JPanel: layout help needed

Question

I want to build this layout:

Which consists of a label, a text field, 2 buttons and a variable height text area (from 1 row to 40+ rows). I am trying to use a GridBagLayout with no success. Buttons are on top of each other, I don't know how to set the size of each element and there is no space between them. Here is the code until now:

    GridBagLayout gridbag = new GridBagLayout();
    this.setLayout(gridbag);
    GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
    c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;

    c.gridx = 0;
    c.gridy = 0;
    c.gridwidth = 4;
    gridbag.setConstraints(lblGuidelines, c);
    this.add(lblGuidelines);

    c.gridx = 0;
    c.gridy = 1;
    c.gridwidth = 4;
    gridbag.setConstraints(txtNumberInput, c);
    this.add(txtNumberInput);

    c.gridx = 0;
    c.gridy = 2;
    c.gridwidth = 2;
    c.weightx = 0.5;
    gridbag.setConstraints(btnCheck, c);
    this.add(btnCheck);

    c.gridx = 0;
    c.gridy = 2;
    c.gridwidth = 2;
    c.weightx = 0.5;
    gridbag.setConstraints(btnClear, c);
    this.add(btnClear);

    c.gridx = 0;
    c.gridy = 3;
    c.gridwidth = 4;
    gridbag.setConstraints(textArea, c);
    this.add(textArea);

Answer 1

Something like...

Basically, you need to set the gridx position for the second button to be 1 and not 0. Also, it's pointless to specify a gridwidth where the columns don't exist, it can cause issues, but mostly, those columns will have a virtual width of 0, so won't count for much

GridBagLayout gridbag = new GridBagLayout();
this.setLayout(gridbag);
GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;

JLabel lblGuidelines = new JLabel("Please neter a telephone number and check if it's valid or not");
JTextField txtNumberInput = new JTextField(12);
JButton btnCheck = new JButton("Check");
JButton btnClear = new JButton("Clear");
JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea(20, 12);

c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = 0;
c.gridwidth = 2;
c.insets = new Insets(8, 8, 8, 8);
c.weightx = 1;
this.add(lblGuidelines, c);

c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = 1;
this.add(txtNumberInput, c);

c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = 2;
c.gridwidth = 1;
c.weightx = 0.5;
this.add(btnCheck, c);

c.gridx = 1;
c.gridy = 2;
this.add(btnClear, c);

c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = 3;
c.gridwidth = 2;
c.weightx = 1;
this.add(new JScrollPane(textArea), c);