Thread: Calculator GUI Help

I am diving into my first major GUI project and am stumped from the start. I have made a diagram and would like someone to point me into the correct direction so that I may start my task with a good foundation. I am making a calculator that I would like to use as a stand alone application. Here is my diagram:
Drawing1.jpg
Any advice to help me get started?

I'm not too sure where to begin. I know the base for an application is the JFrame (or at least so I believe). Then after that I would add JPanels to group the different components together? I am just having difficulties with the layouts and how I would add or nest the different pieces into the the JFrame. I'm just beginning to learn the GUI basics so any information is greatly helpful. Thanks again

That is exactly the advice I was looking for. Much appreciated! I'm sure I will have more questions pertaining to this project as I progress through.

I finally decided on using a GridLayout layour manager. However, with no experience on the subject at all, I decided to tailor an existing source code to try and meet my needs. That didn't go so well unfortunately. Now I am stuck with useless code that I am hoping someone can help me fix. At the moment I am just trying to get the different components to display; later, I will make the methods that accompany them.

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
 
public class TEMPERATURE extends JFrame {
	static final String units[] = {"Celcius", "Farenheit", "Kelvin"};
	JComboBox convertFrom, convertTo;
	JTextField initialValue, calculatedValue;
	JButton convertButton;
	GridLayout calculator = new GridLayout(2,2);
 
		public TEMPERATURE (String name) {
			super(name);
			setResizable(false);
		}
	public void initUnits() {
		convertFrom = new JComboBox(units);
		convertTo = new JComboBox(units);	
	}
	public void addComponentsToPane(final Container pane) {
		initUnits();
		final JPanel aCalculator = new JPanel();
		aCalculator.setLayout(calculator);
		JPanel converter = new JPanel();
		converter.setLayout(new GridLayout(1,1));
 
		aCalculator.add(initialValue);
		aCalculator.add(convertFrom);
		aCalculator.add(calculatedValue);
		aCalculator.add(convertTo);
 
		converter.add(convertButton);
		//converter.addActionListener needed here
		//**missing section**
 
		pane.add(aCalculator, BorderLayout.NORTH);
		pane.add(new JSeparator(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
		pane.add(converter, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
 
	}
 
	private static void makeCalculator () {
		TEMPERATURE frame = new TEMPERATURE("Temperature Calculator");
		frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
		frame.addComponentsToPane(frame.getContentPane());
		frame.pack();
		frame.setVisible(true);
	}
 
	public static void main(String[] args) {
				makeCalculator();
	}		
}

I know this is extremely far off from the end result, but any directioning would boost my morale at this points lol