Scrollable JTextArea problem. Tried the techniques of previous posts.

Question

Hi guys,
I know this is a very common post on this forum. I have tried the solutions mentioned in previos posts, but somehow I am unable to make a JTextArea Scrollable.
I have written the following code :
          TAlab1 = new JTextArea(temp);
          TAlab1.setBounds(50, 130, 530, 50);
          TAlab1.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder() );
          TAlab1.setLineWrap(true);
          TAlab1.setEditable(false);
          jsp = new JScrollPane(TAlab1);
          p.add(jsp); // where p is JPanelHere, if I add jsp, then the JTextArea is not visible. If I add TAlab1, then I get a JTextArea, but which is not scrollable.
I would appreciate any of your assistance.
Regards
kbhatia

Answer 1

Calling setBounds can get you in trouble. Hardcoding values is almost always a bad idea. Here's a short demo of adding a JTextArea to a JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class ScrollTest extends JFrame{
    private String longString = "This is just a long string to be added over and over again to textarea\n";
    int times = 0;
    private JTextArea textArea;
    public ScrollTest() {
        buildGUI();
    private void buildGUI(){
        JPanel mainPanel = (JPanel) getContentPane();
        mainPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        JPanel centerPanel = buildCenterPanel();
        mainPanel.add(centerPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        JPanel buttonPanel = buildButtonPanel();
        mainPanel.add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        pack();
        setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        setVisible(true);
    private JPanel buildButtonPanel() {
        JPanel retPanel = new JPanel();
        JButton addButton  = new JButton("Add Text");
        addButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                addText();
        retPanel.add(addButton);
        return retPanel;
    private void addText() {
        textArea.append(times+ " "+longString);
        times +=1;
    private JPanel buildCenterPanel() {
        JPanel retPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1,0, 5,5));
        textArea = new JTextArea(5,10);
        textArea.setWrapStyleWord(true);
        textArea.setLineWrap(true);
        textArea.setEditable(false);
        textArea.setEnabled(false);
        JScrollPane jsp = new JScrollPane(textArea);
        retPanel.add(jsp);
        return retPanel;
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new ScrollTest();
}Cheers
DB