Login Frame looks Weird / Textfields are huge

Question

hi
i'm trying to do an 800x600 swing frame - a login interface. the only two items on the frame should be
account id label / textfield on top of
password label / textfield
these items should be centered on the frame
the following code looks really weird. the textfields are huge and i can't figure out how to center the items on the frame.
any help appreciated
    // center, and a submit button in it's south.
    contentPane = (JPanel) this.getContentPane();
    contentPane.setLayout(new BoxLayout(contentPane, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
    contentPane.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder());
    this.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    this.setSize(new Dimension(800 /*width*/, 600));
    this.setTitle("User Client - Login");
    jPanel1.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER));
    jPanel2.setLayout(new GridLayout(3,1)); 
    jPanel3.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER)); 
    accountIDLabel.setText("Account ID:");
    accountIDLabel.setBounds(new Rectangle(28, 50, 140, 25));
    accountID.setBounds(new Rectangle(173, 50, 213, 29));
    passwordLabel.setText("Password:");
    passwordLabel.setBounds(new Rectangle(28, 50, 140, 25));
    password.setBounds(new Rectangle(173, 50, 213, 29));
    jPanel2.setToolTipText("");
    contentPane.add(jPanel2, null);
    jPanel2.add(accountIDLabel, null);
    jPanel2.add(accountID, null);
    jPanel2.setToolTipText("");
    contentPane.add(jPanel2, null);
    jPanel2.add(passwordLabel, null);
    jPanel2.add(password, null);

Answer 1

The real question is why are you trying to make a login screen 800 x 600. A dialog that large will look ugly. You should just add the components to you dialog and pack() the dialog so the components can be displayed at their preferred size. This is the way most applications work.
However, to answer your question you could do something like:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class BoxLayoutCenter extends JFrame
     public BoxLayoutCenter()
          //  BoxLayout will attempt to resize components to fit the space
          //  available, however it will respect the maximum size of a component.
          JPanel panel = new JPanel( new GridLayout(2, 2) );
          panel.add( new JLabel( "Username:" ) );
          panel.add( new JTextField( 10 ) );
          panel.add( new JLabel( "Password:" ) );
          panel.add( new JTextField( 10 ) );
          panel.setMaximumSize( panel.getPreferredSize() );
          //  By default buttons are left aligned. Allow for center alignment.
          JButton button = new JButton("I'm in the middle");
          button.setAlignmentX(0.5f);
          Box box = Box.createVerticalBox();
          box.add( Box.createVerticalGlue() );
          box.add( panel );
          box.add( Box.createVerticalStrut(10) );
          box.add( button );
          box.add( Box.createVerticalGlue() );
          getContentPane().add(box);
     public static void main(String[] args)
          BoxLayoutCenter frame = new BoxLayoutCenter();
          frame.setDefaultCloseOperation( EXIT_ON_CLOSE );
          frame.setSize(300, 200);
          frame.setLocationRelativeTo( null );
          frame.setVisible(true);
}