JLabel and GridBagLayout

Question

Hello people,
I have the following code:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class MessengerServiceApplet extends JApplet implements ActionListener {
     JLabel dummyLabel = new JLabel("  ggg   ");
     JLabel dummyLabel2 = new JLabel("  2222   ");
     void buildConstraints(
          GridBagConstraints gbc,
          int gx,
          int gy,
          int gw,
          int gh,
          int wx,
          int wy) {
          gbc.gridx = gx;
          gbc.gridy = gy;
          gbc.gridwidth = gw;
          gbc.gridheight = gh;
          gbc.weightx = wx;
          gbc.weighty = wy;
     public void init() {
          this.setSize(600, 300); // set applet size
          JPanel pane = new JPanel();
          GridBagLayout gridbag = new GridBagLayout();
          GridBagConstraints constraints = new GridBagConstraints();
          pane.setLayout(gridbag);
          buildConstraints(constraints, 0, 0, 1, 1, 30, 30);
          constraints.anchor = GridBagConstraints.WEST;
          constraints.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
          gridbag.setConstraints(dummyLabel, constraints);
          pane.add(dummyLabel);
          JLabel label1 = new JLabel("Status: ", JLabel.LEFT);
          buildConstraints(constraints, 1, 0, 1, 1, 30, 30);
          constraints.anchor = GridBagConstraints.WEST;
          constraints.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
          gridbag.setConstraints(label1, constraints);
          pane.add(label1);
          buildConstraints(constraints, 2, 0, 1, 1, 30, 30);
          constraints.anchor = GridBagConstraints.WEST;
          constraints.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
          gridbag.setConstraints(dummyLabel, constraints);
          pane.add(dummyLabel);
          setContentPane(pane);
     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
          Object source = evt.getSource();
          //still to do
}I would like to have the STATUS label in the upper middle of the applet...I noticed that unless I declare something on the right and something on the left, I won't get that..(or is there a way?) So I have created a dummy label to test but I am not able to add the dummy label twice to the pane...meaning the code above writes STATUS on the left and the dummylabel on the right, in the middle vertically...but when I use 2 dummy labels, it works with no problems...I was wondering if there was any way to use the same dummy label many times, would be better than declaring a lot of dummy labels...unless of course there is a way to format the Grid, which would be even better...maybe something to predefine how many rows and columns I would like to have..
any ideas?
thanks

Answer 1

Sometimes, the best way to set up a GUI is to make multiple panels, ecah with different Layouts that do what you want for a smaller portion of the panel. This is usually easier to do than a grid layout as well, you just have to break your GUI down to logical units. Here is an example:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class MessengerServiceApplet extends JApplet implements ActionListener {
     public void init() {
          this.setSize(600, 300); // set applet size
          JPanel pane = new JPanel();
          JPanel top = new JPanel();
          JPanel left = new JPanel();
          JPanel right = new JPanel();
          top.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
          JLabel status = new JLabel("Status");
               status.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.black, 2));
          top.add(status);
          left.setLayout(new GridLayout(0,2));
          for (int i = 0; i < 6; i++)
               left.add(new JButton("Button: "+i));
          right.setLayout(new BorderLayout());     
          right.add(new JScrollPane(new JTextArea()));
          pane.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
          pane.add(top, BorderLayout.NORTH);
          pane.add(left, BorderLayout.WEST);
          pane.add(right, BorderLayout.CENTER);
          setContentPane(pane);
     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
          Object source = evt.getSource();
          //still to do
}