java.awt
Class BorderLayout

java.lang.Object   
  java.awt.BorderLayout

All Implemented Interfaces:

LayoutManager , LayoutManager2 , Serializable

public class BorderLayout
extends Object   
implements LayoutManager2   , Serializable   

A border layout lays out a container, arranging and resizing its components to fit in five regions: north, south, east, west, and center. Each region may contain no more than one component, and is identified by a corresponding constant: NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST, and CENTER. When adding a component to a container with a border layout, use one of these five constants, for example:

    Panel p = new Panel();
    p.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
    p.add(new Button("Okay"), BorderLayout.SOUTH);
 

As a convenience, BorderLayout interprets the absence of a string specification the same as the constant CENTER:

    Panel p2 = new Panel();
    p2.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
    p2.add(new TextArea());  // Same as p.add(new TextArea(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
 

In addition, BorderLayout supports the relative positioning constants, PAGE_START, PAGE_END, LINE_START, and LINE_END. In a container whose ComponentOrientation is set to ComponentOrientation.LEFT_TO_RIGHT, these constants map to NORTH, SOUTH, WEST, and EAST, respectively.

For compatibility with previous releases, BorderLayout also includes the relative positioning constants BEFORE_FIRST_LINE, AFTER_LAST_LINE, BEFORE_LINE_BEGINS and AFTER_LINE_ENDS. These are equivalent to PAGE_START, PAGE_END, LINE_START and LINE_END respectively. For consistency with the relative positioning constants used by other components, the latter constants are preferred.

Mixing both absolute and relative positioning constants can lead to unpredicable results. If you use both types, the relative constants will take precedence. For example, if you add components using both the NORTH and PAGE_START constants in a container whose orientation is LEFT_TO_RIGHT, only the PAGE_START will be layed out.

NOTE: Currently (in the Java 2 platform v1.2), BorderLayout does not support vertical orientations. The isVertical setting on the container's ComponentOrientation is not respected.

The components are laid out according to their preferred sizes and the constraints of the container's size. The NORTH and SOUTH components may be stretched horizontally; the EAST and WEST components may be stretched vertically; the CENTER component may stretch both horizontally and vertically to fill any space left over.

Here is an example of five buttons in an applet laid out using the BorderLayout layout manager:

The code for this applet is as follows:

 import java.awt.*;
 import java.applet.Applet;

 public class buttonDir extends Applet {
   public void init() {
     setLayout(new BorderLayout());
     add(new Button("North"), BorderLayout.NORTH);
     add(new Button("South"), BorderLayout.SOUTH);
     add(new Button("East"), BorderLayout.EAST);
     add(new Button("West"), BorderLayout.WEST);
     add(new Button("Center"), BorderLayout.CENTER);
   }
 }
 

Since:

JDK1.0

See Also:

Container.add(String, Component) , ComponentOrientation , Serialized Form

Field Summary

static String	AFTER_LAST_LINE Synonym for PAGE_END.
static String	AFTER_LINE_ENDS Synonym for LINE_END.
static String	BEFORE_FIRST_LINE Synonym for PAGE_START.
static String	BEFORE_LINE_BEGINS Synonym for LINE_START.
static String	CENTER The center layout constraint (middle of container).
static String	EAST The east layout constraint (right side of container).
static String	LINE_END The component goes at the end of the line direction for the layout.
static String	LINE_START The component goes at the beginning of the line direction for the layout.
static String	NORTH The north layout constraint (top of container).
static String	PAGE_END The component comes after the last line of the layout's content.
static String	PAGE_START The component comes before the first line of the layout's content.
static String	SOUTH The south layout constraint (bottom of container).
static String	WEST The west layout constraint (left side of container).

Constructor Summary

BorderLayout ()
Constructs a new border layout with no gaps between components.

BorderLayout (int hgap, int vgap)
Constructs a border layout with the specified gaps between components.

Method Summary

void	addLayoutComponent (Component comp, Object constraints) Adds the specified component to the layout, using the specified constraint object.
void	addLayoutComponent (String name, Component comp) Deprecated. replaced by addLayoutComponent(Component, Object).
Object	getConstraints (Component comp) Gets the constraints for the specified component
int	getHgap () Returns the horizontal gap between components.
float	getLayoutAlignmentX (Container parent) Returns the alignment along the x axis.
float	getLayoutAlignmentY (Container parent) Returns the alignment along the y axis.
Component	getLayoutComponent (Container target, Object constraints) Gets the component that corresponds to the given constraint location based on the target Container's component orientation
Component	getLayoutComponent (Object constraints) Gets the component that was added using the given constraint
int	getVgap () Returns the vertical gap between components.
void	invalidateLayout (Container target) Invalidates the layout, indicating that if the layout manager has cached information it should be discarded.
void	layoutContainer (Container target) Lays out the container argument using this border layout.
Dimension	maximumLayoutSize (Container target) Returns the maximum dimensions for this layout given the components in the specified target container.
Dimension	minimumLayoutSize (Container target) Determines the minimum size of the target container using this layout manager.
Dimension	preferredLayoutSize (Container target) Determines the preferred size of the target container using this layout manager, based on the components in the container.
void	removeLayoutComponent (Component comp) Removes the specified component from this border layout.
void	setHgap (int hgap) Sets the horizontal gap between components.
void	setVgap (int vgap) Sets the vertical gap between components.
String	toString () Returns a string representation of the state of this border layout.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone , equals , finalize , getClass , hashCode , notify , notifyAll , wait , wait , wait

Field Detail

NORTH

public static final String    NORTH

The north layout constraint (top of container).

See Also:

Constant Field Values

SOUTH

public static final String    SOUTH

The south layout constraint (bottom of container).

See Also:

Constant Field Values

EAST

public static final String    EAST

The east layout constraint (right side of container).

See Also:

Constant Field Values

WEST

public static final String    WEST

The west layout constraint (left side of container).

See Also:

Constant Field Values

CENTER

public static final String    CENTER

The center layout constraint (middle of container).

See Also:

Constant Field Values

BEFORE_FIRST_LINE

public static final String    BEFORE_FIRST_LINE

Synonym for PAGE_START. Exists for compatibility with previous versions. PAGE_START is preferred.

Since:

1.2

See Also:

PAGE_START , Constant Field Values

AFTER_LAST_LINE

public static final String    AFTER_LAST_LINE

Synonym for PAGE_END. Exists for compatibility with previous versions. PAGE_END is preferred.

Since:

1.2

See Also:

PAGE_END , Constant Field Values

BEFORE_LINE_BEGINS

public static final String    BEFORE_LINE_BEGINS

Synonym for LINE_START. Exists for compatibility with previous versions. LINE_START is preferred.

Since:

1.2

See Also:

LINE_START , Constant Field Values

AFTER_LINE_ENDS

public static final String    AFTER_LINE_ENDS

Synonym for LINE_END. Exists for compatibility with previous versions. LINE_END is preferred.

Since:

1.2

See Also:

LINE_END , Constant Field Values

PAGE_START

public static final String    PAGE_START

The component comes before the first line of the layout's content. For Western, left-to-right and top-to-bottom orientations, this is equivalent to NORTH.

Since:

1.4

See Also:

Component.getComponentOrientation() , Constant Field Values

PAGE_END

public static final String    PAGE_END

The component comes after the last line of the layout's content. For Western, left-to-right and top-to-bottom orientations, this is equivalent to SOUTH.

Since:

1.4

See Also:

Component.getComponentOrientation() , Constant Field Values

LINE_START

public static final String    LINE_START

The component goes at the beginning of the line direction for the layout. For Western, left-to-right and top-to-bottom orientations, this is equivalent to WEST.

Since:

1.4

See Also:

Component.getComponentOrientation() , Constant Field Values

LINE_END

public static final String    LINE_END

The component goes at the end of the line direction for the layout. For Western, left-to-right and top-to-bottom orientations, this is equivalent to EAST.

Since:

1.4

See Also:

Component.getComponentOrientation() , Constant Field Values

Constructor Detail

BorderLayout

public BorderLayout()

Constructs a new border layout with no gaps between components.

BorderLayout

public BorderLayout(int hgap,
                    int vgap)

Constructs a border layout with the specified gaps between components. The horizontal gap is specified by hgap and the vertical gap is specified by vgap.

Parameters:

hgap - the horizontal gap.

vgap - the vertical gap.

Method Detail

getHgap

public int getHgap()

Returns the horizontal gap between components.

Since:

JDK1.1

setHgap

public void setHgap(int hgap)

Sets the horizontal gap between components.

Parameters:

hgap - the horizontal gap between components

Since:

JDK1.1

getVgap

public int getVgap()

Returns the vertical gap between components.

Since:

JDK1.1

setVgap

public void setVgap(int vgap)

Sets the vertical gap between components.

Parameters:

vgap - the vertical gap between components

Since:

JDK1.1

addLayoutComponent

public void addLayoutComponent(Component    comp,
                               Object    constraints)

Adds the specified component to the layout, using the specified constraint object. For border layouts, the constraint must be one of the following constants: NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST, or CENTER.

Most applications do not call this method directly. This method is called when a component is added to a container using the Container.add method with the same argument types.

Specified by:

addLayoutComponent in interface LayoutManager2

Parameters:

comp - the component to be added.

constraints - an object that specifies how and where the component is added to the layout.

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if the constraint object is not a string, or if it not one of the five specified constants.

Since:

JDK1.1

See Also:

Container.add(java.awt.Component, java.lang.Object)

addLayoutComponent

@Deprecated
public void addLayoutComponent(String    name,
                                          Component    comp)

Deprecated. replaced by addLayoutComponent(Component, Object).

Description copied from interface: LayoutManager

If the layout manager uses a per-component string, adds the component comp to the layout, associating it with the string specified by name.

Specified by:

addLayoutComponent in interface LayoutManager

Parameters:

name - the string to be associated with the component

comp - the component to be added

removeLayoutComponent

public void removeLayoutComponent(Component    comp)

Removes the specified component from this border layout. This method is called when a container calls its remove or removeAll methods. Most applications do not call this method directly.

Specified by:

removeLayoutComponent in interface LayoutManager

Parameters:

comp - the component to be removed.

See Also:

Container.remove(java.awt.Component) , Container.removeAll()

getLayoutComponent

public Component    getLayoutComponent(Object    constraints)

Gets the component that was added using the given constraint

Parameters:

constraints - the desired constraint, one of CENTER, NORTH, SOUTH, WEST, EAST, PAGE_START, PAGE_END, LINE_START, LINE_END

Returns:

the component at the given location, or null if the location is empty

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if the constraint object is not one of the nine specified constants

Since:

1.5

See Also:

addLayoutComponent(java.awt.Component, java.lang.Object)

getLayoutComponent

public Component    getLayoutComponent(Container    target,
                                    Object    constraints)

Gets the component that corresponds to the given constraint location based on the target Container's component orientation

Parameters:

constraints - the desired absolute position, one of CENTER, one of NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST

target - the Container using this BorderLayout

Returns:

the component at the given location, or null if the location is empty

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if the constraint object is not one of the five specified constants

NullPointerException - if the target parameter is null

Since:

1.5

See Also:

addLayoutComponent(java.awt.Component, java.lang.Object)

getConstraints

public Object