How to move 3 buttons inside a window

Question

In the below code I am attempting to move the three buttons to the left when you click the left button. When I click it; nothing happens currently. Can anyone explain to me what I am doing wrong here? Also, for some reason it has stopped compiling correctly and I am unsure why but I BELIEVE it is because of a mistake in my code while attempting to get the buttons to move to the left when you click the button. I do NOT want the window to move. Just the buttons within the window. Does any one see what I am doing wrong and can you explain it?

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

public class Buttons extends JFrame {
//Control Definitions

    JButton resetButton;
    JButton leftButton;
    JButton colorButton;
    JPanel buttonPanel;
// Layout Definiton
    eventHandle evt;
    FlowLayout flt;
    Point point; //to Hold Previous Window Position
    Color color; //to Hold Previous Color

    public Buttons() {
        super("Buttons Window");
        flt = new FlowLayout();//inialize the Flow Layout
        buttonPanel = new JPanel(flt);
        //inialize the buttonPanel With Flow Layout
        //initialize buttons
        resetButton = new JButton("Reset");
        leftButton = new JButton("Left");
        colorButton = new JButton("Blue");
        evt = new eventHandle(); //initiate the eventhandle class
        buttonPanel.add(leftButton); //add leftButton
        buttonPanel.add(colorButton);//add colorButton
        buttonPanel.add(resetButton);//add colorButton
        getContentPane().add(buttonPanel);//buttonPanel
        //add actionlistners
        leftButton.addActionListener(evt);
        colorButton.addActionListener(evt);
        resetButton.addActionListener(evt);
        setBounds(20, 120, 250, 70);
        //following Initate the point with Center of Scren
        point = new Point((Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().
                getScreenSize().width - getWidth()) / 2, 
                (Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize().height
                - getHeight()) / 2);
        setLocation(point); //locates the window in center
        color = buttonPanel.getBackground();//stores the initial color
        setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setVisible(true);
    }

    class eventHandle implements ActionListener { //Event Handler

        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            {
                if (e.getSource() == leftButton) ///if its from leftButton
                {
                    leftButton.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);
                    colorButton.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);
                    resetButton.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);
    //setLocation( (point.x -150), point.y);//shift the window 150 pixels left
                } else if (e.getSource() == colorButton) {
                    buttonPanel.setBackground(color.BLUE); 
                    //sets the backgorund to Blue
                } else {
                    leftButton.setAlignmentX(Component.CENTER_ALIGNMENT); 
                    //sets the location to previous location
                    colorButton.setAlignmentX(Component.CENTER_ALIGNMENT);
                    resetButton.setAlignmentX(Component.CENTER_ALIGNMENT);
                }

            }
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Buttons buttonwindow = new Buttons();
    }
}

Answer 1

It has stopped compiling, because you deleted one accolade, so put one accolade "}" just above the method:

public static  void main(String[] args)

and the code should compile. pls feedback.

EDIT:

Also rewrite your main method like this:

public static void main(String[] args) {

        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

                    @Override
                    public void run() {
                        Buttons buttonwindow = new Buttons();
                    }
                }
            );           
    }

Every usage of Swing components must be done thorugh the Event Dispatch Thread (abbreviated EDT) or you will probably get unwanted visual effects. See here for explanation.

EDIT^2:

To achieve the desired behavior, rewrite the the action listener like this:

if (e.getSource() == leftButton)  {
    ((FlowLayout)buttonPanel.getLayout()).setAlignment(FlowLayout.LEFT); //1
    buttonPanel.revalidate(); //2
}
else if (e.getSource() == colorButton) {
    buttonPanel.setBackground(color.BLUE); 
} 
else {
    ((FlowLayout)buttonPanel.getLayout()).setAlignment(FlowLayout.CENTER);
    buttonPanel.revalidate();
}

Any change to the visual appereance to the Swing component must be done through the assigned layout manager, in this case FlowLayout - in line 1.

To see the change you must notify the Swing components layout manager to rearrange the components - in line 2 the revalidate() method "notifies" the layout manager to recalculate the new positions and eventually "notifies" the EDT to draw it on the screen.

Answer 2

You code won't compile as the static main method appears inside the inner class eventHandle. You can fix simply by moving it into the class body of the outer class Buttons.

As you have all the objects references at class level, you could do the button alignment using, for instance:

flt.setAlignment(FlowLayout.RIGHT);
buttonPanel.revalidate();
...

Here you are adjusting the layout alignment of your FlowLayout and revalidating to visually reflect the updated changes on your panel.

Answer 3

You should update the layout manager to align the components to the left or right. Try something like;

((FlowLayout)getLayout()).setAlignment(FlowLayout.LEFT);

Instead