Grid Bag Layout

GridBagLayout is one of the most flexible — and complex — layout managers the Java platform provides. A GridBagLayout places components in a grid of rows and columns, allowing specified components to span multiple rows or columns. Not all rows necessarily have the same height. Similarly, not all columns necessarily have the same width. Essentially, GridBagLayout places components in rectangles (cells) in a grid, and then uses the components’ preferred sizes to determine how big the cells should be.

Example

package observer;

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JComboBox;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JTextField;

public class GridBagLayoutDemo {

	public static void addComponentsToPane(Container pane) {

		JButton jbnButton;
		pane.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
		GridBagConstraints gBC = new GridBagConstraints();
		gBC.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;

		jbnButton = new JButton("Button 1");
		gBC.weightx = 0.5;
		gBC.gridx = 0;
		gBC.gridy = 0;
		pane.add(jbnButton, gBC);

		JTextField jtf = new JTextField("TextField 1");
		gBC.gridx = 2;
		gBC.gridy = 0;
		jtf.setEditable(false);
		pane.add(jtf, gBC);

		jbnButton = new JButton("Button 3");
		gBC.gridx = 2;
		gBC.gridy = 0;
		pane.add(jbnButton, gBC);

		jbnButton = new JButton("Button 4");
		gBC.ipady = 40; // This component has more breadth compared to other
						// buttons
		gBC.weightx = 0.0;
		gBC.gridwidth = 3;
		gBC.gridx = 0;
		gBC.gridy = 1;
		pane.add(jbnButton, gBC);

		JComboBox jcmbSample = new JComboBox(new String[] { "ComboBox 1", "hi",
				"hello" });
		gBC.ipady = 0;
		gBC.weighty = 1.0;
		gBC.anchor = GridBagConstraints.PAGE_END;
		gBC.insets = new Insets(10, 0, 0, 0); // Padding
		gBC.gridx = 1;
		gBC.gridwidth = 2;
		gBC.gridy = 2;
		pane.add(jcmbSample, gBC);
	}

	private static void createAndShowGUI() {

		JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);
		JFrame frame = new JFrame("GridBagLayout Source Demo");
		frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

		// Set up the content pane.
		addComponentsToPane(frame.getContentPane());

		frame.pack();
		frame.setVisible(true);
	}

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
			public void run() {
				createAndShowGUI();
			}
		});
	}
}

Output