Question

I’m trying to hand-code a Java GUI using Swing and AWT. I’m using various layouts to try and achieve or something similar to the GUI posted below (it’s a mock layout made with Pencil):

What I got so far is this, but can’t seem to make it more “polite”, appealing and user-friendly as possible.

This is the code I have done so far:

import java.awt.*; 
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.JTable;


public class GUI extends JFrame {

    public void buildGui() {

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Hotel TV Scheduler");

                JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
        mainPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout(0,0));

                JPanel chPanel = new JPanel();
                chPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(3,2));

                JPanel listPanel = new JPanel();
                listPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(3,2));

                JPanel infoPanel = new JPanel();
        infoPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(0,2));


                JPanel addPanel = new JPanel();
        addPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(0,3));


                mainPanel.add(chPanel, BorderLayout.LINE_START);
                mainPanel.add(listPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
                mainPanel.add(infoPanel, BorderLayout.LINE_END);


                JTable chOneTable = new JTable();
                JTable chTwoTable = new JTable();
                JTable listTable = new JTable();

                JLabel ch1Label = new JLabel("Channel 1");
                JLabel ch2Label = new JLabel("Channel 2");
                JLabel listLabel = new JLabel("List");

                JButton rmvChOneButton = new JButton("Remove Channel");
                JButton rmvChTwoButton = new JButton("Remove Channel");

                chPanel.add(ch1Label);
                chPanel.add(ch2Label);
                chPanel.add(chOneTable);
                 chPanel.add(chTwoTable);
                chPanel.add(rmvChOneButton);                                         
                chPanel.add(rmvChTwoButton);

                listPanel.add(listLabel);
                listPanel.add(listTable);                



                JLabel titleLabel = new JLabel("Title");
                JLabel genreLabel = new JLabel("Genre");
                JLabel durationLabel = new JLabel("Duration");
                JLabel actorLabel = new JLabel("Actor");
                JLabel directorLabel = new JLabel("Director");
                JLabel rentableLabel = new JLabel("Rentable");
                JLabel synLabel = new JLabel("Synopsis");

                JTextField txtTitle = new JTextField();          
                JTextField txtGenre = new JTextField();
                JTextField txtDuration = new JTextField();
                JTextField txtActor = new JTextField();
                JTextField txtDirector = new JTextField();
                JTextField txtSynopsis = new JTextField();

                JCheckBox rentCB = new JCheckBox();

                JButton btnAddProg = new JButton("Add Program");

                JList channelList = new JList();
                JList timeList = new JList();

                infoPanel.add(titleLabel);
                infoPanel.add(txtTitle);
                infoPanel.add(genreLabel);
                infoPanel.add(txtGenre);
                infoPanel.add(durationLabel);
                infoPanel.add(txtDuration);
                infoPanel.add(actorLabel);
                infoPanel.add(txtActor);
                infoPanel.add(directorLabel);
                infoPanel.add(txtDirector);
                infoPanel.add(rentableLabel);
                infoPanel.add(rentCB);
                infoPanel.add(synLabel);
                infoPanel.add(txtSynopsis);
                infoPanel.add(btnAddProg);
                infoPanel.add(channelList);
                infoPanel.add(timeList);


                frame.add(mainPanel);
                frame.setVisible(true);


    }


}

It doesn’t have to be exactly as the mock layout shown above but as much as possible similar or at least more user-friendly.

I want to use anything but GridBagLayout and SwingLayout.

Any ideas on how to improve the code and make it look more similar?

Any help is appreciated.

Brian

Answer 1

Have a look at the MigLayout. It’s licensing is very inclusive:

MigLayout is free to use for commercial and non-commercial projects and the source code is provided. It is licensed under the very free BSD or GPL license, whichever you prefer

The JNLP demo application should show up great examples and corresponding source.

Also, try to avoid nesting logically unrelated components. Getting alignment, borders and padding becomes quite painful as you increase the degree of nesting.