Coinciding columns on multiple rows with GridBadLayout

Question

I was trying to figure out why I could not initially accomplish the following with a GridBagLayout:
Row0: 0000011111
Row1:      1111122222
Row2:           2222233333 The above is supposed to be 3 JLabels on three different rows:
The 1st row has a single JLabel starting in column 0 with a width of 2, extending it to column 1.
The 2nd row has a single JLabel starting in column 1 with a width of 2, extending it to column 2.
The 3rd row has a single JLabel starting in column 2 with a width of 2, extending it to column 3.
The entire grid is 4 columns and 3 rows total.
Below I have two examples where I attempted the above. Only the 2nd example produces the desired effect. The 1st code example ends up putting both the Row 0 and Row 1 JLabel in the same column. This was surprising because I thought the GridBagLayout would give each column contained by a control enough weight to actually make those columns exist.
Here is what my first code example below produces:
Row0: 0000011111
Row1: 1111122222
Row2:           2222233333 The first two JLabels, 0000011111 and 1111122222, appear in the same column, and the 3rd JLabel appears in the seemingly 2nd column. This was confusing to me which is the point of this whole post.
In order to gain the desired effect, I had to place 4 blank dummy empty JLabel components in a non-visible Row 0 of the grid. I did this for all 4 columns of that invisible row 0. The row is non-visible because the JLabel have no text or output. After adding this non-visible Row 0, all of the original mentioned Rows 0 through 2 become Rows 1 through 2 respectively.
For example:
Row0: iiiiiIIIIIiiiiiIIIII
Row1: 0000011111
Row2:      1111122222
Row3:           2222233333 The above shows an inserted Row 0 with invisible labels that are not seen, but they seem to give weight to each column, allowing each to exist. Without doing this, as mentioned, the first code example (shown below) fails. The second example (also below) works, so it appears that putting the invisible controls into the first row, one in each column, somehow gives enough weight to each column to "establish" the column more so than otherwise.
The big question I have is why didn't the first example work?
I mean, in that example, I'm giving each JLabel equal weight, and each one takes up a width of 2 columns, so why doesn't the JLabel in the second row end up in column 1? Instead, both the original row 0 and row 1 JLabels appear in what looks like column 0, the same column. Does anyone know why this happened?
The invisible control solution is fine but I'm just curious why it wasn't as intuitive as it should have been. The only thing I can come up with is that the weight of the 1st and 2nd JLabel (row 0 and 1) got combined in some fashion which combined them into column 1 which end up looking like column 0 since 0 somehow looses all weight. (???)
****************** THE FOLLOWING DOES NOT PRODUCE THE RIGHT EFFECTS ******************
public class TestCoincidingColumns1 extends javax.swing.JFrame {
    /** Creates new form TestCoincidingColumns1 */
    public TestCoincidingColumns1() {
        initComponents();
    /** This method is called from within the constructor to
     * initialize the form.
     * WARNING: Do NOT modify this code. The content of this method is
     * always regenerated by the Form Editor.
    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    // <editor-fold defaultstate="collapsed" desc="Generated Code">
    private void initComponents() {
        java.awt.GridBagConstraints gridBagConstraints;
        jLabel1 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        jLabel2 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        jLabel3 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        getContentPane().setLayout(new java.awt.GridBagLayout());
        jLabel1.setText("LabelRow0Col0Wid2");
        jLabel1.setBorder(javax.swing.BorderFactory.createLineBorder(new java.awt.Color(0, 255, 255)));
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridx = 0;
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 0;
        gridBagConstraints.gridwidth = 2;
        gridBagConstraints.fill = java.awt.GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        getContentPane().add(jLabel1, gridBagConstraints);
        jLabel2.setText("LabelRow1Col1Wid2");
        jLabel2.setBorder(javax.swing.BorderFactory.createLineBorder(new java.awt.Color(255, 0, 0)));
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridx = 1;
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 1;
        gridBagConstraints.gridwidth = 2;
        gridBagConstraints.fill = java.awt.GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        getContentPane().add(jLabel2, gridBagConstraints);
        jLabel3.setText("LabelRow2Col2Wid2");
        jLabel3.setBorder(javax.swing.BorderFactory.createLineBorder(new java.awt.Color(0, 255, 0)));
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridx = 2;
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 2;
        gridBagConstraints.gridwidth = 2;
        gridBagConstraints.fill = java.awt.GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        getContentPane().add(jLabel3, gridBagConstraints);
        pack();
    }// </editor-fold>
    * @param args the command line arguments
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                new TestCoincidingColumns1().setVisible(true);
    // Variables declaration - do not modify
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel1;
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel2;
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel3;
    // End of variables declaration
****************** THE FOLLOWING WORKS ******************
public class TestCoincidingColumns1WithFix extends javax.swing.JFrame {
    /** Creates new form TestCoincidingColumns1WithFix */
    public TestCoincidingColumns1WithFix() {
        initComponents();
    /** This method is called from within the constructor to
     * initialize the form.
     * WARNING: Do NOT modify this code. The content of this method is
     * always regenerated by the Form Editor.
    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    // <editor-fold defaultstate="collapsed" desc="Generated Code">                          
    private void initComponents() {
        java.awt.GridBagConstraints gridBagConstraints;
        jLabel1 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        jLabel2 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        jLabel3 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        DummyRow0Col0 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        DummyRow0Col1 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        DummyRow0Col2 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        DummyRow0Col3 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        getContentPane().setLayout(new java.awt.GridBagLayout());
        jLabel1.setText("LabelRow0Col0Wid2");
        jLabel1.setBorder(javax.swing.BorderFactory.createLineBorder(new java.awt.Color(0, 255, 255)));
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridx = 0;
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 1;
        gridBagConstraints.gridwidth = 2;
        gridBagConstraints.fill = java.awt.GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gridBagConstraints.weightx = 1.0;
        getContentPane().add(jLabel1, gridBagConstraints);
        jLabel2.setText("LabelRow1Col1Wid2");
        jLabel2.setBorder(javax.swing.BorderFactory.createLineBorder(new java.awt.Color(255, 0, 0)));
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridx = 1;
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 2;
        gridBagConstraints.gridwidth = 2;
        gridBagConstraints.fill = java.awt.GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gridBagConstraints.weightx = 1.0;
        getContentPane().add(jLabel2, gridBagConstraints);
        jLabel3.setText("LabelRow2Col2Wid2");
        jLabel3.setBorder(javax.swing.BorderFactory.createLineBorder(new java.awt.Color(0, 255, 0)));
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridx = 2;
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 3;
        gridBagConstraints.gridwidth = 2;
        gridBagConstraints.fill = java.awt.GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gridBagConstraints.weightx = 1.0;
        getContentPane().add(jLabel3, gridBagConstraints);
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridx = 0;
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 0;
        gridBagConstraints.weightx = 1.0;
        getContentPane().add(DummyRow0Col0, gridBagConstraints);
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridx = 1;
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 0;
        gridBagConstraints.weightx = 1.0;
        getContentPane().add(DummyRow0Col1, gridBagConstraints);
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridx = 2;
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 0;
        gridBagConstraints.weightx = 1.0;
        getContentPane().add(DummyRow0Col2, gridBagConstraints);
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridx = 3;
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 0;
        gridBagConstraints.weightx = 1.0;
        getContentPane().add(DummyRow0Col3, gridBagConstraints);
        pack();
    }// </editor-fold>                        
    * @param args the command line arguments
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                new TestCoincidingColumns1WithFix().setVisible(true);
    // Variables declaration - do not modify                     
    private javax.swing.JLabel DummyRow0Col0;
    private javax.swing.JLabel DummyRow0Col1;
    private javax.swing.JLabel DummyRow0Col2;
    private javax.swing.JLabel DummyRow0Col3;
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel1;
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel2;
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel3;
    // End of variables declaration                   
}

Answer 1

gridwidth=1 will produce something like the following:
Row0: 00000
Row1:      11111
Row2:           22222where each component has its own column which is not the effect I was looking for. The effect is where a component appears halfway, or partway into the middle of the prior row's component's column. See original post for example.
See URL in my prior post for a different thread with a post containing details as to why it's not possible to do what I want to do with GridBagLayout unless I use hidden columns to define each column that I want. When I do that, I can place a component midway into what appears to be the column for the prior row's component.
Thanks for trying though.