How to set JTextArea to fixed size

Question

I have a JTextArea inside a JPanel. The JPanel is set to the default FlowLayout.

I assigned to the JTextArea a size through the constructor: new JTextArea(50,50).

However, not only the size I specified is ignored once it's out of a certain range (for example, if I set the size to a value larger than 40*40, the program starts to ignore what I say and instead set the JTextArea to some arbitrary size) - the size also changes as I type. The JTextArea resizes itself if I type inside it more than it can contain.

I did:

textArea.setLineWrap(true);

Didn't solve this.

How can I set a fixed size for the JTextArea?

Answer 1

If you include it in a JScrollPane that might solve your problem :

JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea(50, 50);
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane( textArea );

You might also have to change you Layout, because by default I think it use the BorderLayout that expands your components. Or put it in PAGE_START like this :

add(new JScrollPane(new JTextArea(50, 50)), BorderLayout.PAGE_START);

Answer 2

If you want to have fixed size, you have to put it inside a box like JScrollPane:

JScrollPane jsp = new JScrollPane(textarea);

if you want the text area to fit maximum number of letters:

textarea.setColumns(100); 

Answer 3

Try using textArea.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(WIDTH, HEIGHT));