Question

I try to set a minimum width for my menu items, but it doesn’t seem to work. Here is my function, which creates the items:

 private JMenuItem newItem(String text, String iconPath) {
     JMenuItem myMenuItem;
     if (iconPath == null || iconPath.isEmpty()) {
         myMenuItem = new JMenuItem(text);
     }
     else {
         ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon(iconPath);
         myMenuItem = new JMenuItem(text, icon);
     }
     // this would work, but then setMaximumSize doesn't have any effect
     // myMenuItem.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(250,20)); 
     myMenuItem.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(250,20)); 
     myMenuItem.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(350,20));

     return myMenuItem;
 }

What am I doing wrong?

PS. I’m using jdk1.6 on Windows XP, Servicepack 3 with the System Look&Feel

Answer 1

Minimum and maximum sizes are ignored by most layout managers. Here is a useful little trick that forces those sizes to be respected in any layout manager:

private class MyMenuItem extends JMenuItem {
    @Override
    public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
        Dimension preferred = super.getPreferredSize();
        Dimension minimum = getMinimumSize();
        Dimension maximum = getMaximumSize();
        preferred.width = Math.min(Math.max(preferred.width, minimum.width), 
            maximum.width);
        preferred.height = Math.min(Math.max(preferred.height, minimum.height), 
            maximum.height);
        return preferred;
    }
}

This has the advantage of working even if the contents of the menu item changes. You will need to add constructors to suit your purposes.