- All Implemented Interfaces:
LayoutManager
,LayoutManager2
,Serializable
- Direct Known Subclasses:
DefaultMenuLayout
Example:
Nesting multiple panels with different combinations of horizontal and
vertical gives an effect similar to
GridBagLayout
, without the
complexity. The diagram shows two panels arranged horizontally, each
of which contains 3 components arranged vertically.
The BoxLayout
manager is constructed with an axis parameter that
specifies the type of layout that will be done. There are four choices:
X_AXIS
- Components are laid out horizontally from left to right.Y_AXIS
- Components are laid out vertically from top to bottom.LINE_AXIS
- Components are laid out the way words are laid out in a line, based on the container'sComponentOrientation
property. If the container'sComponentOrientation
is horizontal then components are laid out horizontally, otherwise they are laid out vertically. For horizontal orientations, if the container'sComponentOrientation
is left to right then components are laid out left to right, otherwise they are laid out right to left. For vertical orientations components are always laid out from top to bottom.PAGE_AXIS
- Components are laid out the way text lines are laid out on a page, based on the container'sComponentOrientation
property. If the container'sComponentOrientation
is horizontal then components are laid out vertically, otherwise they are laid out horizontally. For horizontal orientations, if the container'sComponentOrientation
is left to right then components are laid out left to right, otherwise they are laid out right to left. For vertical orientations components are always laid out from top to bottom.
For all directions, components are arranged in the same order as they were added to the container.
BoxLayout attempts to arrange components at their preferred widths (for a horizontal layout) or heights (for a vertical layout).
For a horizontal layout,
if not all the components are the same height,
BoxLayout attempts to make all the components
as high as the highest component.
If that's not possible for a particular component,
then BoxLayout
aligns that component vertically,
according to the component's Y alignment.
By default, a component has a Y alignment of 0.5,
which means that the vertical center of the component
should have the same Y coordinate as
the vertical centers of other components with 0.5 Y alignment.
Similarly, for a vertical layout,
BoxLayout
attempts to make all components in the column
as wide as the widest component.
If that fails, it aligns them horizontally
according to their X alignments. For PAGE_AXIS
layout,
horizontal alignment is done based on the leading edge of the component.
In other words, an X alignment value of 0.0 means the left edge of a
component if the container's ComponentOrientation
is left to
right, and it means the right edge of the component otherwise.
Instead of using BoxLayout
directly,
many programs use the Box
class.
The Box
class is a lightweight container that uses
the BoxLayout
layout manager.
It also provides handy methods to help you use BoxLayout
well.
Adding components to multiple nested boxes is a powerful way to get
the arrangement you want.
For further information and examples see How to Use BoxLayout, a section in The Java Tutorial.
Warning:
Serialized objects of this class will not be compatible with
future Swing releases. The current serialization support is
appropriate for short term storage or RMI between applications running
the same version of Swing. As of 1.4, support for long term storage
of all JavaBeans
has been added to the java.beans
package.
Please see XMLEncoder
.
- Since:
- 1.2
- See Also:
-
Field Summary
Modifier and TypeFieldDescriptionstatic final int
Specifies that components should be laid out in the direction of a line of text as determined by the target container'sComponentOrientation
property.static final int
Specifies that components should be laid out in the direction that lines flow across a page as determined by the target container'sComponentOrientation
property.static final int
Specifies that components should be laid out left to right.static final int
Specifies that components should be laid out top to bottom. -
Constructor Summary
-
Method Summary
Modifier and TypeMethodDescriptionvoid
addLayoutComponent
(Component comp, Object constraints) Not used by this class.void
addLayoutComponent
(String name, Component comp) Not used by this class.final int
getAxis()
Returns the axis that was used to lay out components.float
getLayoutAlignmentX
(Container target) Returns the alignment along the X axis for the container.float
getLayoutAlignmentY
(Container target) Returns the alignment along the Y axis for the container.final Container
Returns the container that uses this layout manager.void
invalidateLayout
(Container target) Indicates that a child has changed its layout related information, and thus any cached calculations should be flushed.void
layoutContainer
(Container target) Called by the AWT when the specified container needs to be laid out.maximumLayoutSize
(Container target) Returns the maximum dimensions the target container can use to lay out the components it contains.minimumLayoutSize
(Container target) Returns the minimum dimensions needed to lay out the components contained in the specified target container.preferredLayoutSize
(Container target) Returns the preferred dimensions for this layout, given the components in the specified target container.void
Not used by this class.
-
Field Details
-
X_AXIS
public static final int X_AXISSpecifies that components should be laid out left to right.- See Also:
-
Y_AXIS
public static final int Y_AXISSpecifies that components should be laid out top to bottom.- See Also:
-
LINE_AXIS
public static final int LINE_AXISSpecifies that components should be laid out in the direction of a line of text as determined by the target container'sComponentOrientation
property.- See Also:
-
PAGE_AXIS
public static final int PAGE_AXISSpecifies that components should be laid out in the direction that lines flow across a page as determined by the target container'sComponentOrientation
property.- See Also:
-
-
Constructor Details
-
BoxLayout
Creates a layout manager that will lay out components along the given axis.- Parameters:
target
- the container that needs to be laid outaxis
- the axis to lay out components along. Can be one of:BoxLayout.X_AXIS, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS, BoxLayout.LINE_AXIS
orBoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS
- Throws:
AWTError
- if the value ofaxis
is invalid
-
-
Method Details
-
getTarget
Returns the container that uses this layout manager.- Returns:
- the container that uses this layout manager
- Since:
- 1.6
-
getAxis
public final int getAxis()Returns the axis that was used to lay out components. Returns one of:BoxLayout.X_AXIS, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS, BoxLayout.LINE_AXIS
orBoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS
- Returns:
- the axis that was used to lay out components
- Since:
- 1.6
-
invalidateLayout
Indicates that a child has changed its layout related information, and thus any cached calculations should be flushed.This method is called by AWT when the invalidate method is called on the Container. Since the invalidate method may be called asynchronously to the event thread, this method may be called asynchronously.
- Specified by:
invalidateLayout
in interfaceLayoutManager2
- Parameters:
target
- the affected container- Throws:
AWTError
- if the target isn't the container specified to the BoxLayout constructor
-
addLayoutComponent
Not used by this class.- Specified by:
addLayoutComponent
in interfaceLayoutManager
- Parameters:
name
- the name of the componentcomp
- the component
-
removeLayoutComponent
Not used by this class.- Specified by:
removeLayoutComponent
in interfaceLayoutManager
- Parameters:
comp
- the component
-
addLayoutComponent
Not used by this class.- Specified by:
addLayoutComponent
in interfaceLayoutManager2
- Parameters:
comp
- the componentconstraints
- constraints
-
preferredLayoutSize
Returns the preferred dimensions for this layout, given the components in the specified target container.- Specified by:
preferredLayoutSize
in interfaceLayoutManager
- Parameters:
target
- the container that needs to be laid out- Returns:
- the dimensions >= 0 && <= Integer.MAX_VALUE
- Throws:
AWTError
- if the target isn't the container specified to the BoxLayout constructor- See Also:
-
minimumLayoutSize
Returns the minimum dimensions needed to lay out the components contained in the specified target container.- Specified by:
minimumLayoutSize
in interfaceLayoutManager
- Parameters:
target
- the container that needs to be laid out- Returns:
- the dimensions >= 0 && <= Integer.MAX_VALUE
- Throws:
AWTError
- if the target isn't the container specified to the BoxLayout constructor- See Also:
-
maximumLayoutSize
Returns the maximum dimensions the target container can use to lay out the components it contains.- Specified by:
maximumLayoutSize
in interfaceLayoutManager2
- Parameters:
target
- the container that needs to be laid out- Returns:
- the dimensions >= 0 && <= Integer.MAX_VALUE
- Throws:
AWTError
- if the target isn't the container specified to the BoxLayout constructor- See Also:
-
getLayoutAlignmentX
Returns the alignment along the X axis for the container. If the box is horizontal, the default alignment will be returned. Otherwise, the alignment needed to place the children along the X axis will be returned.- Specified by:
getLayoutAlignmentX
in interfaceLayoutManager2
- Parameters:
target
- the container- Returns:
- the alignment >= 0.0f && <= 1.0f
- Throws:
AWTError
- if the target isn't the container specified to the BoxLayout constructor
-
getLayoutAlignmentY
Returns the alignment along the Y axis for the container. If the box is vertical, the default alignment will be returned. Otherwise, the alignment needed to place the children along the Y axis will be returned.- Specified by:
getLayoutAlignmentY
in interfaceLayoutManager2
- Parameters:
target
- the container- Returns:
- the alignment >= 0.0f && <= 1.0f
- Throws:
AWTError
- if the target isn't the container specified to the BoxLayout constructor
-
layoutContainer
Called by the AWT when the specified container needs to be laid out.- Specified by:
layoutContainer
in interfaceLayoutManager
- Parameters:
target
- the container to lay out- Throws:
AWTError
- if the target isn't the container specified to the BoxLayout constructor
-