I would start with a single JPanel
(lets all it the base pane), which will house the other containers.
Using a border layout, I would add a "controls" panel to the WEST
position of the base pane. Onto the CENTER
position I would add the JDesktopPane
.
I would set the main windows layout to BorderLayout
and add the base pane to it. This will allow you to use JFrame#setJMenuBar
to manage the menu bar while maintaining the result of the layout.
This will allow you to contain to use the JInternalFrame
s on the desktop without effecting the rest of the layout...
Simple Example
This is an overly simplified example used to demonstrate the basic concept described above...
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import javax.swing.JDesktopPane;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JMenu;
import javax.swing.JMenuBar;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException;
public class SimpleLayout {
public static void main(String[] args) {
new SimpleLayout();
}
public SimpleLayout() {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
@Override
public void run() {
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
}
JMenuBar mb = new JMenuBar();
mb.add(new JMenu("File"));
mb.add(new JMenu("Add"));
mb.add(new JMenu("Edit"));
mb.add(new JMenu("Analize"));
mb.add(new JMenu("About"));
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Testing");
frame.setJMenuBar(mb);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
frame.add(new BasePane());
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
public class BasePane extends JPanel {
private JTextArea species;
private JTextArea locations;
private JTextArea travelPaths;
private JDesktopPane desktopPane;
public BasePane() {
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
desktopPane = new JDesktopPane();
species = new JTextArea("Species");
locations = new JTextArea("Locations");
travelPaths = new JTextArea("TravelPaths");
JPanel controls = new JPanel(new GridLayout(3, 0));
controls.add(new JScrollPane(species));
controls.add(new JScrollPane(locations));
controls.add(new JScrollPane(travelPaths));
add(controls, BorderLayout.WEST);
add(desktopPane);
}
@Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(200, 200);
}
}
}
Your requirements might be slightly difference, but the basic concept should get you moving.
Depending on the structure of your application, I might be tempted to separate the Controls
pane into a separate class as well.