Lots of JPanels working from a single JFrame

Question

What I'm trying to do in this simple program is display a JPanel (called Panel1) in a JFrame(called MainFrame), and make it so that when you click the button that is displayed in Panel1 - the frame is updated and displays a new JPanel (called Panel2). Sounds like it should be quite simple, but I don't know how to update. Does dispose() have something to do with it? Thanks in advance.
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class MainFrame extends JFrame
private int x;
public MainFrame(){
Panel1 panel1 = new Panel1(this);
this.getContentPane().add(panel1);
this.setSize(1024,770);
this.setVisible (true);
this.setDefaultCloseOperation (JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
public void redisplay(JPanel jp){
this.getContentPane().add(jp);
public static void main(String [] args){
MainFrame mf = new MainFrame();
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Panel1 extends JPanel implements ActionListener
private JButton jbutton;
private MainFrame main;
public Panel1(MainFrame ma)
main = ma;
try {
jbInit();
catch(Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
void jbInit() throws Exception {
jbutton = new JButton("Go to Panel1");
this.add(jbutton);
jbutton.addActionListener(this);
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
if (e.getSource() == jbutton) {
Panel2 panel2 = new Panel2(main);
main.redisplay(panel2);
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Panel2 extends JPanel implements ActionListener
private JButton jbutton;
private MainFrame main;
public Panel2(MainFrame ma)
main = ma;
try {
jbInit();
catch(Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
void jbInit() throws Exception {
jbutton = new JButton("Go to Panel1");
this.add(jbutton);
jbutton.addActionListener(this);
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
if (e.getSource() == jbutton) {
Panel1 panel1 = new Panel1(main);
main.redisplay(panel1);

Answer 1

You need to remove the first panel before you add the new one, otherwise it will not be displayed properly.
try:
public void redisplay(JPanel newPanel) {
  getContentPane().removeAll();
  getContentPane().add(newPanel);
  // you may need this also:
  revalidate();
// you can also try this:
public class MainFrame extends JFrame {
  JPanel currPanel;
  public void redisplay(JPanel newPanel) {
    getContentPane().remove(currPanel);
    getContentPane().add(newPanel);
    // and you might need this:
    revalidate();
public class