Search code examples
javaswingjtablejpanelflowlayout

(Java) Trying to format the layout of multiple JTables with other elements in a JPanel

I've been working on a Pokemon-themed quiz game in Java (modeled after Sporcle, if you're familiar). Pretty much everything works how I want it to, except for the layout of the different components of the program.

I've never been very good with the different layout managers, and I don't know how to get them to do what I need.

Here's what the window looks like right now:

Pokemon Quiz Window Image

Now, I'll play around with font sizes later, but the tables themselves look exactly how I want them to. The problem is, I want them to be under the text fields and buttons and stuff. Here's the portion of the code where I add all the components to my JPanel:

    panel.add(label,FlowLayout.LEFT); //adding the "big question text"
    panel.add(answerfield); //adding the JTextField
    panel.add(correctAnswerTracker); //adding the "x / 151" text
    for(int x = sPanes.length-1; x >=0; x--) //as you keep adding to left, it gets pushed over, so doing it backwards results in the correct order
    panel.add(sPanes[x],FlowLayout.LEFT); 
    //each table is in a scrollPane, and all my scrollPanes are in the array sPanes, so I'm looping through that to add the tables
    panel.add(startStopButton); //button that says "Start"
    panel.add(exit); //button that says "Exit
    panel.add(timer); //the timer

As you can see, the statements to add the text field, and correct answer tracker are all written before the add statement for the tables, and yet the tables are at the top. Additionally, there's the issue of my tables in that loop being added in the backwards order, so I had to reverse the direction of the loop iterations to get the tables to appear in the correct order. I've tried using stuff like setLocation and setBounds to get my components more where I want them, but nothing happened. Also, everything just appears in a row below the tables (and I know that's what FlowLayout does), but how would I go about customizing exactly where things appear?

Solution

  • Wrap a panel with BorderLayout around ones with FlowLayout. Put all the content that should be above the tables in a panel and add it with BorderLayout.NORTH. Put all the content that should be below the tables in another panel and add it with BorderLayout.SOUTH. Then put the tables in their own panel just as your are now, and add it with BorderLayout.CENTER.