public class

BorderLayout

extends Object
implements LayoutManager2 Serializable
java.lang.Object
   ↳ java.awt.BorderLayout

Class Overview

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:

Diagram of an applet demonstrating BorderLayout. Each section of the BorderLayout contains a Button corresponding to its position in the layout, one of: North, West, Center, East, or South.

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);
   }
 }

See Also

Summary

Constants
String AFTER_LAST_LINE Synonym for PAGE_END.
String AFTER_LINE_ENDS Synonym for LINE_END.
String BEFORE_FIRST_LINE Synonym for PAGE_START.
String BEFORE_LINE_BEGINS Synonym for LINE_START.
String CENTER The center layout constraint (middle of container).
String EAST The east layout constraint (right side of container).
String LINE_END The component goes at the end of the line direction for the layout.
String LINE_START The component goes at the beginning of the line direction for the layout.
String NORTH The north layout constraint (top of container).
String PAGE_END The component comes after the last line of the layout's content.
String PAGE_START The component comes before the first line of the layout's content.
String SOUTH The south layout constraint (bottom of container).
String WEST The west layout constraint (left side of container).
Public Constructors
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.
Public Methods
void addLayoutComponent(String name, Component comp)
This method is deprecated. replaced by addLayoutComponent(Component, Object).
void addLayoutComponent(Component comp, Object constraints)
Adds the specified component to the layout, using the specified constraint 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(Object constraints)
Gets the component that was added using the given constraint
Component getLayoutComponent(Container target, Object constraints)
Returns the component that corresponds to the given constraint location based on the target Container's component orientation.
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.
[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From class java.lang.Object
From interface java.awt.LayoutManager
From interface java.awt.LayoutManager2

Constants

public static final String AFTER_LAST_LINE

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

See Also
Constant Value: "Last"

public static final String AFTER_LINE_ENDS

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

See Also
Constant Value: "After"

public static final String BEFORE_FIRST_LINE

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

See Also
Constant Value: "First"

public static final String BEFORE_LINE_BEGINS

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

See Also
Constant Value: "Before"

public static final String CENTER

The center layout constraint (middle of container).

Constant Value: "Center"

public static final String EAST

The east layout constraint (right side of container).

Constant Value: "East"

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.

See Also
Constant Value: "After"

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.

See Also
Constant Value: "Before"

public static final String NORTH

The north layout constraint (top of container).

Constant Value: "North"

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.

See Also
Constant Value: "Last"

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.

See Also
Constant Value: "First"

public static final String SOUTH

The south layout constraint (bottom of container).

Constant Value: "South"

public static final String WEST

The west layout constraint (left side of container).

Constant Value: "West"

Public Constructors

public BorderLayout ()

Constructs a new border layout with no gaps between components.

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.

Public Methods

public void addLayoutComponent (String name, Component comp)

This method is deprecated.
replaced by addLayoutComponent(Component, Object).

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

Parameters
name the string to be associated with the component
comp the component to be added

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.

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.
See Also

public Object getConstraints (Component comp)

Gets the constraints for the specified component

Parameters
comp the component to be queried
Returns
  • the constraint for the specified component, or null if component is null or is not present in this layout
See Also

public int getHgap ()

Returns the horizontal gap between components.

public float getLayoutAlignmentX (Container parent)

Returns the alignment along the x axis. This specifies how the component would like to be aligned relative to other components. The value should be a number between 0 and 1 where 0 represents alignment along the origin, 1 is aligned the furthest away from the origin, 0.5 is centered, etc.

public float getLayoutAlignmentY (Container parent)

Returns the alignment along the y axis. This specifies how the component would like to be aligned relative to other components. The value should be a number between 0 and 1 where 0 represents alignment along the origin, 1 is aligned the furthest away from the origin, 0.5 is centered, etc.

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
See Also

public Component getLayoutComponent (Container target, Object constraints)

Returns the component that corresponds to the given constraint location based on the target Container's component orientation. Components added with the relative constraints PAGE_START, PAGE_END, LINE_START, and LINE_END take precedence over components added with the explicit constraints NORTH, SOUTH, WEST, and EAST. The Container's component orientation is used to determine the location of components added with LINE_START and LINE_END.

Parameters
target the Container used to obtain the constraint location based on the target Container's component orientation.
constraints the desired absolute position, one of CENTER, NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST
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
See Also

public int getVgap ()

Returns the vertical gap between components.

public void invalidateLayout (Container target)

Invalidates the layout, indicating that if the layout manager has cached information it should be discarded.

public void layoutContainer (Container target)

Lays out the container argument using this border layout.

This method actually reshapes the components in the specified container in order to satisfy the constraints of this BorderLayout object. The NORTH and SOUTH components, if any, are placed at the top and bottom of the container, respectively. The WEST and EAST components are then placed on the left and right, respectively. Finally, the CENTER object is placed in any remaining space in the middle.

Most applications do not call this method directly. This method is called when a container calls its doLayout method.

Parameters
target the container in which to do the layout.
See Also

public Dimension maximumLayoutSize (Container target)

Returns the maximum dimensions for this layout given the components in the specified target container.

Parameters
target the component which needs to be laid out
See Also

public Dimension minimumLayoutSize (Container target)

Determines the minimum size of the target container using this layout manager.

This method is called when a container calls its getMinimumSize method. Most applications do not call this method directly.

Parameters
target the container in which to do the layout.
Returns
  • the minimum dimensions needed to lay out the subcomponents of the specified container.
See Also

public Dimension preferredLayoutSize (Container target)

Determines the preferred size of the target container using this layout manager, based on the components in the container.

Most applications do not call this method directly. This method is called when a container calls its getPreferredSize method.

Parameters
target the container in which to do the layout.
Returns
  • the preferred dimensions to lay out the subcomponents of the specified container.
See Also

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.

Parameters
comp the component to be removed.
See Also

public void setHgap (int hgap)

Sets the horizontal gap between components.

Parameters
hgap the horizontal gap between components

public void setVgap (int vgap)

Sets the vertical gap between components.

Parameters
vgap the vertical gap between components

public String toString ()

Returns a string representation of the state of this border layout.

Returns
  • a string representation of this border layout.