Layouts in AWT

Question

I have tried to use null Layouts alone they work fine. But with another layout, they don't work. Can I use both null Layouts and Border/Flow Layouts together?
Panel p1 = new Panel();
p1.setLayout(null);
Panel p2 = new Panel();
p2.setLayout(new BorderLayout() );
Would something like this work?
Also, I still don't understand how to draw (lines,rect,put images etc) on a panel. Sample code would be beneficial.
Thanks,
Helix

Answer 1

I used to have trouble with layouts too, they can be nit picky(I personally prefer using the Forte dialogue editor for GUI's you can download the community edition for free and trust me you'll never go back to command line). As for your question about drawing, if you put a canvas on you panel, you override the paint method. This method specifies how the canvas should be drawn. Instantiate your canvas class, and add it to the panel. Call the repaint() method on your canvas instance.
eg. class MyCanvas extends Canvas {
public MyCanvas() {
public void paint(Graphics g) {
g.drawLine(...);
g.drawOval(...);
g.drawRect(...);
//etc.
See the graphics class API
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/docs/api/index.html
to find out all about the different drawing methods in the Graphics class and how to use them.
Hope that helps.
Adwait