Getting Java GUI to look 'decent'.....

After using VB and Visual C++ with the 'drag & drop' to build the GUI - trying to get Buttons, Labels, etc. to look half way decent in Java is tough....for me anyway.
This is a farly stupid Java assignment so I apologize for you having to look at something so lame......

I've done a lot of googling and I think I could use the GridBag Layout to do what I want but I can't find an example that shows me how to code it!!!!!

What I'd like is......

------------------------------------------------------------------
|-----------------------------------------------|--Button 1-------|
|-----------------------------------------------|--Button 2-------|
|-----------------------------------------------|--Button 3-------|
|-----------------------------------------------|--Button 4-------|
|-------------Graphics Area---------------------|-----------------|
|-----------------------------------------------|-----------------|
|-----------------------------------------------|--Label 1 -------|
|-----------------------------------------------|--Label 2 -------|
|-----------------------------------------------|-----------------|
|-----------------------------------------------|-----------------|
|-----------------------------------------------|-----------------|

There is nothing the book that deals with anything beyond FlowLayout and the Border but I'm thinking there has to be a way to make it look better.
Both the FlowLayout and the Border look way crappy compared to what VB or Visual C++ can do.

Thanks in advance for any help!!!!!

Here is the code to give you an idea of what I am working on......

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class Prog9_1 extends JFrame implements ActionListener {

private JButton rightButton, leftButton, upButton, downButton;
private JPanel panel;

private Balloon balloon;

public static void main(String[] args) {
Prog9_1 demo = new Prog9_1 ();
demo.setSize(600,600);
demo.createGUI();
demo.show();
}

private void createGUI() {
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
Container window = getContentPane();
// window.setLayout(new FlowLayout() );
window.setLayout(new GridLayout(2,3));

panel = new JPanel();
panel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400, 400));
panel.setBackground(Color.white);
window.add(panel);

leftButton = new JButton("<-Left");
window.add(leftButton);
leftButton.addActionListener(this);

rightButton = new JButton("Right->");
window.add(rightButton);
rightButton.addActionListener(this);

upButton = new JButton("Up");
window.add(upButton);
upButton.addActionListener(this);

downButton = new JButton("Down");
window.add(downButton);
downButton.addActionListener(this);

balloon = new Balloon();
}

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
Graphics paper = panel.getGraphics();
if (event.getSource() == leftButton) {
balloon.moveLeft(20);
}
if (event.getSource() == rightButton) {
balloon.moveRight(20);
}
if (event.getSource() == upButton) {
balloon.moveUp(20);
}
if (event.getSource() == downButton) {
balloon.moveDown(20);
}
paper.setColor(Color.white);
paper.fillRect(0, 0, 300, 300);
balloon.display(paper);
}
}


This is a separate .java file......

import java.awt.*;
public class Balloon {

private int x = 50;
private int y = 50;
private int diameter = 20;

public void moveLeft(int xStep) {
x = x - xStep;
}
public void moveRight(int xStep) {
x = x + xStep;
}
public void moveUp(int yStep) {
y = y - yStep;
}
public void moveDown(int yStep) {
y = y + yStep;
}
public void display(Graphics paper) {
paper.setColor(Color.blue);
paper.drawOval(x, y, diameter, diameter);
}
}

 

Look like.....

----------------------------------------------------------------------
|-----------------------------------------------|--Button 1-------|
|-----------------------------------------------|--Button 2-------|
|-----------------------------------------------|--Button 3-------|
|-----------------------------------------------|--Button 4-------|
|-------------Graphics Area-------------|---------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------|--Label 1 -------|
|-----------------------------------------------|--Label 2 -------|
|-----------------------------------------------|---------------------|
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Bummer---No one works with the Java GUI, huh?

I'l still digging thru the documentation.....but I could sure use a simple, straight forward example of how to do this.

Is it just me or are all the Java examples and documentation overly complicated?
I mean I understand that is is 'geek' orientated but, come on, this stuff shouldn't really be this hard......look at what you can do in VB and Visual C++ without even breaking a sweat!!!!!!

 

Hard coding Java GUI's is very tedious, I usually use a tool like NetBeans which has a DND style GUI builder. If this is a one time thing, that might be too big of a hassle to learn.

Your right about the grid bag layout. Basically it makes your container (usually a JPanel) a big grid where you can place GUI objects. I like to think of it like an HTML table. You can add cell spacing, span multiple columns and such.

An example:

The following should be close to what you want to display. I generated it with netbeans, but you should be able to follow the code pretty well

Code:

    private javax.swing.JScrollPane graphics_area;
    private javax.swing.JButton jButton1;
    private javax.swing.JButton jButton2;
    private javax.swing.JButton jButton3;
    private javax.swing.JButton jButton4;
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel1;
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel2;
    private javax.swing.JPanel jPanel1;
    private javax.swing.JTextArea jTextArea1;

    private void initComponents() {
        java.awt.GridBagConstraints gridBagConstraints;

        jPanel1 = new javax.swing.JPanel();
        graphics_area = new javax.swing.JScrollPane();
        jTextArea1 = new javax.swing.JTextArea();
        jButton1 = new javax.swing.JButton();
        jButton2 = new javax.swing.JButton();
        jButton3 = new javax.swing.JButton();
        jButton4 = new javax.swing.JButton();
        jLabel1 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        jLabel2 = new javax.swing.JLabel();

        setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        jPanel1.setLayout(new java.awt.GridBagLayout());

        graphics_area.setPreferredSize(new java.awt.Dimension(162, 192));
        jTextArea1.setColumns(20);
        jTextArea1.setRows(5);
        graphics_area.setViewportView(jTextArea1);

        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridx = 0;
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 0;
        gridBagConstraints.gridheight = 10;
        gridBagConstraints.insets = new java.awt.Insets(7, 7, 7, 7);
        jPanel1.add(graphics_area, gridBagConstraints);

        jButton1.setText("jButton1");
        jPanel1.add(jButton1, new java.awt.GridBagConstraints());

        jButton2.setText("jButton2");
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 1;
        jPanel1.add(jButton2, gridBagConstraints);

        jButton3.setText("jButton3");
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 2;
        jPanel1.add(jButton3, gridBagConstraints);

        jButton4.setText("jButton4");
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 3;
        jPanel1.add(jButton4, gridBagConstraints);

        jLabel1.setText("jLabel1");
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 5;
        jPanel1.add(jLabel1, gridBagConstraints);

        jLabel2.setText("jLabel2");
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 6;
        jPanel1.add(jLabel2, gridBagConstraints);

        org.jdesktop.layout.GroupLayout layout = new org.jdesktop.layout.GroupLayout(getContentPane());
        getContentPane().setLayout(layout);
        layout.setHorizontalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(org.jdesktop.layout.GroupLayout.LEADING)
            .add(org.jdesktop.layout.GroupLayout.TRAILING, jPanel1, org.jdesktop.layout.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, 400, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        );
        layout.setVerticalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(org.jdesktop.layout.GroupLayout.LEADING)
            .add(org.jdesktop.layout.GroupLayout.TRAILING, jPanel1, org.jdesktop.layout.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, 300, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        );
        pack();
    }

Just set this up as a class that extends JFrame, call the method from the constructor. Now you can create and instance of the class and call "[object name].setVisible(true);"