How can I set size of a button

Question

I put my buttons in a JPane with GridLayout  Then I put JPanel into another JPanel with BoxLayout Y AXIS  I want buttons in the GridLayout to be square  I use tmp setSize 30 30  and it does not work  I also try to use new GridLayout X  Y  4  4  but I cannot figure out what X and Y are  So  what is the correct way to do this stuff   ADDED   I still cannot solve the problem  Here is the code of what I am trying to do   import javax swing    import java awt     public class PanelModel       public static void main String   args            JFrame frame   new JFrame  Colored Trails            frame setDefaultCloseOperation JFrame EXIT ON CLOSE            JPanel mainPanel   new JPanel            mainPanel setLayout new BoxLayout mainPanel  BoxLayout Y AXIS             JPanel firstPanel   new JPanel            firstPanel setLayout new GridLayout 4  4            JButton btn          for  int i 1  i lt  4  i                  for  int j 1  j lt  4  j                      btn   new JButton                    btn setPreferredSize new Dimension 100  100                    firstPanel add btn                                    JPanel secondPanel   new JPanel            secondPanel setLayout new GridLayout 5  13            for  int i 1  i lt  5  i                  for  int j 1  j lt  13  j                      btn   new JButton                    btn setPreferredSize new Dimension 40  40                    secondPanel add btn                                    mainPanel add firstPanel           mainPanel add secondPanel           frame add mainPanel            frame setSize 400 600           frame setVisible true             The problem is that Java tries to make width of the firstPanel and secondPanel equal  Moreover  Java tries to to fill all height of the window  How can I remove this behavior

User · Accepted Answer

The following bit of code does what you ask for. Just make sure that you assign enough space so that the text on the button becomes visible

JFrame frame = new JFrame("test");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(4,4,4,4));

for(int i=0 ; i<16 ; i++){
    JButton btn = new JButton(String.valueOf(i));
    btn.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(40, 40));
    panel.add(btn);
}
frame.setContentPane(panel);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);

The X and Y (two first parameters of the GridLayout constructor) specify the number of rows and columns in the grid (respectively). You may leave one of them as 0 if you want that value to be unbounded.

Edit

I've modified the provided code and I believe it now conforms to what is desired:

JFrame frame = new JFrame("Colored Trails");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
mainPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(mainPanel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));

JPanel firstPanel = new JPanel();
firstPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(4, 4));
firstPanel.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(400, 400));
JButton btn;
for (int i=1; i<=4; i++) {
    for (int j=1; j<=4; j++) {
        btn = new JButton();
        btn.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 100));
        firstPanel.add(btn);
    }
}

JPanel secondPanel = new JPanel();
secondPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(5, 13));
secondPanel.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(520, 200));
for (int i=1; i<=5; i++) {
    for (int j=1; j<=13; j++) {
        btn = new JButton();
        btn.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(40, 40));
        secondPanel.add(btn);
    }
}

mainPanel.add(firstPanel);
mainPanel.add(secondPanel);
frame.setContentPane(mainPanel);

frame.setSize(520,600);
frame.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(520,600));
frame.setVisible(true);

Basically I now set the preferred size of the panels and a minimum size for the frame.

User · Answer

Try with setPreferredSize instead of setSize   UPDATE  GridLayout take up all space in its container  and BoxLayout seams to take up all the width in its container  so I added some glue-panels that are invisible and just take up space when the user stretches the window  I have just done this horizontally  and not vertically  but you could implement that in the same way if you want it   Since GridLayout make all cells in the same size  it doesn t matter if they have a specified size  You have to specify a size for its container instead  as I have done   import javax swing    import java awt     public class PanelModel       public static void main String   args            JFrame frame   new JFrame  Colored Trails            frame setDefaultCloseOperation JFrame EXIT ON CLOSE            JPanel mainPanel   new JPanel            mainPanel setLayout new BoxLayout mainPanel  BoxLayout Y AXIS             JPanel firstPanel   new JPanel new GridLayout 4  4            firstPanel setPreferredSize new Dimension 4 100  4 100            for  int i 1  i lt  4  i                  for  int j 1  j lt  4  j                      firstPanel add new JButton                                      JPanel firstGluePanel   new JPanel new BorderLayout             firstGluePanel add firstPanel  BorderLayout WEST           firstGluePanel add Box createHorizontalGlue    BorderLayout CENTER           firstGluePanel add Box createVerticalGlue    BorderLayout SOUTH            JPanel secondPanel   new JPanel new GridLayout 13  5            secondPanel setPreferredSize new Dimension 5 40  13 40            for  int i 1  i lt  5  i                  for  int j 1  j lt  13  j                      secondPanel add new JButton                                      JPanel secondGluePanel   new JPanel new BorderLayout             secondGluePanel add secondPanel  BorderLayout WEST           secondGluePanel add Box createHorizontalGlue    BorderLayout CENTER           secondGluePanel add Box createVerticalGlue    BorderLayout SOUTH            mainPanel add firstGluePanel           mainPanel add secondGluePanel           frame getContentPane   add mainPanel              frame setSize 400 600           frame pack            frame setVisible true

User · Answer

This is how I did it                JFrame setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated true               JDialog setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated true               JFrame frame   new JFrame  SAP Multiple Entries                frame setDefaultCloseOperation JFrame EXIT ON CLOSE               JPanel panel   new JPanel new GridLayout 10 10 10 10                frame setLayout new FlowLayout                 frame setSize 512  512               JButton button   new JButton  Select File                button setPreferredSize new Dimension 256  256                panel add button                button addActionListener new ActionListener                      public void actionPerformed ActionEvent ae                        JFileChooser fileChooser   new JFileChooser                        int returnValue   fileChooser showOpenDialog null                       if  returnValue    JFileChooser APPROVE OPTION                            File selectedFile   fileChooser getSelectedFile                             keep   selectedFile getAbsolutePath                                System out println keep                             out println file flag                           if file flag  true                               JOptionPane showMessageDialog null   It is done   nLocation      file path    Success Message   JOptionPane INFORMATION MESSAGE                                                   else                             JOptionPane showMessageDialog null   failure    not okay   JOptionPane INFORMATION MESSAGE                                                                                                frame add button               frame pack                frame setVisible true

User · Answer

GridLayout is often not the best choice for buttons  although it might be for your application  A good reference is the tutorial on using Layout Managers  If you look at the GridLayout example  you ll see the buttons look a little silly -- way too big    A better idea might be to use a FlowLayout for your buttons  or if you know exactly what you want  perhaps a GroupLayout   Sun Oracle recommend that GroupLayout or GridBag layout are better than GridLayout when hand-coding

[java] How can I set size of a button?

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