Question

So, I have a problem. I have a JPanel(BoxLayout, Y_AXIS). In it, I have JLabel, and JTextArea. JTextArea expands freely as I fill it with text, expanding the JPanel with it.

JLabel expands to. That is okay as long the text is vertically aligned to the top. But that command doesn’t work for some reason (setVerticalTextPosition, setVerticalAlignment, setAlignmentX). I think the first one is acctually a bug within Java.

Since that didn’t work, I tried glueing JLabel to the top border.
I have also set all three setXXSize to sam value to keep the size of JLabel constant.

But it just wont stick, depending on the layout it either snaps to the center or just fills the whole JPanel.

Now, I don’t care how, but all I need is a couple of letters that are top-aligned in the space occupied with JLabel (I can even use another JTextComponent, if it will make any difference). Is there a way to do that?

I’d provide you with code, but it’s pretty much what I have written above, and since the JPanel is a part of more complex GUI, I’d really have to give you the whole code…
(Which I will, if it will be needed.)

package core;

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyListener;
import java.awt.event.WindowEvent;
import java.awt.event.WindowListener;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Locale;
import java.util.Properties;
import java.util.ResourceBundle;

import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.Box;
import javax.swing.BoxLayout;
import javax.swing.ButtonGroup;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JDialog;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JMenu;
import javax.swing.JMenuBar;
import javax.swing.JMenuItem;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JRadioButton;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.KeyStroke;
import javax.swing.border.Border;
import javax.swing.text.AbstractDocument;
import javax.swing.text.AttributeSet;
import javax.swing.text.BadLocationException;
import javax.swing.text.DocumentFilter;



@SuppressWarnings("serial")
class DefaultFont extends Font
{
    public DefaultFont()
    {
        super("Arial", PLAIN, 20);
    }
}


@SuppressWarnings("serial")
class Page extends JPanel
{
    public JPanel largePage;
    public int content;

    public Page(JPanel panel, int index)
    {
        largePage = new JPanel();
        largePage.setLayout(new BoxLayout(largePage, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
        largePage.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(794, 1123));
        largePage.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(794, 1123));
        largePage.setAlignmentX(Component.CENTER_ALIGNMENT);
        largePage.setBackground(Color.WHITE);
        largePage.add(new Box.Filler(new Dimension(0, 96), new Dimension(0, 96), new Dimension(0, 96)));

        setMaximumSize(new Dimension(556, 931));
        setBackground(Color.LIGHT_GRAY);
        setLayout(new BoxLayout(this, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
        add(new Box.Filler(new Dimension(556, 0), new Dimension(556, 931), new Dimension(556, 931)));

        largePage.add(this);
        largePage.add(new Box.Filler(new Dimension(0, 96), new Dimension(0, 96), new Dimension(0, 96)));

        panel.add(largePage, index);
        panel.add(new Box.Filler(new Dimension(0, 40), new Dimension(0, 40), new Dimension(0, 40)));

        content = 0;

        Main.pages.add(this);
    }
}

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
class Heading extends JTextArea
{
    public boolean type;
    public AbstractDocument doc;
    public ArrayList<JPanel/*Question*/> questions;
    public ArrayList<JPanel/*List*/> list;  

    public Heading(boolean segment, Page page)
    {
        type = segment;

        setBackground(Color.RED);
        setFont(new Font("Arial", Font.BOLD, 20));

        Border in = BorderFactory.createDashedBorder(Color.BLACK);
        Border out = BorderFactory.createMatteBorder(0, 0, 10, 0, Color.WHITE);

        setBorder(BorderFactory.createCompoundBorder(out, in));
        setLineWrap(true);
        setWrapStyleWord(true);

        setText("Heading 1 Heading 1 Heading 1 Heading 1");

        doc = (AbstractDocument)this.getDocument();
        doc.setDocumentFilter(new DocumentFilter()
        {
            public void insertString(FilterBypass fb, int offs,String str, AttributeSet a) throws BadLocationException 
            {
                if ((fb.getDocument().getLength() + str.length()) <= 150)
                {
                    ;
                    fb.insertString(offs, str.replaceAll("\n", " "), a);
                }
                else
                {
                    int spaceLeft = 150 - fb.getDocument().getLength();
                    if (spaceLeft <= 0)
                        return;

                    fb.insertString(offs, str.substring(0,spaceLeft).replaceAll("\n", " "), a);
                }
            }

            public void replace(FilterBypass fb, int offs, int length, String str, AttributeSet a) throws BadLocationException 
            {
                if (str.equals("\n"))
                { 
                    str = "";
                }
                if ((fb.getDocument().getLength() + str.length() - length) <= 150)
                {
                    fb.replace(offs, length, str.replaceAll("\n", " "), a);
                }
                else
                {
                    int spaceLeft = 150 - fb.getDocument().getLength() + length;
                    if (spaceLeft <= 0)
                        return;

                    fb.replace(offs, length, str.substring(0,spaceLeft).replaceAll("\n", " "), a);
                }
            }
        });

        page.add(this, 0);
        page.content++;

        if (type)
        {
            questions = new ArrayList<JPanel>();
        }
        else
        {
            list = new ArrayList<JPanel>();
        }
    }
}

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
class Question extends JPanel
{
    public JPanel questionArea, numberArea, answerArea;
    public JLabel number;
    public JTextArea question;

    public Question(Page page, int pageNum, int index)
    {
        setLayout(new BoxLayout(this, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));

        questionArea = new JPanel();
        questionArea.setLayout(new BoxLayout(questionArea, BoxLayout.X_AXIS));

        numberArea = new JPanel();
        numberArea.setLayout(new BoxLayout(numberArea, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
        numberArea.setBackground(Color.YELLOW);

        number = new JLabel(pageNum+".", JLabel.RIGHT);
        number.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(100, 20));
        number.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 20));
        number.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(100, 20));
        //number.setAlignmentX(TOP_ALIGNMENT);
        number.setFont(new Font("Arial", Font.PLAIN, 18));
        number.setBackground(Color.BLUE);

        numberArea.add(number);

        //numberArea.add(new Box.Filler(new Dimension(40, 0), new Dimension(40, 30), new Dimension(40, 300)), BorderLayout.CENTER);

        questionArea.add(numberArea);

        question = new JTextArea();
        question.setFont(new Font("Arial", Font.PLAIN, 18));
        question.setLineWrap(true);
        question.setWrapStyleWord(true);
        question.setBackground(Color.GREEN);

        question.setText("dafd afdfd fasdfsdaah fg dfgd");



        questionArea.add(question);

        add(questionArea);
        page.add(this, index);
    }
}



public class Main
{

    public static Properties config;
    public static Locale currentLocale;
    public static ResourceBundle lang;

    public static JFrame mWindow;

    public static JMenuBar menu;
    public static JMenu menuFile, menuEdit;
    public static JMenuItem itmNew, itmClose, itmLoad, itmSave, itmSaveAs, itmExit, itmCut, itmCopy, itmPaste, itmProperties; 

    public static JDialog newDoc;
    public static JLabel newDocText1, newDocText2;
    public static JRadioButton questions, list;
    public static ButtonGroup newDocButtons;
    public static JButton newDocOk;
    public static Boolean firstSegment;

    public static JPanel workspace;
    public static JScrollPane scroll;
    public static ArrayList<Page> pages;


    public static void newDocumentForm()
    {
        //new document dialog
        mWindow.setEnabled(false);

        newDoc = new JDialog(mWindow, "newDoc");
        newDoc.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE);
        newDoc.addWindowListener(new WindowListener ()
        {
            public void windowActivated(WindowEvent arg0) {}
            public void windowClosing(WindowEvent arg0)
            {
                mWindow.toFront();

                newDocText1 = null;
                newDocText2 = null;
                questions = null;
                list = null;
                newDocButtons = null;
                newDocOk = null;
                newDoc.dispose();

                mWindow.setEnabled(true);               
            }

            public void windowClosed(WindowEvent arg0) {}
            public void windowDeactivated(WindowEvent arg0) {}
            public void windowDeiconified(WindowEvent arg0) {}
            public void windowIconified(WindowEvent arg0) {}
            public void windowOpened(WindowEvent arg0) {}   
        });

        newDoc.setSize(400, 200);
        newDoc.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        newDoc.setResizable(false);
        newDoc.setLayout(null);
        newDoc.setVisible(true);

        newDocText1 = new JLabel("newDocText1");
        newDocText1.setBounds(5, 0, 400, 20);

        newDocText2 = new JLabel("newDocText2");
        newDocText2.setBounds(5, 20, 400, 20);

        newDoc.add(newDocText1);
        newDoc.add(newDocText2);

        firstSegment = true;

        questions = new JRadioButton("questions");
        questions.setSelected(true);
        questions.setFocusPainted(false);
        questions.setBounds(10, 60, 400, 20);
        questions.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
        {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0)
            {
                firstSegment = true;
            }
        });

        list = new JRadioButton("list");
        list.setFocusPainted(false);
        list.setBounds(10, 80, 400, 20);
        list.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
        {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0)
            {
                firstSegment = false;
            }
        });

        newDoc.add(questions);
        newDoc.add(list);

        newDocButtons = new ButtonGroup();
        newDocButtons.add(questions);
        newDocButtons.add(list);

        newDocOk = new JButton("ok");
        newDocOk.addKeyListener(new KeyListener()
        {
            public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e)
            {
                if (e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_ENTER)
                {
                    newDocOk.doClick();
                }
            }

            public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) {}
            public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) {}
        });

        newDocOk.setFocusPainted(false);
        newDocOk.setBounds(160, 120, 80, 40);
        newDocOk.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_ACCEPT);
        newDocOk.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
        {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0)
            {
                createNewDocument();
            }
        });

        newDoc.add(newDocOk);
        newDocOk.requestFocus();
    }

    public static void createNewDocument()
    {
        //dispose of new document dialog
        mWindow.toFront();

        newDocText1 = null;
        newDocText2 = null;
        questions = null;
        list = null;
        newDocButtons = null;
        newDocOk = null;
        newDoc.dispose();

        mWindow.setEnabled(true);

        //create document display               
        workspace = new JPanel();
        workspace.setLayout(new BoxLayout(workspace, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
        workspace.add(new Box.Filler(new Dimension(0, 40), new Dimension(0, 40), new Dimension(0, 40)));
        workspace.setBackground(Color.BLACK);

        scroll = new JScrollPane(JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS, JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_NEVER);
        scroll.getVerticalScrollBar().setUnitIncrement(20);
        scroll.setViewportView(workspace);

        pages = new ArrayList<Page>();

        @SuppressWarnings("unused")
        Page p = new Page(workspace, 1);

        Heading g = new Heading(true, p);

        Question q = new Question(p, 1, 1);

        mWindow.add(scroll, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        mWindow.repaint();
        mWindow.validate();

    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws FileNotFoundException, IOException
    {   

        //create main window
        mWindow = new JFrame("title");
        mWindow.setSize(1000, 800);
        mWindow.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(1000, 800));
        mWindow.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        mWindow.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        mWindow.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        mWindow.setVisible(true);

        //create menu bar
        menu = new JMenuBar();

        menuFile = new JMenu("file");
        menuEdit = new JMenu("edit");

        itmNew = new JMenuItem("new");
        itmNew.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_N, ActionEvent.CTRL_MASK));
        itmNew.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
        {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
            {
                newDocumentForm();
            }
        });

        itmClose = new JMenuItem("close");
        itmClose.setActionCommand("Close");
        itmClose.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_W, ActionEvent.CTRL_MASK));

        itmLoad = new JMenuItem("load");
        itmLoad.setActionCommand("Load");
        itmLoad.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_L, ActionEvent.CTRL_MASK));

        itmSave = new JMenuItem("save");
        itmSave.setActionCommand("Save");
        itmSave.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_S, ActionEvent.CTRL_MASK));

        itmSaveAs = new JMenuItem("saveAs");
        itmSaveAs.setActionCommand("SaveAs");
        itmExit = new JMenuItem("exit");
        itmExit.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
        {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
            {
                //Add confirmation window!
                System.exit(0);
            }
        });


        itmCut = new JMenuItem("cut");
        itmCut.setActionCommand("Cut");
        itmCut.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_X, ActionEvent.CTRL_MASK));

        itmCopy = new JMenuItem("copy");
        itmCopy.setActionCommand("Copy");
        itmCopy.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_C, ActionEvent.CTRL_MASK));

        itmPaste = new JMenuItem("paste");
        itmPaste.setActionCommand("Paste");
        itmPaste.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_V, ActionEvent.CTRL_MASK));

        itmProperties = new JMenuItem("properties");
        itmProperties.setActionCommand("properties");
        itmProperties.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_P, ActionEvent.CTRL_MASK));

        menuFile.add(itmNew);
        menuFile.add(itmClose);
        menuFile.addSeparator();
        menuFile.add(itmLoad);
        menuFile.addSeparator();
        menuFile.add(itmSave);
        menuFile.add(itmSaveAs);
        menuFile.addSeparator();
        menuFile.add(itmExit);

        menuEdit.add(itmCut);
        menuEdit.add(itmCopy);
        menuEdit.add(itmPaste);
        menuEdit.addSeparator();
        menuEdit.add(itmProperties);

        menu.add(menuFile);
        menu.add(menuEdit);

        //create actionListener for menus



        mWindow.add(menu, BorderLayout.NORTH);

        mWindow.repaint();
        mWindow.validate();
    }
}

This is the best I can do, refer to Question class for issue.
To get GUI drawn, run it, pres ctrl+n, and then enter.

Answer 1

As I understood you want to achieve this:

If that is true, all you have to do is this:

numberArea.setLayout(new BorderLayout());

and

numberArea.add(number,BorderLayout.NORTH);