Why do my buttons shift down?

Question

I have a frame with gridbaglayout. When I uncomment the line panel.add(label);{code} all the buttons in the frame shift down.  How do I make it so that if I add an imageicon to my panel that it doesn't affect the position of other components in the frame?
{code:java}
private static void createAndShowGUI() {
        //Set window decorations
        JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);
        //Create and set up the window.
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Blackjack");
        frame.setSize(600, 500);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        //Set window layout manager
        GridBagLayout gridBag = new GridBagLayout();
        GridBagConstraints constraints = new GridBagConstraints();
        frame.setLayout(gridBag);
        constraints.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
        //panel for displaying cards
        JPanel panel = new JPanel();
        panel.setBackground(Color.GREEN);
        constraints.ipady = 380;
        constraints.gridwidth = 4;
        constraints.weightx = 0.5;
        constraints.weighty = 1;
        constraints.gridx = 0;
        constraints.gridy = 0;
        gridBag.setConstraints(panel, constraints);
        frame.getContentPane().add(panel);
        String path = "images/clubs-2-75.png";
        ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon(path);
        JLabel label = new JLabel(icon);
        panel.add(label);       
        constraints.ipady = 0;
        constraints.gridwidth = 1;
        //add buttons to frame
        JButton button1 = new JButton("button1");
        constraints.weightx = 0.5;
        constraints.gridx = 0;
        constraints.gridy = 1;
        gridBag.setConstraints(button1, constraints);
        frame.getContentPane().add(button1);
        JButton button2 = new JButton("button2l");
        constraints.weightx = 0.5;
        constraints.gridx = 1;
        constraints.gridy = 1;
        gridBag.setConstraints(button2, constraints);
        frame.getContentPane().add(button2);
        JButton button3 = new JButton("button3");
        constraints.weightx = 0.5;
        constraints.gridx = 2;
        constraints.gridy = 1;
        gridBag.setConstraints(button3, constraints);
        frame.getContentPane().add(button3);
        JButton button4 = new JButton("button4");
        constraints.weightx = 0.5;
        constraints.gridx = 3;
        constraints.gridy = 1;
        gridBag.setConstraints(button4, constraints);
        frame.getContentPane().add(button4);
        //Display the window.
        frame.setVisible(true);
{code}
Edited by: rajend3 on Sep 3, 2009 11:35 AM                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Answer 1

rajend3 wrote:
I created a second panel, now the frame and the panels all have their own layout managers and it seems to be working fine. Thanks for the help.Cool. I looked at your code, played around with it a bit, and came up with my own SSCCE:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import javax.swing.*;
public class BlackView {
  enum BjButtonText {
    BET("Bet"), DEAL("Deal"),
    HIT("Hit"), DOUBLE("Double"),
    STAND("Stand");
    private String text;
    private BjButtonText(String text) {
      this.text = text;
    public String getText() {
      return text;
  private static final Dimension TABLE_SIZE = new Dimension(850, 400);
  private static final Color TABLE_COLOR = Color.GREEN;
  private Map<BjButtonText, JButton> btnMap = new HashMap<BjButtonText, JButton>();
  private JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
  private JPanel tablePanel;
  private JLabel betLabel;
  private JLabel balanceLabel;
  public BlackView() {
    tablePanel = new JPanel();
    tablePanel.setPreferredSize(TABLE_SIZE);
    tablePanel.setBackground(TABLE_COLOR);
    JPanel betPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1, 0));
    for (int i = 0; i < BjButtonText.values().length - 1; i++) {
      betPanel.add(new JLabel()); // add empty labels to pad left
    betLabel = new JLabel("Bet:");
    betPanel.add(betLabel);
    JPanel balancePanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1, 0));
    for (int i = 0; i < BjButtonText.values().length - 1; i++) {
      balancePanel.add(new JLabel()); // empty labels to pad left
    balanceLabel = new JLabel("Balance:");
    balancePanel.add(balanceLabel);
    JPanel btnPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1, 0));
    for (BjButtonText bjBtnName : BjButtonText.values()) {
      JButton button = new JButton(bjBtnName.getText());
      btnPanel.add(button);
      btnMap.put(bjBtnName, button);
    // bottom panel holds the bet and balance panels and the button panel
    JPanel bottomPanel = new JPanel();
    bottomPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(bottomPanel, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
    bottomPanel.add(betPanel);
    bottomPanel.add(balancePanel);
    bottomPanel.add(btnPanel);
    JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);
    mainPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
    mainPanel.add(tablePanel,
        BorderLayout.CENTER);
    mainPanel.add(bottomPanel,
        BorderLayout.SOUTH);
  public JPanel getMainPanel() {
    return mainPanel;
  public void updatePlayerHand() {
    JLabel cardLabel = new JLabel("Card", SwingConstants.CENTER);
    cardLabel.setOpaque(true);
    cardLabel.setBackground(Color.white);
    cardLabel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(70, 105));
    cardLabel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.black));
    tablePanel.add(cardLabel);
    tablePanel.revalidate();
    tablePanel.repaint();
  public void addBtnListener(BjButtonText btnName, ActionListener listener) {
    btnMap.get(btnName).addActionListener(listener);
  private static void createAndShowGUI() {
    final BlackView blackview = new BlackView();
    blackview.addBtnListener(BjButtonText.DEAL, new ActionListener() {
      public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
        blackview.updatePlayerHand();
    JFrame frame = new JFrame("Simple BlackJack View");
    frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    frame.getContentPane().add(blackview.getMainPanel());
    frame.pack();
    frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    frame.setVisible(true);
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
      public void run() {
        createAndShowGUI();
}