Help - Creating a Custom Layout

Question

Hy, I'm creating a Grphical Programming Language,
where user draw flowcharts by linking buttons.
My problem is:
After adding some buttons on the panel,
the scrollBars does not appear.
(I have set layout to be NULL so that I can add the buttons
at specific position on the pane).
I think I need to create a custom layout, but with a layout,
after adding buttons on the panel and position them to specific
location, when I maximize/restore the window, the buttons return
to their initial position.
Can anyone please send me the code for creating a custom layout (imagine
that you are drawing a flowchart by adding buttons).
NOTE: The buttons should stay at their position while maximizing/restoring
the window.
thanks in advance

Answer 1

Hi,
I'm currently working in a project that for what I understood is quite similar to yours...
The way I solved the problem, was creating a virtual-grid. When the user adds the button, I have to methods (getRow() and getColumn())
that convert the mouse coordinates to row and grid numbers. Then knowing the row and the column, I multiply this values for the row
width and column height, and have the X and Y position where to add the button in the JPanel.
Here is some of the code:
public int getColumn(int x)//mouse coordinate x
        column=(int)(x/COL_WIDTH+1);
        if(maxColumn<column)
            maxColumn=column;
        return column;
    public int getRow(int y)//mouse coordinate y
        row=(int)(y/COL_HEIGHT+1);
        if(maxRow<row)
            maxRow=row;
        return row;
    }And then I add the component,
jPanelContainer.add(component,
                    new org.netbeans.lib.awtextra.AbsoluteConstraints((col-1)*COL_WIDTH, (row-1)*COL_HEIGHT, -1, -1));This is only an ideia. Since I have a lot of constraints with the blocks that I have to add, I first add the components to an array[][],
treat all the things in this array (like user deleted component, moves rows and columns, user added component, user moved component, etc...)
and then "send it to the sreen"...
Maybe I was a little bit confusing...
Hope it helps!
Regards,
ANeto