Question

I’m trying to write custom JFrame and JPanel for my Java application. Currently, I just want to have a JPanel with a start button in the very middle of the screen. So, here’s the code I have:

package gui;

import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyListener;

import javax.swing.JFrame;

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class SubitizingFrame extends JFrame implements KeyListener {

    public SubitizingFrame() {
        super("Subitizing");
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        addKeyListener(this);
        add(new LaunchPanel());

        pack();
        setVisible(true);
    }

    public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
        if(e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_F5)
            System.out.println("F5 pressed");
    }

    public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) {

    }

    public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) {

    }
}

and here is my panel:

package gui;

import instructions.Settings;

import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class LaunchPanel extends JPanel implements ActionListener {

    private JButton startButton;

    public LaunchPanel() {
        int width = Settings.getScreenSizeX(), height = Settings.getScreenSizeY();
        setPreferredSize(new Dimension(width, height));
        setLayout(null);
        startButton = new JButton("Start");
        startButton.setLocation((width/2) - (startButton.getWidth()/2), (height/2) - (startButton.getHeight()/2));
        add(startButton);
    }

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub

    }
}

But when the application launches, I don’t see anything. Just a big gray screen.

Answer 1

Do not use a null layout. If you simply use the default layout manager of JPanel (i.e. FlowLayout), the JButton with “automagically” be placed in the center. Also, in order to place the JFrame in the middle of the screen, invoke setLocationRelativeTo(null).

---

Since it’s hard to tell what you mean by “screen”, this example shows how you center a JButton in a JPanel in a JFrame, that is then centered on the monitor.

public final class CenterComponentsDemo {

    public static void main(String[] args){
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable(){
            @Override
            public void run() {
                createAndShowGUI();                 
            }
        });
    }

    private static void createAndShowGUI(){
        final JFrame frame = new JFrame("Center Components Demo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.getContentPane().add(new ButtonPane());
        frame.setSize(new Dimension(300, 100)); // Done for demo
        //frame.pack();
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    private static class ButtonPane extends JPanel{
        public ButtonPane(){
            super();
            setLayout(new BoxLayout(this, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
            setBackground(Color.PINK);
            final JButton button = new JButton("Start");
            button.setAlignmentX(Component.CENTER_ALIGNMENT);
            add(Box.createVerticalGlue());
            add(button);
            add(Box.createVerticalGlue());
        }
    }
}