GroupLayout

Question

Hello,
Following my implementation of the GroupLayout Layout Manager recently into my application, I bumped into two problems which I'm not sure how to solve.
My application has different modules, each of which has different number of frames, one which is a tutorial frame which can be made visible or invisible - by checking or unchecking a checkbox. The user also has the option to manually lay the module out or let the program lay it out for him automatically - there's another check box for this as well.
Now the first problem is: when the tutorial frame is not shown and the module is set to manual layout, when I check the check box to show the tutorial frame again, it does not show up.
In order to explain my problem clearer, I've made a test code below, please ignore NetBeans self-generated code:
Please follow these steps to see where the problem lies:
- The program should start up with 4 frames GroupLayedOut and the two menu item check boxes should be checked.
- Please uncheck "Show Ghost Frame" check box. The ghost frame should disappear.
- Then please uncheck "Lay it out" check box. You should be able to move the frames freely now.
- Now check the "Show Ghost Frame" again ... you see, nothing appears. That's the problem.
If you check the two check boxes again, then uncheck the "Lay it out" check box first, then uncheck "Show Ghost Frame", then everything works fine (the ghost frame appears and disappears whenever you check or uncheck the "Show Ghost Frame" check box)
Honestly, I have tried to bypass the problem using different methods but failed. Can you help?
The second problem lies in the commented line in the activateLayout() method. If auto created container gaps and then make the ghost frame disappear by unchecking the "Shwo Ghost Frame" check box, the right hand side will have no container gaps. You can uncomment the line and run the program again and try it out, you'll see the problem
Thanks,
LD

Answer 1

    private void initComponents() {
        thePane = new javax.swing.JDesktopPane();
        frame1 = new javax.swing.JInternalFrame();
        frame2 = new javax.swing.JInternalFrame();
        frame3 = new javax.swing.JInternalFrame();
        ghostFrame = new javax.swing.JInternalFrame();
        jScrollPane1 = new javax.swing.JScrollPane();
        textArea = new javax.swing.JTextArea();
        theBar = new javax.swing.JMenuBar();
        viewMenu = new javax.swing.JMenu();
        layoutMenuItem = new javax.swing.JCheckBoxMenuItem();
        showGhostMenuItem = new javax.swing.JCheckBoxMenuItem();
        setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        thePane.setBackground(new java.awt.Color(255, 255, 255));
        frame1.setResizable(true);
        frame1.setVisible(true);
        javax.swing.GroupLayout frame1Layout = new javax.swing.GroupLayout(frame1.getContentPane());
        frame1.getContentPane().setLayout(frame1Layout);
        frame1Layout.setHorizontalGroup(
            frame1Layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGap(0, 154, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        frame1Layout.setVerticalGroup(
            frame1Layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGap(0, 113, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        frame1.setBounds(10, 10, 170, 140);
        thePane.add(frame1, javax.swing.JLayeredPane.DEFAULT_LAYER);
        frame2.setVisible(true);
        javax.swing.GroupLayout frame2Layout = new javax.swing.GroupLayout(frame2.getContentPane());
        frame2.getContentPane().setLayout(frame2Layout);
        frame2Layout.setHorizontalGroup(
            frame2Layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGap(0, 154, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        frame2Layout.setVerticalGroup(
            frame2Layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGap(0, 253, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        frame2.setBounds(10, 160, 170, 280);
        thePane.add(frame2, javax.swing.JLayeredPane.DEFAULT_LAYER);
        frame3.setVisible(true);
        javax.swing.GroupLayout frame3Layout = new javax.swing.GroupLayout(frame3.getContentPane());
        frame3.getContentPane().setLayout(frame3Layout);
        frame3Layout.setHorizontalGroup(
            frame3Layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGap(0, 174, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        frame3Layout.setVerticalGroup(
            frame3Layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGap(0, 403, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        frame3.setBounds(190, 10, 190, 430);
        thePane.add(frame3, javax.swing.JLayeredPane.DEFAULT_LAYER);
        ghostFrame.setTitle("GHOST FRAME");
        ghostFrame.setVisible(true);
        textArea.setColumns(20);
        textArea.setEditable(false);
        textArea.setRows(5);
        textArea.setText("THIS FRAME\nIS SUPPOSED\nTO\n(DIS)APPEAR\nWHEN THE\nCHECK BOX\nIS \n(UN)CHECKED");
        jScrollPane1.setViewportView(textArea);
        javax.swing.GroupLayout ghostFrameLayout = new javax.swing.GroupLayout(ghostFrame.getContentPane());
        ghostFrame.getContentPane().setLayout(ghostFrameLayout);
        ghostFrameLayout.setHorizontalGroup(
            ghostFrameLayout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addComponent(jScrollPane1, javax.swing.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, 144, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        ghostFrameLayout.setVerticalGroup(
            ghostFrameLayout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addComponent(jScrollPane1, javax.swing.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, 403, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        ghostFrame.setBounds(390, 10, 160, 430);
        thePane.add(ghostFrame, javax.swing.JLayeredPane.DEFAULT_LAYER);
        viewMenu.setText("View");
        layoutMenuItem.setSelected(true);
        layoutMenuItem.setText("Lay it out");
        layoutMenuItem.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
                layoutMenuItemActionPerformed(evt);
        viewMenu.add(layoutMenuItem);
        showGhostMenuItem.setSelected(true);
        showGhostMenuItem.setText("Show Ghost Frame");
        showGhostMenuItem.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
                showGhostMenuItemActionPerformed(evt);
        viewMenu.add(showGhostMenuItem);
        theBar.add(viewMenu);
        setJMenuBar(theBar);
        javax.swing.GroupLayout layout = new javax.swing.GroupLayout(getContentPane());
        getContentPane().setLayout(layout);
        layout.setHorizontalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addComponent(thePane, javax.swing.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, 570, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        layout.setVerticalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addComponent(thePane, javax.swing.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, 459, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        pack();
    private void layoutMenuItemActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt)
        activateLayout(layoutMenuItem.isSelected());
    private void showGhostMenuItemActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt)
        showGhostFrame(showGhostMenuItem.isSelected());
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                new GroupLayoutTest().setVisible(true);
    private javax.swing.JInternalFrame frame1;
    private javax.swing.JInternalFrame frame2;
    private javax.swing.JInternalFrame frame3;
    private javax.swing.JInternalFrame ghostFrame;
    private javax.swing.JScrollPane jScrollPane1;
    private javax.swing.JCheckBoxMenuItem layoutMenuItem;
    private javax.swing.JCheckBoxMenuItem showGhostMenuItem;
    private javax.swing.JTextArea textArea;
    private javax.swing.JMenuBar theBar;
    private javax.swing.JDesktopPane thePane;
    private javax.swing.JMenu viewMenu;
}