Resizing JButtons

Question

Here's the dilema- I'm trying to make an applet with a lot of buttons in each row, but I don't want the applet to stretch the width of the screen. Some of the buttons don't have anything on them but a "-" or a single digit number. How can I properly size these buttons down so that they don't take up as much space as the larger buttons?
Here's what I'm dealing with:
public class inputscreen extends JApplet {
  upstat x;
  String fname;
  String lname;
  String ppg, xft, xfta, home, pos, cl, ht, wt;
  Connection con = null;
  Statement st = null;
  ResultSet rs = null;
  int vfg, vfga, vt3, vt3a, vft, vfta, vrb, vas, vf, vtot;
  String updateString;
  Container cp = getContentPane();
  JTextField ply = new JTextField(3);
  JButton upd = new JButton("UD");
  String sfg;
  JButton fg = new JButton(sfg);
  JButton fgm = new JButton("-");
  String sfga;
  JButton fga = new JButton(sfga);
  JButton fgam = new JButton("-");
  String st3;
  JButton t3 = new JButton(st3);
  JButton t3m = new JButton("-");
  String st3a;
  JButton t3a = new JButton(st3a);
  JButton t3am = new JButton("-");
  String sft;
  JButton ft = new JButton(sft);
  JButton ftm = new JButton("-");
  String sfta;
  JButton fta = new JButton(sfta);
  JButton ftam = new JButton("-");
  String srb;
  JButton rb = new JButton(srb);
  JButton rbm = new JButton("-");
  String sas;
  JButton as = new JButton(sas);
  JButton asm = new JButton("-");
  String sf;
  JButton f = new JButton(sf);
  JButton fm = new JButton("-");
  String stot;
  JTextField tot = new JTextField(4);
  JButton player = new JButton("Player");
  JButton season = new JButton("Season");
  JButton tonight = new JButton("Tonight");
  public void init() {
    JPanel line = new JPanel();
    line.add(ply);
    line.add(upd);
    line.add(fg);
    line.add(fgm);
    line.add(fga);
    line.add(fgam);
    line.add(t3);
    line.add(t3m);
    line.add(t3a);
    line.add(t3am);
    line.add(ft);
    line.add(ftm);
    line.add(fta);
    line.add(ftam);
    line.add(rb);
    line.add(rbm);
    line.add(as);
    line.add(asm);
    line.add(f);
    line.add(fm);
    line.add(tot);
    JPanel lower = new JPanel();
    lower.add(player);
    lower.add(season);
    lower.add(tonight);
    line.setLayout(new GridLayout(2, 21));
    lower.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
    cp.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
    cp.add(line, BorderLayout.NORTH);
    cp.add(lower, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    upd.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    fg.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    fgm.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    fga.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    fgam.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    t3.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    t3m.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    t3a.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    t3am.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    ft.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    ftm.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    fta.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    ftam.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    rb.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    rbm.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    as.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    asm.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    f.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    fm.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    player.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    season.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
    tonight.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
  }I'm trying to figure out JButton.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(x,y)); with no success. If someone could give me an example of how to implement that or another technique of resizing individual buttons, I'd really appreciate it.

Answer 1

The post by camickr is correct: Java components are sized by the layout manager managing the container in which they reside. Simply, GridLayout attempts to size every component the same -- your precise problem. If you use a GridBagLayout instead, the buttons will all respect their preferred size. See the given link.
- Steev.