Five common layout methods for Swing in java

1. Border Layout

2. FlowLayout

3. Grid Layout

4. BoxLaYout

5. Empty layout (null)

There are also two other layouts, namely GridBagLayout and CardLayout

Note: JFrame and JDialog are layouts as BorderLayout, JPanel and Applet are layouts as FlowLayout

Boundary layout sample code:

 import java.awt.BorderLayout;import javax.swing.JButton;import javax.swing.JFrame;public class BorderLayoutExample extends JFrame{ JButton btn1=new JButton("East"); JButton btn2=new JButton("South"); JButton btn3=new JButton("Western"); JButton btn4=new JButton("North"); JButton btn5=new JButton("Medium"); BorderLayoutExample(){ init(); this.setTitle("BorderLayout"); this.setResizable(true); this.setSize(200, 200); this.setLocationRelativeTo(null); this.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE); this.setVisible(true); } void init(){ this.setLayout(new BorderLayout(10,5)); //Default is 0, 0; horizontal spacing 10, vertical spacing 5 this.add(btn1,BorderLayout.EAST); this.add(btn2,BorderLayout.SOUTH); this.add(btn3,BorderLayout.WEST); this.add(btn4,BorderLayout.NORTH); this.add(btn5,BorderLayout.CENTER); } public static void main(String args[]){ new BorderLayoutExample(); }}

Running results:

Streaming layout sample code:

 import java.awt.FlowLayout;import javax.swing.JButton;import javax.swing.JFrame;public class FlowLayoutExample extends JFrame{ JButton btn1=new JButton("one"); JButton btn2=new JButton("two"); JButton btn3=new JButton("three"); JButton btn4=new JButton("four"); JButton btn5=new JButton("five"); FlowLayoutExample(){ init(); this.setTitle("FlowLayout"); this.setResizable(true); this.setSize(200, 200); this.setLocationRelativeTo(null); this.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE); this.setVisible(true); } void init(){ this.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT,10,5)); //Default is centered; horizontal spacing 10, vertical spacing 5 this.add(btn1); this.add(btn2); this.add(btn3); this.add(btn4); this.add(btn5); } public static void main(String args[]){ new FlowLayoutExample(); }}

Running results:

Grid layout sample code:

 import java.awt.GridLayout;import javax.swing.JButton;import javax.swing.JFrame;public class GridLayoutExample extends JFrame{JButton btn1=new JButton("one");JButton btn2=new JButton("two");JButton btn3=new JButton("three");JButton btn4=new JButton("four");JButton btn5=new JButton("five");GridLayoutExample(){init(); this.setTitle("Table Layout"); this.setResizable(true); this.setSize(300, 200); this.setLocationRelativeTo(null); this.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE); this.setVisible(true);}void init(){this.setLayout(new GridLayout(2,3,10,5)); //Default is 1 row, n columns; 2 rows and 3 columns, horizontal spacing 10, vertical spacing 5this.add(btn1); this.add(btn2); this.add(btn3); this.add(btn4); this.add(btn5);}public static void main(String args[]){new GridLayoutExample();}}

Running results:

Box layout sample code:

 import javax.swing.Box;import javax.swing.BoxLayout;import javax.swing.JButton;import javax.swing.JFrame;public class BoxLaYoutExample extends JFrame{JButton btn1=new JButton("one");JButton btn2=new JButton("two");JButton btn3=new JButton("three");JButton btn4=new JButton("four");JButton btn5=new JButton("five");BoxLaYoutExample(){init(); this.setTitle("Table Layout"); this.setResizable(true); this.setSize(300, 200); this.setLocationRelativeTo(null); this.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE); this.setVisible(true);}void init(){this.setLayout(new BoxLayout(this.getContentPane(),BoxLayout.X_AXIS));//You can use Box container instead//Box box = new Box(BoxLayout.Y_AXIS);box.add(btn...);box.add(creat..);this.add(btn1);this.add(btn2);this.getContentPane().add(Box.createHorizontalStrut(10)); // When using x layout, add fixed width components to separate //this.getContentPane().add(Box.createVerticalStrut(5)); // When using y layout, add fixed height components to separate this.add(btn3);this.add(btn4);this.add(btn5);}public static void main(String args[]){new BoxLaYoutExample();}}

Running results:

Empty layout sample code:

 import javax.swing.JButton;import javax.swing.JFrame;public class NullLayoutExample extends JFrame{JButton btn1=new JButton("one");JButton btn2=new JButton("two");JButton btn3=new JButton("three");JButton btn4=new JButton("four");JButton btn5=new JButton("five");NullLayoutExample(){init();this.setTitle("empty layout");this.setResizable(true);this.setSize(300, 300);this.setLocationRelativeTo(null);this.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);this.setVisible(true);}void init(){this.setLayout(null);btn1.setBounds(10, 0, 100, 50); //x coordinate 10, y coordinate 0, component width 100, height 50btn2.setBounds(20, 50, 100, 50);btn3.setBounds(30, 100, 100, 50);btn4.setBounds(40, 150, 100, 50);btn5.setBounds(50, 200, 100, 50);btn5.setBounds(50, 200, 100, 50);this.add(btn1);this.add(btn2);this.add(btn3);this.add(btn4);this.add(btn5);}public static void main(String args[]){new NullLayoutExample();}}

Running results: