Question

I’d like the Data, View and Formatting group to have the same width as Motion controls. I tried setMinimumSize(new Dimension(250,30)) but it has no effect.

class DeeLiteControlPanel extends JPanel
{
    public DeeLiteControlPanel()
    {
        setBounds(0, 140, 250, 550);
        JPanel dataGroup = createGroupWithName("Data");

        add(dataGroup);

        JButton loadBtn = new JButton("Load data");
        dataGroup.add(loadBtn);

        JPanel viewGroup = createGroupWithName("View");
        viewGroup.setLayout(new BorderLayout(5, 5));
        add(viewGroup);

        JButton skyBtn = new JButton("View from sky");
        viewGroup.add(skyBtn, BorderLayout.NORTH);

        final JToggleButton chaseBtn = new JToggleButton("Chase Vehicle");
        viewGroup.add(chaseBtn, BorderLayout.EAST);

        _vehicleList = new JComboBox();
        _vehicleList.setEditable(false);
        viewGroup.add(_vehicleList, BorderLayout.WEST);

        JButton fitToWinBtn = new JButton("Fit to Window");
        viewGroup.add(fitToWinBtn, BorderLayout.SOUTH);

        JPanel formattingGroup = createGroupWithName("Formatting");
        formattingGroup.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(250, 20));
        formattingGroup.setLayout(new GridLayout(5, 0));
        add(formattingGroup);

        final JCheckBox showSurface = new JCheckBox("Show surface");
        showSurface.setSelected(true);
        formattingGroup.add(showSurface);

        final JCheckBox showTerrain = new JCheckBox("Show terrain");
        showTerrain.setSelected(true);
        formattingGroup.add(showTerrain);

        final JCheckBox showVehicleStatus = new JCheckBox("Show vehicle status");
        showVehicleStatus.setSelected(true);
        formattingGroup.add(showVehicleStatus);

        JPanel pnl = createGroupWithName("Depth Stretch");
        formattingGroup.add(pnl);
        JSlider slider = new JSlider(0, 10);
        pnl.add(slider);
    }

    public static JPanel createGroupWithName(String name)
    {
        JPanel pnl = new JPanel();
        pnl.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder(BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder(), name));
        pnl.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(250, 30));
        return pnl;
    }
}

Answer 1

Set GridBagLayout to the DeeLiteControlPanel or call setPreferredSize() method for all panels – Data, View and Formatting.

class DeeLiteControlPanel extends JPanel
{
    public DeeLiteControlPanel()
    {
      setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
      GridBagConstraints gs=new GridBagConstraints();

      gs.anchor=GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
      gs.fill=GridBagConstraints.BOTH; //or HORIZONTAL

      gs.gridx=0;
      gs.gridy=0;
      add(dataGroup,gs);

      gs.gridx=0;
      gs.gridy=1;
      add(viewGroup,gs);
      ....
     }
  }