How do I add multiple JPanels to a JFrame?

Question

I've been trying to do my own little side project to just make something for me and my friends. However, I can't get multiple JPanels to display in one JFrame. If I add more than one JPanel, nothing shows up in the frame. I've tried with SpringLayout, FlowLayout, GridBagLayout, and whatever the default layout for JFrames is. Here is the code that's important:
import java.awt.Container;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import javax.swing.*;
public class CharSheetMain {
      * @param args
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          // TODO Auto-generated method stub
          CharSheetFrame frame=new CharSheetFrame();
          abilityPanel aPanel=new abilityPanel();
          descripPanel dPanel=new descripPanel();
          frame.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
          abilityScore st=new abilityScore();
          abilityScore de=new abilityScore();
          abilityScore co=new abilityScore();
          abilityScore in=new abilityScore();
          abilityScore wi=new abilityScore();
          abilityScore ch=new abilityScore();
          frame.add(aPanel);
          frame.add(dPanel);
          frame.validate();
          frame.repaint();
          frame.pack();
          frame.setVisible(true);
}aPanel and dPanel both extend JPanel. frame extends JFrame. I can get either aPanel or dPanel to show up, but not both at the same time. Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Answer 1

In the future, Swing related questions should be posted in the Swing forum.
You need to read up on [How to Use Layout Managers|http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/layout/index.html]. The tutorial has working example of how to use each layout manager.
By default the content pane of the frame uses a BorderLayout.
For more help create a [SSCCE (Short, Self Contained, Compilable and Executable, Example Program)|http://sscce.org], that demonstrates the incorrect behaviour.
The code you posted in NOT a SSCCE, since we don't have access to any of your custom classes. To do simple tests of adding a panel to frame then just create a panel, give it a preferred size and give each panel a different background color so you can see how it works with your choosen layout manager.