a JTextArea question

[somjit{}]

doing this works :

        contentPane = new JPanel();
        contentPane.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(5, 5, 5, 5));
        contentPane.setLayout(new BorderLayout(0, 0));          
        textArea = new JTextArea();
        scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea);
        contentPane.add(scrollPane,BorderLayout.CENTER);
        setContentPane(contentPane);

however this doesnt :

        contentPane = new JPanel();
        textArea = new JTextArea();
        scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea);
        contentPane.add(scrollPane,BorderLayout.CENTER);
        contentPane.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(5, 5, 5, 5));
        contentPane.setLayout(new BorderLayout(0, 0));
        setContentPane(contentPane);

i guess thats got something to do with setBorder() and setLayout() creating something like a new instance of JTextArea perhaps , something that nullifies the effect of contentPane.add(scrollPane,BorderLayout.CENTER); line , but i was hoping for a concrete answer as to why one code works and the other doesnt.

thanks in advance for your time :)

[JamesCherrill]

A JPanel object is initialized to use a FlowLayout, unless you specify differently when creating the JPanel. So in the second case you are adding to a FlowLayout (using a BorderLayout parameter for an unspecified result)

[somjit{}]

in the second case you are adding to a FlowLayout (using a BorderLayout parameter for an unspecified result)

that explains the null pointer exceptions i was getting , i thought the contentPane had already fitted in the panel when i called the methods on it , but they hadnt fit in , and gave me nulls.

thanks for the answer :)

[mKorbel]

• all Layout Managers(customs too), together with JFrame.pack() are calculated on PreferredSize (based on component tree, ZOrder), first is painted last, on top JComponent

• with some LayoutManagers is possible to resize childs, with some isn't possible (FLowLayout), or settable (GridLayout, SpringLayout, MigLayout)

• most of LayoutManagers accepts only PreferredSize, relayout (runtime) is done by container.revalidate() & container.repaint()

• you would need to set initial PreferredSIze (for all LayoutManagers exc AbsoluteLayout) e.g. textArea = new JTextArea(10, 15);

[somjit{}]

thanks for the detail mKorbel :) i have a feeling ill be coming back to this post when i do more with layouts. :)