JPanels AS Docks

Question

I want to make a TV window that consists of one main JPanel (when I double-click on it, this should become full-screen), and more small JPanels at the right and at the bottom of the main frame. I don't know how to make it. I want to get main vector of this subject.

Google said: use DockingFrames v1.1.1! May be it is the best way to achieve this but I don't know. Help me anybody!

I also aim to make small windows drag-able and replace the main window.

I would really appreciate if somebody can give me some example and can explain how to make this simple and useful.

Answer 1

Here's some code to get you started. I put it all in one class, but you should make separate classes for the large JPanel and the small JPanels. This enables you to add the drag and drop logic for the small JPanels.

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.Container;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.Insets;
import java.awt.Point;
import java.awt.Toolkit;

import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.border.Border;

public class TVGrid implements Runnable {

    protected static final Insets noInsets    = new Insets(0, 0, 0, 0);

    protected Dimension screenSize;

    protected JFrame frame;

    protected JPanel largePanel;
    protected JPanel mainPanel;

    protected JPanel[] smallPanels;

    protected Point[] smallPanelOrigins;

    public TVGrid() {
        this.smallPanels = new JPanel[7];
        setSmallPanelOrigins();
        this.screenSize = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();      
    }

    protected void setSmallPanelOrigins() {
        this.smallPanelOrigins = new Point[7];
        this.smallPanelOrigins[0] = new Point(3, 0);
        this.smallPanelOrigins[1] = new Point(3, 1);
        this.smallPanelOrigins[2] = new Point(3, 2);
        this.smallPanelOrigins[3] = new Point(0, 3);
        this.smallPanelOrigins[4] = new Point(1, 3);
        this.smallPanelOrigins[5] = new Point(2, 3);
        this.smallPanelOrigins[6] = new Point(3, 3);
    }

    @Override
    public void run() {
        Border border = BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.BLACK, 3);

        frame = new JFrame();
        frame.setTitle("TV Frame");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        mainPanel = new JPanel();
        mainPanel.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());

        largePanel = new JPanel();
        largePanel.setPreferredSize(getLargePanelPreferredSize());
        largePanel.setBackground(Color.GREEN);
        largePanel.setBorder(border);

        addComponent(mainPanel, largePanel, 0, 0, 3, 3, noInsets,
                GridBagConstraints.LINE_START, GridBagConstraints.BOTH);

        for (int i = 0; i < 7; i++) {
            smallPanels[i] = new JPanel();
            smallPanels[i].setPreferredSize(getSmallPanelPreferredSize());
            smallPanels[i].setBackground(Color.YELLOW);
            smallPanels[i].setBorder(border);

            int x = smallPanelOrigins[i].x;
            int y = smallPanelOrigins[i].y;

            addComponent(mainPanel, smallPanels[i], x, y, 1, 1, noInsets,
                    GridBagConstraints.LINE_START, GridBagConstraints.BOTH);
        }

        frame.add(mainPanel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    protected Dimension getLargePanelPreferredSize() {
        Dimension d = new Dimension();
        d.width = ((screenSize.width - 30) * 3) / 4;
        d.height = ((screenSize.height - 90) * 3) / 4;
        return d;
    }

    protected Dimension getSmallPanelPreferredSize() {
        Dimension d = new Dimension();
        d.width = (screenSize.width - 30) / 4;
        d.height = (screenSize.height - 90) / 4;
        return d;
    }

    protected void addComponent(Container container, Component component,
            int gridx, int gridy, int gridwidth, int gridheight, 
            Insets insets, int anchor, int fill) {
        GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints(gridx, gridy,
                gridwidth, gridheight, 1.0D, 1.0D, anchor, fill, insets, 0, 0);
        container.add(component, gbc);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new TVGrid());
    }


}