JCheckBox as a Title for the Panel

Question

I have a group of checkboxes which will get enabled when their parent is checked.
I want to put all the child checkboxes in a panel and the panel tile should hold the parent checkbox.
So that whenever user checks/unchecks the parent checkbox, the child checkboxes gets enabled/disabled accordingly.
Note:
My aim is to have a checkbox as a title of the panel.
Any code sample will be helpful.
Thanks
Meghu

Answer 1

Hope this code will help you:
/** CheckTitledPanel - class defining a panel with a Check box title
* IMPORTANT NOTE: This class is managing 2 panels: the outer panel and the
*                 inner panel. The inner panel acts as a "content pane", so
*                 every method for adding/removing components or laying out
*                 the contents must be called on the inner panel.
*                 The method <code>getSubPanel()</code> is made for this
*                 purpose.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
public class CheckTitledPanel extends JPanel {
   private JCheckBox checkbox;          // The title check box
   private JPanel subpanel;             // The sub-panel (content pane)
   /** Constructs a new Check box titled panel
     * @param title  the title of the panel
   public CheckTitledPanel(String title) {
      // The outer panel is set with no layout 
      super(null);
      // Creates the check box for the title, enabled by default,
      // set its size and no border
      checkbox = new JCheckBox(title, true);
      checkbox.setSize(checkbox.getPreferredSize());
      checkbox.setBorder(null);
      // Add the listener for title checking
      checkbox.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
         public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            boolean enabled = checkbox.isSelected();
            // When clicked, we enable/disable all
            // the children of the sub-panel
            setComponentEnabled(subpanel, enabled);
            subpanel.revalidate();
      // Create the sub-panel
      subpanel = new JPanel();
      // Define the outer panel with titled border (on which
      // will be over-painted the check box)
      setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("X"));
      // Add the 2 components: check box and sub-panel
      add(checkbox);
      add(subpanel);
      // Add the listener for panel resizing
      addComponentListener(new ComponentAdapter() {
         public void componentResized(ComponentEvent e) {
            Dimension size = getSize();
            Insets insets = getInsets();
            // Relocate and resize the sub-panel
            subpanel.setLocation(insets.left, insets.top);
            subpanel.setSize(size.width - insets.left - insets.right,
                             size.height - insets.top - insets.bottom);
            subpanel.doLayout();
            // Relocate and resize the check box
            checkbox.setLocation(insets.left + 2, 0);
            checkbox.setSize(checkbox.getSize().width, insets.top);
   /** Returns the preferred size of the panel */
   public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
      Dimension dim  = checkbox.getPreferredSize();
      Dimension dim2 = subpanel.getPreferredSize();
      Insets insets = getInsets();
      int width = dim.width + 12;
      if (dim2.width > width) width = dim2.width;     
      width = width + insets.left + insets.right;
      int height = dim2.height + insets.top + insets.bottom;
      return new Dimension(width, height);
   /** Returns the sub-panel (content pane)
     * @return  panel  the sub-panel
   public JPanel getSubPanel() {
      return subpanel;
   /** Standalone launching for tests */
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      CheckTitledPanel checkPanel = new CheckTitledPanel("Check to enable");
      checkPanel.getSubPanel().add(new JLabel("A label"));
      checkPanel.getSubPanel().add(new JTextField("A text field"));
      checkPanel.getSubPanel().revalidate();
      JFrame frame = new JFrame("Checkbox title test");
      frame.getContentPane().add(new JTextField("North field"), BorderLayout.NORTH);
      frame.getContentPane().add(new JTextField("South field"), BorderLayout.SOUTH);
      frame.getContentPane().add(new JTextField("West field"), BorderLayout.WEST);
      frame.getContentPane().add(new JTextField("East field"), BorderLayout.EAST);
      frame.getContentPane().add(checkPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
      frame.pack();
      frame.setVisible(true);
   /** Returns the sub-panel (content pane)
     * @return  panel  the sub-panel
   /** Enable/disable a component and its children
     * @param  rootcomp  the component to enable/disable
     * @param  enable    a boolean (true to enable)
   public static void setComponentEnabled(Component rootcomp, boolean enabled) {
      if (rootcomp==null) return;
      rootcomp.setEnabled(enabled);
      if (rootcomp instanceof java.awt.Container) {
         Component[] comps = ((Container)rootcomp).getComponents();
         String subvalues = "";
         for (int i=0; i<comps.length; i++) {
            setComponentEnabled(comps,enabled);
// The following methods can be overwritten if you want to manage children
// of the panel exactly the same way as a standard panel. In this case, you
// will no more need to call getSubPanel().
public Component add(Component comp) {
subpanel.add(comp);
public Component add(String name, Component comp) {
subpanel.add(name, comp);
public Component add(Component comp, int index) {
subpanel.add(comp, index);
public Component add(Component comp, Object constraints) {
subpanel.add(comp, constraints);
public Component add(Component comp, Object constraints, int index) {
subpanel.add(comp, constraints, index);
public Component findComponentAt(int x, int y) {
return subpanel.findComponentAt(x, y);
public Component findComponentAt(Point p) {
return subpanel.findComponentAt(p);
public Component getComponent(int n) {
return subpanel.getComponent(n);
public Component getComponentAt(int x, int y) {
return subpanel.getComponentAt(x, y);
public Component getComponentAt(Point p) {
return subpanel.getComponentAt(p);
public LayoutManager getLayout() {
return subpanel.getLayout()
public int getComponentCount() {
return subpanel.getComponentCount();
public Component[] getComponents()
return subpanel.getComponents();
public void remove(Component comp) {
subpanel.remove(comp);
public void remove(int index) {
subpanel.remove(index);
public void removeAll() {
subpanel.removeAll();
public void setLayout(LayoutManager mgr)
subpanel.setLayout(mgr);
Regards.