Multiple FlowLayouts in one class?

Question

so I have my Main, and this is done inside of it.

  JFrame CF = new JFrame();
    CF.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
    CF.add(new CarGUI(), BorderLayout.NORTH);
    // CF.add(new CarGUI(), BorderLayout.SOUTH);
    //' South FlowLayout ' here ^  
    CF.setSize(600,400);
    CF.setVisible(true);

In my CarGUI class I have:

public class CarGUI extends JPanel {

private CarTaxManager manager;
private JLabel lpLabel;
private JTextField searchField;
private JButton searchButton;

public CarGUI(){
    FlowLayout NorthLayout = new FlowLayout();
    //this.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
    this.setLayout(NorthLayout);
    lpLabel = new JLabel("License Plate");
    searchField = new JTextField(10);
    searchButton = new JButton("Search");

    add(lpLabel);
    add(searchField);
    add(searchButton);
}

So basically what has to happen here, is I need to make another flow layout, called 'SouthLayout', and in the main, I need to put it to that one. However, the flowlayout has to be done inside CarGUI. I can't seem to get this working.

EDIT:

What it has to look like eventually:

So I'll be needing two FlowLayouts in total. One for the top, and one at the bottom. Neither of them include the TextPane in the middle. This all comes in a borderLayout in the main.

Thanks in advance!

See [MigLayout](http://miglayout.com/). It's far better than the default ones. — elias, Oct 13 '15 at 17:05
So what is the problem you're having? You have shown what it should look like, can you also show what it looks like right now? — Shahzad, Oct 13 '15 at 17:13

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 13 '15 at 17:35

Sounds like a good candidate for BorderLayout

I've modified your code to get a good start at implementing it, given what you have shown us:

public class CarGUI extends JPanel {

private CarTaxManager manager;
private JLabel lpLabel;
private JTextField searchField;
private JButton searchButton;

public CarGUI(){
    setLayout(new BorderLayout());

    JPanel north = new JPanel();
    north .setLayout(new FlowLayout());
    lpLabel = new JLabel("License Plate");
    searchField = new JTextField(10);
    searchButton = new JButton("Search");
    north.add(lpLabel);
    north.add(searchField);
    north.add(searchButton);
    add(north, BorderLayout.NORTH);


    JPanel center = new JPanel();
    center.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
    //TODO add components to center
    add(center, BorderLayout.CENTER);

    JPanel south= new JPanel();
    south.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
    //TODO add components to south
    add(south, BorderLayout.SOUTH);

}

Note that you do not need to set the layout of new JPanels to a new FlowLayout - that is the default. — Nulano, Oct 13 '15 at 17:44

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 13 '15 at 17:38

I think a BorderLayout would work well. The big text field could be in the center and you could have the buttons and menus above and below it. Of course, A simple BoxLayout would also do the job fine. Here is a simple example on how to achieve this with a BorderLayout.

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JComboBox;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextField;


public class CarGUI extends JFrame {

    public CarGUI() {
        initGUI();
    }

    public void initGUI() {
        setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        setSize(600, 400);
        initNorthGUI();
        initCenterGUI();
        initSouthGUI();
        setVisible(true);
    }

    private void initNorthGUI() {
        JPanel northPanel = new JPanel();
        northPanel.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
        northPanel.add(new JLabel("License Plate"));
        northPanel.add(new JTextField(10));
        northPanel.add(new JButton("Search"));
        add(northPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);

    }

    private void initCenterGUI() {
        JLabel centerPanel = new JLabel("Center");
        centerPanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.black));
        add(centerPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    }

    private void initSouthGUI() {
        JPanel southPanel = new JPanel();
        southPanel.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
        southPanel.add(new JButton("Some Button"));
        southPanel.add(new JComboBox());
        add(southPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);
    }

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        CarGUI c = new CarGUI();
    }
}

Each individual 'JPanel', or any other container, can have its own layout manager. So if you want a different layout in part of your application, add a JPanel with the layout you need.

Multiple FlowLayouts in one class?

2 Answers2