Nested layouts - BoxLayout inside BorderLayout

Question

I have this code:

JPanel controlPanel = new JPanel();
controlPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(controlPanel, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
TitledBorder tb2 = BorderFactory.createTitledBorder(null, "Control Panel", 
        TitledBorder.CENTER, TitledBorder.DEFAULT_POSITION, myFont, new Color(0, 153, 0));
controlPanel.setBorder(tb2);

JPanel fromDate = new JPanel();
fromDate.setLayout(new BoxLayout(fromDate, BoxLayout.X_AXIS));
fromDate.add(new JLabel("From date: "));
JButton fromDateButton = new JButton("...");
fromDateButton.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(100,15));
fromDate.add(fromDateButton);
JPanel toDate = new JPanel();
toDate.setLayout(new BoxLayout(toDate, BoxLayout.X_AXIS));
toDate.add(new JLabel("Until date: "));
JButton toDateButton = new JButton("...");
toDateButton.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(100,15));
toDate.add(toDateButton);
controlPanel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(0,10)));
controlPanel.add(fromDate);
controlPanel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(0,10)));
controlPanel.add(toDate);
toDate.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);
fromDate.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);

gui.add(controlPanel, BorderLayout.WEST);

Which produce this GUI (The relevant part is shown):

I want to have a label and a button right next to it. There should be a better way to achieve this. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

When you create a form, a GridBagLayout is usually needed.

Here's one way to create the form in your question.

import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.Insets;

import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

public class SimpleGridBagLayout implements Runnable {

    @Override
    public void run() {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("GridBagLayout Test");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        JPanel panel = new JPanel();
        panel.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());

        GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc.insets = new Insets(10, 10, 10, 10);
        gbc.gridwidth = 2;
        gbc.gridx = 0;
        gbc.gridy = 0;

        JLabel titleLabel = new JLabel("Control Panel");
        panel.add(titleLabel, gbc);

        gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.LINE_START;
        gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gbc.gridwidth = 1;
        gbc.gridy++;

        JLabel fromDateLabel = new JLabel("From date:");
        panel.add(fromDateLabel, gbc);

        gbc.gridx++;

        JButton fromDateButton = new JButton("...");
        panel.add(fromDateButton, gbc);

        gbc.gridx = 0;
        gbc.gridy++;

        JLabel toDateLabel = new JLabel("To date:");
        panel.add(toDateLabel, gbc);

        gbc.gridx++;

        JButton toDateButton = new JButton("...");
        panel.add(toDateButton, gbc);

        frame.add(panel);
        frame.setSize(250, 200);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new SimpleGridBagLayout());
    }

}

Answer 2

Add a glue in x 3 to get the extra space and then buttons won't get bigger.

panel.add(Box.createGlue(), gbc);