VBox grow and resize

Question

All I have an inner VBOX nested inside a VBOX. the inner box is shown and hidden using setVisible(). When I start up the parent vbox still shows a space where the inner box is, and does not shrink. How do I set it so that the inner box is hidden and the parent takes up that space.

Answer 1

So a simple example would be this. Checkbox at the top that controls the button HBox.
package test;
import java.util.Comparator;
public class TestApplication extends Application {
     private TableView<ExchangeDataEvent> exchangesTable = new TableView<ExchangeDataEvent>();
     private ExchangesTestEventList exchangesTestEventList = new ExchangesTestEventList();
     static ObservableList<ExchangeDataEvent> data  = FXCollections.observableArrayList();
     @Override
     public void start(final Stage stage) throws Exception {
          initData();
          final VBox rootPane = new VBox();
          rootPane.setSpacing(10);
          TableColumn<ExchangeDataEvent,String> exchangeFlagCol = new TableColumn<ExchangeDataEvent,String>("");
          exchangeFlagCol.setCellValueFactory(new PropertyValueFactory<ExchangeDataEvent,String>("id"));
          exchangeFlagCol.setPrefWidth(50);
          TableColumn<ExchangeDataEvent,String> exchangeCol = new TableColumn<ExchangeDataEvent,String>("Exchange");
          exchangeCol.setCellValueFactory(new PropertyValueFactory<ExchangeDataEvent,String>("name"));
          exchangeCol.setSortType(SortType.DESCENDING);
          exchangeCol.setPrefWidth(50);
          TableColumn<ExchangeDataEvent,String> descCol = new TableColumn<ExchangeDataEvent,String>("Description");
          descCol.setCellValueFactory(new PropertyValueFactory<ExchangeDataEvent,String>("description"));
          descCol.setPrefWidth(50);
          descCol.setSortType(SortType.DESCENDING);
          this.exchangesTable.setPrefWidth(200);
          this.exchangesTable.setItems(this.exchangesTestEventList);
          this.exchangesTable.getSelectionModel().setSelectionMode(SelectionMode.SINGLE);
          this.exchangesTable.getColumns().addAll(exchangeFlagCol, exchangeCol, descCol);
          //Layout
          final HBox hbox = new HBox();
          hbox.setVisible(false);
          hbox.setManaged(false);
          Button buyButton = new Button("BUY");
          Button sellButton = new Button("SELL");
          hbox.getChildren().addAll(buyButton, sellButton);
          final CheckBox checkBox = new CheckBox("ShowDetails");
          checkBox.addEventHandler(MouseEvent.MOUSE_CLICKED, new EventHandler<Event>() {
               @Override
               public void handle(Event event) {
                    boolean selected = checkBox.isSelected();
                    if(selected) {
                         hbox.setVisible(true);
                         return;
                    hbox.setVisible(false);
          rootPane.getChildren().addAll(checkBox, exchangesTable, hbox);
         Scene scene = new Scene(rootPane, 400, 400, Color.WHITE); 
          stage.setResizable(true);
          stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();
     private void initData() {
          for (int i = 0; i < 50; i++) {
               this.exchangesTestEventList.add(new ExchangeDataEvent(+i, "SFE", "SFE EXCHANGE", true));
               this.exchangesTestEventList.add(new ExchangeDataEvent(+i, "LSE", "SLE MARKETS EXCHNAGE", true));
               this.exchangesTestEventList.add(new ExchangeDataEvent(+i, "NYSE", "NEW YORK", true));
               this.exchangesTestEventList.add(new ExchangeDataEvent(+i, "KSE", "KKOREA", true));
               this.exchangesTestEventList.add(new ExchangeDataEvent(+i, "CME", "CME EXCHANGE", true));
               this.exchangesTestEventList.add(new ExchangeDataEvent(+i, "SFE", "SFE EXCHANGE", true));
               this.exchangesTestEventList.add(new ExchangeDataEvent(+i, "LSE", "SLE MARKETS EXCHNAGE", true));
               this.exchangesTestEventList.add(new ExchangeDataEvent(+i, "NYSE", "NEW YORK", true));
               this.exchangesTestEventList.add(new ExchangeDataEvent(+i, "KSE", "KKOREA", true));
               this.exchangesTestEventList.add(new ExchangeDataEvent(+i, "CME", "CME EXCHANGE", true));
               this.exchangesTestEventList.add(new ExchangeDataEvent(+i, "SFE", "SFE EXCHANGE", true));
               this.exchangesTestEventList.add(new ExchangeDataEvent(+i, "LSE", "SLE MARKETS EXCHNAGE", true));
               this.exchangesTestEventList.add(new ExchangeDataEvent(+i, "NYSE", "NEW YORK", true));
               this.exchangesTestEventList.add(new ExchangeDataEvent(+i, "KSE", "KKOREA", true));
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          Application.launch(TestApplication.class, args);
     class ExchangesTestEventList extends ObservableListWrapper<ExchangeDataEvent> {
           * Creates a new instance of {@link ExchangesEventList}.
          public ExchangesTestEventList() {
               super(data);
           * Adds a new data record to the market data list
           * @param event
          public final void addMarketDataEvent(ExchangeDataEvent event) {
               data.add(event);
               this.sort(new MovieComparator());
//               this.sort();
          class MovieComparator implements Comparator<ExchangeDataEvent>{
              @Override
              public int compare(ExchangeDataEvent ex1, ExchangeDataEvent ex2) {
                   if(ex1.getName().equals(ex2.getName())) {
                       return 1;
                  if(!ex1.getName().equals(ex2.getName())) {
                       return 0;
                  return -1;
     public class ExchangeDataEvent extends TreeItem<ExchangeDataEvent> {
          private final String name;
          private final String description;
          private final boolean enabled;
          private final long id;
          public ExchangeDataEvent(long id, String name, String description, boolean enabled) {
               this.id = id;
               this.name = name;
               this.description = description;
               this.enabled = enabled;
               setExpanded(true);
          public long getId() {
               return this.id;
          public String getName() {
               return this.name;
          public String getDescription() {
               return this.description;
          public boolean isEnabled() {
               return this.enabled;
}