JTextArea to look like JLabel

Question

I did do some searching....go easy on me (first posting of a question)
I have a textarea on my frame I use like a status bar.....giving the user hints on what they can/should do based on the applications state. I'd like using the JTextArea because I don't have to concern myself with how long of a string I put in it.....in the worst case the user sees some scrollbars.
I would like to remove the etched look from the text area though. Is that possible? Basically I want a JTextArea that looks visually just like a JLabel. I've tried using JLabel, but when the text to be displayed is dynamic, it makes sizing the label next to impossible. The functionality of the JTextArea seems to work the best, if I can get that etched/raised look supressed.
thanks to all and many thanks to the plethra of info I've found in the forumns already!!!!
JJ

Answer 1

kirillg -
that's not what I'm looking for. All EmptyBorder
does is create space between the text in the area and
the etched border of the area. If you call
setBorder() and provide any border available from
BorderFactory, it applies that border around the text
in the area, but inside of the etched "outline" (I
hesitate to call it a border). I need the etched
outline to go away....Hmm, i beg to differ.
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.EmptyBorder;
public class RoTextField extends JFrame {
     public RoTextField() {
          this.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
          JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea("some text");
          textArea.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(0, 0, 0, 0));
          textArea.setColumns(20);
          textArea.append("\nSome string");
          this.add(textArea);
          this.setSize(300, 100);
          this.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
          this.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
          // UIManager.setLookAndFeel(new SubstanceLookAndFeel());
          SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
               public void run() {
                    new RoTextField().setVisible(true);
}This produces text area without border.