How can I manually place components in a FlowLayout or a GridLayout?

Question

I am having trouble deciding which layout to use on a JPanel. I need the JPanel to look something like what I have attempted to draw here.

|-----------------------|
|       Some JLabel     |
|                       |
|  JLabel |JTextField|  |
|  JLabel |JTextField|  |
|  JLabel |JTextField|  |
|-----------------------|

I was thinking about using FlowLayout but I can't figure out how to manually set a component to be on the next row. I tried GridLayout and I have had some success but not quite what I was looking for. Here is the code for this JPanel I have so far if it helps.

JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
mainPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(4, 1));
JLabel description = new JLabel("description..");

JLabel label1 = new JLabel("label1");
JLabel label2 = new JLabel("label2");
JLabel label3 = new JLabel("label3");       

JTextField field1 = new JTextField(25);
JTextField field2 = new JTextField(25);
JTextField field3 = new JTextField(25);

mainPanel.add(description);
mainPanel.add(label1);
mainPanel.add(field1);
mainPanel.add(label2);
mainPanel.add(field2);
mainPanel.add(label3);
mainPanel.add(field3);

Thanks!

Answer 1

You could use a GridBagLayout to achieve this, but it might be eaiser to simple use a BorderLayout, placing the title in the NORTH position and placing another panel with the fields on it, using a GridLayout in the CENTER position.

Of course, the final result will come down to what you want.

Have a look at A Visual Guide to Layout Managers for some more ideas and don't be afraid to use compound layouts

Answer 2

You are never forced to just use a single layout manager. You can use multiple panels, each with its own layout manager.

However, in your case a GridBagLayout might be the easiest in this case. Start by reading the section from the Swing tutorial on How to use GridbagLayout for working examples and an explanation of all the constraints.