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javaswingjcheckboxtext-alignment

Align text and checkbox of a JCheckBox on opposite sides of parent

Is there a simple way to align just the checkbox of a JCheckBox to the right without creating a separate label and check box component? I am aware of setHorizontalTextPosition(SwingConstants.LEADING); This only results in the box being on the right side of the text, but not right aligned.

What I want:

| Some sample text                                          ☑ |

instead of 

| Some sample text ☑                                          |

Thanks in advance!

Solution

  • You can separate the label and checkbox in a suitable layout. I've made the enclosing frame wider by an arbitrary factor to show the effect.

    Addendum: As noted here, "clicking the label doesn't check the box." A suitable MouseListener can toggle the check box in response to a mouse press anywhere in the enclosing panel.

    image

    import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JCheckBox;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

/**
 * @see https://stackoverflow.com/a/36369035/230513
 * @see http://stackoverflow.com/a/2933256/230513
 */
public class Test {

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                JFrame frame = new JFrame();
                frame.setLayout(new GridLayout(0, 1));
                frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
                frame.add(createPanel("Some label"));
                frame.add(createPanel("Another label"));
                frame.add(createPanel("Yet another label"));
                frame.pack();
                frame.setSize(frame.getWidth() * 2, frame.getHeight());
                frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
                frame.setVisible(true);
            }

            private JPanel createPanel(String s) {
                JPanel panel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
                JCheckBox check = new JCheckBox();
                panel.addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {
                    @Override
                    public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {
                        check.setSelected(!check.isSelected());
                    }
                });
                panel.add(new JLabel(s, JLabel.LEFT), BorderLayout.WEST);
                panel.add(check, BorderLayout.EAST);
                panel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.blue));
                return panel;
            }
        });
    }
}