how to add a TiltledBorder in a GridBagLayout?

Question

I am trying to make an UI with Swing using only one Container with the GridBagLayout !

My problem is that I want to regroup some JtextFields and Jlabels under one title (TitledBorder) in my interface, is there a way to add the border directly in my container, or should I create another JPanel to regroup my components and then add the hole Panel to my GridBagLayout ?

Answer 1

Based on the pic you provided, the typical solution would be to have 2 separate panels, each with their own TitledBorder, and then place both of these panels on a third outer panel.

However, you could create a similar effect on a single panel by replacing the TitledBorders with a combination of a JLabel followed by a JSeparator.

The difference is that the logical "group" of fields is now only defined by title that isn't surrounding the whole group. Some people prefer this, others do not.

Here's a sample of your pic to give you the idea:

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class Test implements Runnable
{
  private JTextField firstName;
  private JTextField lastName;
  private JTextField title;
  private JTextField nickname;
  private JComboBox format;

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

  public Test()
  {
    firstName = new JTextField(20);
    lastName = new JTextField(20);
    title = new JTextField(20);
    nickname = new JTextField(20);
    format = new JComboBox();
  }

  public void run()
  {
    JFrame frame = new JFrame();
    frame.getContentPane().add(createPanel());
    frame.pack();
    frame.setVisible(true);
  }

  private JPanel createPanel()
  {
    JPanel p = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
    GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints();

    gbc.gridx = 0;
    gbc.gridy = 0;
    gbc.insets = new Insets(4,4,4,4);
    gbc.ipadx = 1;
    gbc.ipady = 1;
    gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.WEST;

    JLabel nameHeader = new JLabel("Name:");
    nameHeader.setForeground(Color.RED.darker());
    p.add(nameHeader, gbc);

    gbc.gridx = 1;
    gbc.gridwidth = 3;
    gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
    p.add(new JSeparator(JSeparator.HORIZONTAL), gbc);

    gbc.gridx = 0;
    gbc.gridy = 1;
    gbc.gridwidth = 1;
    gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.NONE;
    p.add(new JLabel("First Name"), gbc);

    gbc.gridx = 1;
    p.add(firstName, gbc);

    gbc.gridx = 2;
    p.add(new JLabel("Last Name"), gbc);

    gbc.gridx = 3;
    p.add(lastName, gbc);

    gbc.gridx = 0;
    gbc.gridy = 2;
    p.add(new JLabel("Title"), gbc);

    gbc.gridx = 1;
    p.add(title, gbc);

    gbc.gridx = 2;
    p.add(new JLabel("Nickname"), gbc);

    gbc.gridx = 3;
    p.add(nickname, gbc);

    gbc.gridx = 0;
    gbc.gridy = 3;
    p.add(new JLabel("Format"), gbc);

    gbc.gridx = 1;
    gbc.gridwidth = 3;
    gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
    p.add(format, gbc);

    return p;
  }
}

You could play with the constraints to polish this up a bit, but you get the idea.

An upside to this approach is that when adding more fields for the Email section, you can get them to line up with the fields in the Name section. With separate panels, this would be more difficult (you could use a bunch of Box.createHorizontalStrut(...) for this).

The downside to this approach is that you now have a large panel with many fields, and it could get a bit unwieldy to maintain if you need to add more fields.