Label disappears on GridLayout in Vaadin

Question

When I add a Label to my GridLayout in my Vaadin 7 app, it fails to appear. I pass the Label to the addComponent method. This works in other Layout implementations, but not GridLayout.

Answer 1

Set Width To Undefined

Adding a Label to a GridLayout is a special and annoying case. Discussed in the forums. Technically a “feature”, not a bug.

A Label has its width set by default to 100%. Inside a GridLayout, the Label needs to be of "undefined" width.

This line will fix your problem:

myLabel.setSizeUndefined();

Helper Method

I make frequent use of GridLayout to create professional and attractive layouts in Vaadin. This annoyance with Label in a GridLayout drives me batty, so I created this convenience method.

static public Label makeLabelSizeUndefined ( String caption )
{
    Label label = new Label( caption );
    label.setSizeUndefined();
    return label;
} 

Example usage:

Label phoneLabel = WidgetHelper.makeLabelSizeUndefined( "Phone Number : " );