How do I position to panels in a single frame?

Question

Hi,
Can someone tell me how i can position two panels in a single frame using the BorderLayout class.
I have included my code below. When it is run it shows two JPanels positioned at the top and the bottom, a text area to the right, a panel in the center and a panel on the left. I want to get the panel on the left - the yellow panel - to be positioned in the lower third of the center panel. I have tried to use the BorderLayout.SOUTH statement - but this positions the panel across the very bottom which causes the bottom JPanel and part of the text area to disappear.
Can anyone help with this please???
Many thanks
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class Panels extends JFrame implements ActionListener
     private TopPanel topPanel;
     private BottomPanel bottomPanel;
     private JButton open;
     private JButton close;
     private JButton connect;
     boolean openClicked = false;
     boolean closeClicked = false;
     public Panels()
          super("Panels");
          setSize(1000,600);
          setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
          setVisible(true);
          Container contentArea = getContentPane();
          topPanel = new TopPanel();
          bottomPanel = new BottomPanel();
          JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea("Text Area",20,20);
          JScrollPane textScroller = new JScrollPane(textArea);
          open = new JButton("Open");
          open.addActionListener(this);
          close = new JButton("Close");
          close.addActionListener(this);
          connect = new JButton("Connect");
          connect.addActionListener(this);
          JPanel topBar = new JPanel();
          topBar.setBackground(Color.red);
          topBar.add(open);
          topBar.add(close);
          JPanel lowerBar = new JPanel();
          lowerBar.setBackground(Color.red);
          lowerBar.add(connect);
          bottomPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100,100));
          contentArea.add(topPanel);
     contentArea.add(bottomPanel,BorderLayout.WEST);
          contentArea.add(textScroller,BorderLayout.EAST);
          contentArea.add(lowerBar,BorderLayout.SOUTH);
          contentArea.add(topBar,BorderLayout.NORTH);
          setContentPane(contentArea);
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
     if(e.getSource() == open)
     openClicked = true;
     topPanel.repaint();
     if(e.getSource() == close)
     {closeClicked = true;
     bottomPanel.repaint();
class TopPanel extends JPanel
     public TopPanel()
     public void paintComponent(Graphics painter)
          super.paintComponent(painter);
          painter.setColor(Color.white);
          painter.fillRect(0,0,getSize().width,getSize().height);
          if (openClicked == true)
          drawTopMessage(painter);
     public void drawTopMessage(Graphics painter)
          painter.setColor(Color.black);
          painter.drawString("This is the top panel", 20,20);
class BottomPanel extends JPanel
     public BottomPanel()
     public void paintComponent(Graphics painter)
          super.paintComponent(painter);
          painter.setColor(Color.yellow);
          painter.fillRect(0,0,getSize().width,getSize().height);
          if (closeClicked == true)
          drawBottomMessage(painter);
     public void drawBottomMessage(Graphics painter)
          painter.setColor(Color.black);
          painter.drawString("This is the bottom panel", 20,20);
public static void main(String[] args)
     Panels example = new Panels();

Answer 1

One solution would be to create a new panel, bothPanels and adding the two panels that you need to this panel.
Once you have done that, you can add bothPanels to contentArea.add( bothPanels, BorderLayout.CENTER)
hth