Thread: Adding JButtons to Frame

Hey guys, I'm pretty good with Java, except for the GUI. I've started getting myself familiar with it, and well it was going well until I came to a large brick wall. You see I added this JTable onto my frame, and got the scroll and everything working fine. I need to add about 3 buttons now, but it just isn't working out. The GridBagLayout isn't working as it should.

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
 
public class BRA extends JFrame
{
    public static int column=0, row = 0, instances; //integers for column, row, and instance numbers
    public static  String[][] data = new String [15][4]; //array which contains the database
 
    static JTable table;
 
    private JScrollPane scroll;
    static String columnNames[] = {"Title", "Batman", "Director", "Year"};
    static JPanel panel = new JPanel ();
 
    public static void main (String [] args) throws IOException
    {
        reader();   //calls the reader method, reads data in from text file
 
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("The Batman Movie Database (BMDb)");  //frame setup
        Dimension screenSize = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();
        frame.setSize (550,600);
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null); // here's the part where i center the jframe on screen
        frame.setVisible(true);              
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
 
        JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());                 //panel setup
        frame.getContentPane().add(panel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
 
        GridBagConstraints d = new GridBagConstraints();
 
        table = new JTable(data, columnNames); 
        //table.setAutoResizeMode(JTable.AUTO_RESIZE_ALL_COLUMNS); 
        d.gridx = 0;
        d.gridy = 0;
        panel.add(table, d); 
 
        JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane (table);
        table.setPreferredScrollableViewportSize(new Dimension(500,160));
        table.setFillsViewportHeight(true);
        panel.add(scrollPane);       
 
        JButton add = new JButton ("ADD");
        d.gridx = 56;
        d.gridy = 150;
        panel.add(add, d);
    }
 
    public static void reader()throws IOException   //method to read in data from the text file
    {
        //buffered reader to allow for data to be read from the data file
        BufferedReader input = new BufferedReader (new FileReader ("V2.txt"));
        String line = input.readLine(); //string that contains each successuve line of the file
        while(line !=null)              //loop that reads a new line until it is a blank
        {
            if(line.equals("")){break;}
            data[row][column] = line;   //fills that position of the array with the line
            column++;                   //increments the column number
            if(column == 4)
            {
                column = 0;             //resets the column number when it reaches 4
                row++;                  //and inrements the row number
            }
            line = input.readLine();//reads another line from the file
        }
        input.close();                  //closes the buffered reader
    }
 
}

That's my code so far and the file used is attached as well. If you can please help me position 3 buttons in the bottom left corner under the JTable, it would be most appreciated. Thanks!

I ran your code and got a frame with an 'Add' button in the middle, and a tiny square of something at its top left. The tiny square might be a JTable, but it's too small to tell. I suggest you either post the correct code, or fix the current problems before trying to add more buttons.

Incidentally, was there any particular reason you chose GridBagLayout over something simple like BorderLayout?

Originally Posted by dlorde

I ran your code and got a frame with an 'Add' button in the middle, and a tiny square of something at its top left. The tiny square might be a JTable, but it's too small to tell. I suggest you either post the correct code, or fix the current problems before trying to add more buttons.

Incidentally, was there any particular reason you chose GridBagLayout over something simple like BorderLayout?

Yeah, that tiny square is a JTable (it you were to maximize the screen you will see it). That's what I've been having troubles with, how would you move that one button, so my JTable and buttons still fit. And I've been told that GridBayLayout gives you more versatility in moving buttons and such

You need to add frame.pack() after adding the last component to it, so they get laid out properly. Ideally this would be before you set the frame visible, which is usually the last thing to do.

I find GridBagLayout much too fiddly - it's OK for GUI generators, but I prefer simplicity. If I was doing it, I'd use a BorderLayout for the frame, put the JTable in the CENTER area, and put the buttons in the SOUTH area. If you want the buttons spaced out in some way, use a panel with its own layout for the SOUTH area and put the buttons in that.

Alright, that sounds pretty good, thanks for the idea. Would you mind giving me a sample code, just so I could wrap my head around it a bit more?