Swing. What do they use?

Question

Hi guys.
I have been trying to figure out which swing component is used within microsoft outlook (just an example) to represent the list of tasks that you can do.
Generally on the bottom left corner there is a list of clickable items that all display different things in the right part of the split pane.
Do you know what component is used to achieved this? I would like to reproduce this.
Thanks a lot.
Edmond.

Answer 1

I got this from the old Sun forums (see class javadoc) some time ago. I don't even recall if I tweaked it at all or not. Use at your leisure:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.List;
import javax.swing.*;
* http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=553713
public class OutlookNavigationBarDemo implements Runnable
  String[] names = {"Mail", "Calendar", "Contacts", "Tasks", "Notes"};
  public void run()
    FloorTab floorTab = new FloorTab();
    for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++)
      JPanel jp = new JPanel();
      jp.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder(names));
floorTab.addTab(names[i], jp);
JFrame f = new JFrame();
f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
f.getContentPane().add(floorTab, BorderLayout.CENTER);
f.setSize(200, 400);
f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
f.setVisible(true);
public static void main(String[] args)
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new OutlookNavigationBarDemo());
class FloorTab extends JPanel implements ActionListener
GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints(0, 1, 1, 1, 1.0, 1.0,
GridBagConstraints.CENTER, GridBagConstraints.BOTH, new Insets(0, 0, 0, 0), 0, 0);
GridBagLayout gbl = new GridBagLayout();
CardLayout cl = new CardLayout();
JPanel panels = new JPanel(cl);
List<JButton> buttons = new ArrayList<JButton>();
public FloorTab()
setLayout(gbl);
add(panels, gbc);
gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
gbc.weighty = 0.0;
public void addTab(String name, JPanel panel)
gbc.gridy = getComponentCount();
if (gbc.gridy == 1)
gbc.gridy = 0;
JButton jb = new JButton(name);
jb.addActionListener(this);
add(jb, gbc);
buttons.add(jb);
panels.add(name, panel);
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
int y = 0;
GridBagConstraints tmp;
JButton srcButton = (JButton) event.getSource();
for (int i = 0; i < buttons.size(); i++)
JButton jb = buttons.get(i);
tmp = gbl.getConstraints(jb);
tmp.gridy = y++;
gbl.setConstraints(jb, tmp);
if (srcButton == jb)
tmp = gbl.getConstraints(panels);
tmp.gridy = y++;
gbl.setConstraints(panels, tmp);
cl.show(panels, srcButton.getText());
EDIT: This example mimics the older style of Outlook via "sliding" panels. For the newer versions, I'd just use a JPanel of JButtons for the lower left navigation panel, and use a CardLayout for the contents depending on which button was clicked.