Contents
Introduction
Part 1: About GridBagLayout
Overview of GridBagLayout
What is GridBagLayout?
What is the component's display area?
What are GridBagConstraints?
Why is GridBagLayout so complicated?
Why use GridBagLayout?
Simplifying GridBagLayout
Sketch your design on paper first
Use nested panels and layouts
Use the JBuilder UI designer
Prototype your UI in XYLayout
Part 2: Creating a GridBagLayout in JBuilder
About the design
Step 1: Design the layout structure
Step 2: Create a project for this tutorial
Step 3: Add the components to the containers
Step 4: Convert the outer panel to GridBagLayout
Step 5: Convert the upper panels to GridBagLayout
Step 6: Convert the lower panel to GridLayout
Step 7: Make final adjustments
Conclusion
Part 3: Tips and Techniques
Setting individual constraints in the UI designer
Anchor
Fill
Insets
Gridwidth, Gridheight
Ipadx, Ipady
Gridx, Gridy
Weightx, Weighty
Using drag and drop to edit constraints
Dragging a component within its display area
Dragging a component to an empty cell
Dragging a component to an occupied cell
Dragging a large component into a small cell
Dragging the black sizing nibs
Adding components
Miscellaneous tips
Switch back to XYLayout for major adjustments
Remove Weights and Fill before making adjustments
Making existing GridBagLayout code visually designable
Differences in code
Modifying code to work in the UI designer
Code generated by JBuilder in Part 2
Other resources on GridBagLayout
JDK 2 API Reference
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