Getting objects on panel to expand proportionatel

Question

Hey there.
I was wondering what I have to do in order to get the various components on my panel to expand in similar proportions when maximised or dragged to a larger frame size.
Thanks
Dane

Answer 1

I seem to have had that problem as well, and I also seem to have sorted it using a variety of layouts, but the problem is that I don't know how exactly I sorted it out. It is very confusing as I would like to know . Here is my code if anyone can possibly decipher it!
public class OcrGUI extends JFrame implements ActionListener {
    // declaration of various instance variables
    private JTextArea area;
    private JLabel label;
    private JEditorPane URLpane;
    private JButton browseButton, generateButton;
    private JTextField fileField;
    private JLabel inputFileLabel;
    private JScrollPane scrollPane1, scrollPane2;
    private JMenuBar menuBar;
    private JMenu menuFile;
    private JMenuItem open,quitProg;
    private JFileChooser Chooser;
    private String inputType = null;
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
        if (ae.getSource() == open) {
            this.browseFile();
        if (ae.getSource() == browseButton) {
            this.browseFile();
        if (ae.getSource() == quitProg) {
            this.quitProgram();
    private void quitProgram() {
        String s1 = "Yes";
        String s2 = "Cancel";
        Object[] options1 =
        { s1, s2};
        int n = JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(this,
        "Are you sure you want to quit?", "Quit",
        JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION, JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE, null,
        options1, s2);
        if (n == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION) {
            System.exit(0);
    private void browseFile() {
        Chooser = new JFileChooser();
        if (Chooser.showOpenDialog(null) == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
            File inF = Chooser.getSelectedFile();
            try {
                int x =1;
            catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, "Invalid file format",
                "Error", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
    public void insertImage() throws MalformedURLException {
        URL url = new URL("http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rdmp1c/teaching/Msc_IT/big.gif");
        JLabel label = new JLabel(new ImageIcon(url));
    public OcrGUI() {
        this.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        this.myLayout();
        this.initLayout();
    private void myLayout() {
        menuBar = new javax.swing.JMenuBar();
        menuFile = new javax.swing.JMenu();
        menuFile.setText("File");
        menuBar.add(menuFile);
        open = new JMenuItem("Open");
        quitProg = new JMenuItem("Quit");
        open.addActionListener(this);
        quitProg.addActionListener(this);
        menuFile.add(open);
        menuFile.addSeparator();
        menuFile.add(quitProg);
        setJMenuBar(menuBar);
        Container pane = this.getContentPane();
        this.getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        //top
        JPanel one = new JPanel();
        one.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
//        label = new JLabel("                                                                                                                                                                                                      ");
        try {
            URL url = new URL("http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rdmp1c/teaching/Msc_IT/big.gif");
            label = new JLabel(new ImageIcon(url));
        } catch (Throwable t)
        {t.printStackTrace();}       
        scrollPane1 = new JScrollPane(label);
        scrollPane1.setHorizontalScrollBarPolicy(javax.swing.JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED);
        scrollPane1. setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(javax.swing.JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
        one.add(scrollPane1);
        pane.add(one, "Center");
        //middle
        JPanel two = new JPanel();
        two.setLayout(new GridLayout(2,1));
        JPanel filler2 = new JPanel();
        FlowLayout inputPanelLayout = new java.awt.FlowLayout();
        filler2.setLayout(inputPanelLayout);
        inputPanelLayout.setHgap(50);
        inputPanelLayout.setVgap(10);
        inputFileLabel = new JLabel("Input File:", JLabel.LEFT);
        fileField = new JTextField();
        fileField.setColumns(30);
        browseButton = new JButton("Browse");
        browseButton.addActionListener(this);
        fileField.setToolTipText("Let's you input a file");
        browseButton.setToolTipText("Browse here");
        Border loweredetched;
        loweredetched = BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder(EtchedBorder.LOWERED);
        TitledBorder border = BorderFactory.createTitledBorder(loweredetched, "Input File Selection");
        border.setTitleJustification(TitledBorder.LEFT);
        border.setTitlePosition(TitledBorder.DEFAULT_POSITION);
        filler2.setBorder(border);
        filler2.add(inputFileLabel);
        filler2.add(fileField);
        filler2.add(browseButton);
        //bottom
        JPanel filler3 = new JPanel();
        filler3.setLayout(new java.awt.FlowLayout());
        generateButton = new JButton("Generate");
        generateButton.setToolTipText("Generates Output");
        filler3.add(generateButton);
        two.add(filler2);
        two.add(filler3);
        pane.add(two, "South");
    private void initLayout() {
        this.setTitle("OCR");
        this.setSize(700, 500);