Urgent assistance needed on textfields/labels please!!

Question

I have been trying for days to add labels and textFields to my applet and can only manage to display one.
My assignment instructions suggest I use makeTextField method and call the setEditable method from the makeTextField method to avoid repetition of code.
The following is my code...I must have this done in the next couple of days so if someone could please please give me some assistance it would be really appreciated....also, thoughts on my layout would be great as well...i cant seem to set up my buttons in the correct order.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.applet.Applet;
public class Registry4b extends Applet implements ActionListener {
public void init() {
backgroundColor = new Color(200,255,255);
this.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER,4,1));
makeButtons();
row1 = makePanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT,4,2),backgroundColor);
row1.add(clearB);
row1.add(studFindB);
row1.add(studForB);
row1.add(courB);
row2 = makePanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT,4,2),backgroundColor);
row2.add(studBackB);
row2.add(courFindB);
row2.add(courForB);
row2.add(studB);
row3 = makePanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT,4,2),backgroundColor);
row3.add(courBackB);
add(row1);
add(row2);
add(row3);
Panel p = new Panel(new BorderLayout());
Label studID = new Label("STUDENT ID");
TextField entry = new TextField(" ");
p.add(studID,BorderLayout.WEST);
p.add(entry,BorderLayout.CENTER);
Label firstTF = new Label("FIRST NAME");
makePanel(new BorderLayout(2,2),backgroundColor);
add("West",courBackB);
add("East",studB);
makePanel(new BorderLayout(2,2),backgroundColor);
add("North",p);
add("South",courForB);
makePanel(new BorderLayout(2,2),backgroundColor);
add("North",courFindB);
add("South",studBackB);
makePanel(new BorderLayout(2,2),backgroundColor);
add("West",p);
add("East",studForB);
setBackground(backgroundColor);
clearB.addActionListener(this);
courBackB.addActionListener(this);
studB.addActionListener(this);
courForB.addActionListener(this);
courFindB.addActionListener(this);
studBackB.addActionListener(this);
courB.addActionListener(this);
studForB.addActionListener(this);
studFindB.addActionListener(this);
private Label makeLabel(String label) {
Label label1 = new Label(label,Label.RIGHT);
label1.setFont(new Font("Courier",Font.BOLD,10));
return label1;
public void start() {
appletWidth = 8*4+row1.getSize().width;
appletHeight = 8*(2+courBackB.getSize().height);
public void paint(Graphics g) {
setSize(appletWidth,appletHeight);
validate();
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
String s = (String)e.getActionCommand();
private Button makeButton(String label, Color color, Font font) {
Button b = new Button(label);
b.setBackground(color);
b.setFont(font);
return b;
private Panel makePanel(LayoutManager lm, Color c) {
Panel p = new Panel();
p.setLayout(lm);
p.setBackground(c);
return p;
private void makeButtons() {
Font f = new Font("Courier", Font.BOLD, 10);
Color grey = new Color(255,100,100);
clearB = makeButton("CLEAR",grey,f);
studB = makeButton(" STUDENTS ",grey,f);
studForB = makeButton("->",grey,f);
studFindB = makeButton("FIND",grey,f);
courFindB = makeButton("FIND",grey,f);
studBackB = makeButton("<-",grey,f);
courB = makeButton(" COURSES ",grey,f);
courBackB = makeButton("<-",grey,f);
courForB = makeButton("->",grey,f);
TextField addressTF = new TextField("ADDRESS", 10);
static final String initialString = " ";
String Filler = " ";
Panel row1, row2, row3, p1;
int appletWidth, appletHeight;
Button clearB, studForB, studFindB, courFindB,
studBackB,courB, courBackB, studB, courForB;
Color backgroundColor;
thanks in advance for anything someone can do for me

Answer 1

I haven't tried your code, but since you use a layout manager, you shouldnt need to think about setting the size for the applet.
And I think when you call the method makePanel the last 4 times, you want to use the returned panel to add your components on. Right now you add everything directly to the panel and never use the panels you create.
And you also reuse some of your components more than once (like e.g. courBackB). You need to create a new button everytime, otherwise if you try to add the same button twice, the second one will not be displayed.
Try to add the components one by one and check it is displayed before you add the next one.
If you want to check what components and their sizes etc, you have on your applet, here is a little trick. Get the focus on your applet and press ctrl+shift+F1. If you run the applet in a browser, you will get something in the java console that displays all your GUI components and a description of them. So
It might help you.
Also take a look of the Java Tutorial for the AWT. You can download it from
     http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/information/download.html
called tut-OLDui.zip.