How to program this GUI in Java Swing

java, layout-manager, swing, user-interface

Solution

2 things you can use to make this happen:

- Use `BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(int, int, int, int)`

- Use the 4-args constructor of `GridLayout`

There are other LayoutManager's which can bring the same functionality (like `GridBagLayout`, or using nested `BorderLayout`), but if you feel comfortable with the current `LayoutManager`'s, there is no imperious need to change to those. The way you did is also acceptable.

You might consider wrapping the table in a `JScrollPane` to make it nicer, with headers and scrollbars if ever needed.

Small example code:

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.GridLayout;

import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JButton;
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.JSeparator;
import javax.swing.JTable;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

public class GUI extends JFrame {

    private JButton loadFileBtn = new JButton("Load File");
    private JButton generateReportBtn = new JButton("Generate Report");
    private JButton exitBtn = new JButton("Exit");
    private JLabel fileNameLbl = new JLabel("File Name Here");
    private JMenuBar menuBar = new JMenuBar();
    private JMenu fileMI = new JMenu("File");
    private JMenuItem openFileMenu = new JMenuItem("Open File");
    private JSeparator separator = new JSeparator();
    private JMenuItem exitMenu = new JMenuItem("Exit");
    private JMenu reportMI = new JMenu("Report");
    private JMenuItem generateReportMenu = new JMenuItem("Generate Report");
    private JMenu helpMI = new JMenu("Help");
    private JMenuItem aboutMenu = new JMenuItem("About");
    private JTable table = new JTable(5, 2);
    private JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout(10, 10));
    private JPanel panel1 = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
    private JPanel panel2 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1, 2, 10, 10));
    private JPanel panel3 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1, 2, 10, 10));

    public GUI() {

        super("Sample GUI");

        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setSize(new Dimension(300, 300));
        setResizable(false);

        setLayout(new BorderLayout(10, 10));

        fileMI.add(openFileMenu);
        fileMI.add(separator);
        fileMI.add(exitMenu);

        reportMI.add(generateReportMenu);

        helpMI.add(aboutMenu);

        menuBar.add(fileMI);
        menuBar.add(reportMI);
        menuBar.add(helpMI);

        setJMenuBar(menuBar);

        panel1.add(table, BorderLayout.CENTER);

        panel2.add(fileNameLbl);
        panel2.add(loadFileBtn);

        panel3.add(generateReportBtn);
        panel3.add(exitBtn);

        mainPanel.add(panel2, BorderLayout.NORTH);
        mainPanel.add(panel1, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        mainPanel.add(panel3, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        mainPanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(10, 10, 10, 10));
        add(mainPanel);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                GUI app = new GUI();
                app.setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }
}

Problem

Original source