
WindowAdapter wa = new WindowAdapter() {
public void windowClosing( WindowEvent e ) {
System.exit( 0 );
addWindowListener( wa );
// needs to be protected if subclassed
private PlayerView getPlayerView( Player p ) {
PlayerView v = new PlayerView( p );
v.setBackground( FOREST_GREEN );
return v;
// needs to be protected if subclassed
private void setUp() {
BlackjackDealer dealer = getDealer();
PlayerView v1 = getPlayerView( dealer );
GUIPlayer human = getHuman();
PlayerView v2 = getPlayerView( human );
Player safe = getSafePlayer();
PlayerView v3 = getPlayerView(safe);
Player onehit = getOneHitPlayer();
PlayerView v4 = getPlayerView(onehit);
PlayerView [] views = { v1, v2, v3, v4 };
// addPlayers( views );
dealer.addPlayer( human);
dealer.addPlayer(safe);
dealer.addPlayer(onehit);
addOptionView( human, dealer );
getContentPane().add(players);
players.setBackground( FOREST_GREEN );
players.add(v1, BorderLayout.NORTH);
players.add(v2, BorderLayout.EAST);
players.add(v3, BorderLayout.WEST);
players.add(v4, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
// needs to be protected if subclassed
// private void addPlayers( PlayerView [] p ) {
// players.setBackground( FOREST_GREEN );
// for( int i = 0; i < p.length; i ++ ) {
// players.add( p );
// getContentPane().add( players, BorderLayout.CENTER );
private void addOptionView( GUIPlayer human, BlackjackDealer dealer ) {
OptionView ov = new OptionView( human, dealer );
ov.setBackground( FOREST_GREEN );
getContentPane().add( ov, BorderLayout.SOUTH );
private BlackjackDealer getDealer() {
if( dealer == null ) {
Hand dealer_hand = new Hand();
Deckpile cards = getCards();
dealer = new BlackjackDealer( "Dealer", dealer_hand, cards );
return dealer;
private GUIPlayer getHuman() {
if( human == null ) {
Hand human_hand = new Hand();
Bank bank = new Bank( 1000 );
human = new GUIPlayer( "Human", human_hand, bank );
return human;
private Player getSafePlayer() {
// lever zoveel als nodig
Hand safe_hand = new Hand();
Bank safe_bank = new Bank (1000);
return new SafePlayer("Safe", safe_hand, safe_bank);
private Player getOneHitPlayer() {
// lever zoveel als nodig
Hand onehit_hand = new Hand();
Bank onehit_bank = new Bank (1000);
return new OneHitPlayer("OneHit", onehit_hand, onehit_bank);
private Deckpile getCards() {
Deckpile cards = new Deckpile();
for( int i = 0; i < 4; i ++ ) {
cards.shuffle();
Deck deck = new VDeck();
deck.addToStack( cards );
cards.shuffle();
return cards;
}

Answer 1

This requires the font playing cards which you can find on this page.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.List;
import javax.swing.*;
public class HandRotation
    Cards cards;
    JPanel table;
    JPanel hand1, hand2, hand3, hand4;
    JPanel[] hands;
    JLabel[] ids;
    int handIndex;   // index into hands for hand in north section
    public HandRotation()
        cards = new Cards();
        table = new JPanel();
        initTable();
        JFrame f = new JFrame();
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.getContentPane().add(getUIPanel(), "North");
        f.getContentPane().add(new JScrollPane(table));
        f.setSize(400,400);
        f.setLocation(200,200);
        f.setVisible(true);
    private JPanel getUIPanel()
        final JButton
            deal   = new JButton("deal"),
            rotate = new JButton("rotate"),
            clear  = new JButton("clear"),
            show   = new JButton("show deck");
        ActionListener l = new ActionListener()
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
                JButton button = (JButton)e.getSource();
                if(button == deal)
                    dealHand();
                if(button == rotate)
                    rotateView();
                if(button == clear)
                    clear();
                if(button == show)
                    cards.showDeck();
        deal.addActionListener(l);
        rotate.addActionListener(l);
        clear.addActionListener(l);
        show.addActionListener(l);
        JPanel panel = new JPanel();
        panel.add(deal);
        panel.add(rotate);
        panel.add(clear);
        panel.add(show);
        return panel;
    private void initTable()
        // clockwise starting at north position
        hand1 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1,0));
        hand2 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0,1));
        hand3 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1,0));
        hand4 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0,1));
        hands = new JPanel[] { hand1, hand2, hand3, hand4 };
        handIndex = 0;
        JPanel idPanel = initIDPanel();
        table.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        // add clockwise
        table.add(hand1, "North");
        table.add(hand2, "East");
        table.add(hand3, "South");
        table.add(hand4, "West");
        table.add(idPanel);
        cards.shuffle();
    private JPanel initIDPanel()
        JPanel panel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
        String[] quadrants = { "North", "East", "South", "West" };
        String[] idNames = { "hand 1", "hand 2", "hand 3", "hand 4" };
        ids = new JLabel[idNames.length];
        for(int j = 0; j < ids.length; j++)
            ids[j] = new JLabel(idNames[j]);
            ids[j].setHorizontalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER);
            panel.add(ids[j], quadrants[j]);
            hands[j].setName(idNames[j]);
        return panel;
    private void dealHand()
        for(int j = 0; j < hands.length; j++)
            hands[j].add(cards.deal());
        table.revalidate();
        table.repaint();
    private void rotateView()
        // shift each hand anti-clockwise one position
        //     hands all appear to rotate anti-clockwise with each call
        // remove each hand from table and change the rows/cols in its
        //     GridLayout from (0,1) to (1,0), or from (1,0) to (0,1)
        //     before adding the hand to the next anti-clockwise position
        for(int j = 0; j < hands.length; j++)
            table.remove(hands[j]);
            GridLayout layout = (GridLayout)hands[j].getLayout();
            int rows = layout.getRows();
            int cols = layout.getColumns();
            // to avoid IllegalArgumentException:
            //         "rows and cols cannot both be zero"
            if(rows == 0)
                layout.setRows(cols);
                layout.setColumns(rows);
            else
                layout.setColumns(rows);
                layout.setRows(cols);
        // next (clockwise) hand goes into north section
        handIndex++;
        if(handIndex > hands.length - 1)
            handIndex = 0;
        // add hands back into new positions in table
        //    and update the ids with names of new hands
        String[] directions = { "North", "East", "South", "West" };
        for(int j = 0; j < hands.length; j++)
            int index = (handIndex + j) % hands.length;
            table.add(hands[index], directions[j]);
            ids[j].setText(hands[index].getName());
        table.revalidate();
        table.repaint();
    private void clear()
        for(int j = 0; j < hands.length; j++)
            hands[j].removeAll();
        table.repaint();
        cards.shuffle();
    public static void main(String[] args)
        new HandRotation();
class Cards
    List deck;
    Font font;
    int lastCardIndex;
    public Cards()
        font = new Font("playing cards", Font.PLAIN, 72);
        createDeck();
        lastCardIndex = 0;
    public Card deal()
        if(lastCardIndex > deck.size() - 1)
            shuffle();
        return (Card)deck.get(lastCardIndex++);
    public void shuffle()
        Collections.shuffle(deck);
        lastCardIndex = 0;
    public void showDeck()
        JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0,13));
        Font f = font.deriveFont(36f);
        Card card;
        JLabel label;
        for(int j = 0; j < deck.size(); j++)
            card = (Card)deck.get(j);
            label = new JLabel(card.getText());
            label.setForeground(card.getForeground());
            label.setFont(f);
            panel.add(label);
        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, panel);
    private void createDeck()
        deck = new ArrayList();
        String s = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
        String next;
        Color
            color = Color.black,
            red = new Color(204,0,0);
        for(int j = 0; j < 52; j++)
            if(j == s.length() - 1)
                next = s.substring(j);
            else
                next = s.substring(j, j + 1);
            if(j == 26)
                color = red;
            deck.add(new Card(next, color));
    public class Card extends JLabel
        public Card(String s, Color color)
            super(s);
            setFont(font);
            setForeground(color);
            setHorizontalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER);
}