Centering a JLabel in a JPanel

Question

I have a panel derived from JPanel. I have a custom control derived from JLabel. I am attempting to center this custom JLabel on my panel.

The only way I know to do this that will work is to use the a null layout (setLayout(null)) and then calculate the custom JLabel's setLocation() point so that it's in the right spot.

The custom JLabel is physically moved from one panel to this panel in this app and I believe the location previously set in setLocation is affecting things. However when I set it to (0,0) the component goes up into the upper left corner.

BorderLayout doesn't work because when only 1 component is provided and placed into BorderLayout.CENTER, the central section expands to fill all of the space.

An example I cut and pasted from another site used BoxLayout and component.setAlignmentX(Component.CENTER_ALIGNMENT). This didn't work either.

Another answer mentioned overriding the panel's getInset() function (I think that's what it was called), but that proved to be a dead end.

So far I'm working with a panel with a GridBagLayout layout and I include a GridBagConstraints object when I insert the custom JLabel into my panel. This is inefficient, though. Is there a better way to center the JLabel in my JPanel?

Sella

Consider mining the actual question out of the ranting. – Sunshade

Oh, and after I use the GridBagLayout & GridBagConstraints method things look OK if I minimize and then restore the main window. – Sella

The time to write this whole rant was sufficient to type into google 'Swing working with layout managers', clicking the first hit of the official swing tutorials, look at the visual guide, decide BoxLayout looks promising, and seeing an example which does more or less what you want (it contains two components iso a single one) – Campman

You mean the whole 3 sentences out of a relatively thorough explanation of the things I've researched and tried? I'll get right on it. – Sella

Robin: Even though I clearly mentioned various things that I found and had already attempted, I guess I have to say it: I have attempted to search for the answer. That's why I posted here. Snide, elitist comments like yours have no business on a site dedicated to helping programmers find answers to their questions. Since everything Java is already documented somewhere online, there is nothing that CAN'T be answered with a internet search. If my question didn't live up to your high and mighty standards then perhaps you shouldn't have wasted so much time responding. – Sella

@Sella sounds like you have implemented the painting incorrectly. – Sunshade

Try using setAlignmentX when BoxLayout as here https://mcmap.net/q/453994/-how-to-center-jlabel-and-jbutton-in-boxlayout – Acclaim

Answer 1

Set GridBagLayout for JPanel, put JLabel without any GridBagConstraints to the JPanel, JLabel will be centered

example

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

public class CenteredJLabel {

    private JFrame frame = new JFrame("Test");
    private JPanel panel = new JPanel();
    private JLabel label = new JLabel("CenteredJLabel");

    public CenteredJLabel() {
        panel.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
        panel.add(label);
        panel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(10, 10, 10, 10));
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.add(panel);
        frame.setSize(400, 300);
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                CenteredJLabel centeredJLabel = new CenteredJLabel();
            }
        });
    }
}

Oberland

Thank you, mKorbel, for not only posting useful information but doing it so thoroughly. Unfortunately this stuck me in the same situation where I have unexpected behavior (nothing appears in my panel after placing my JLabel). When I stuffed your example into my actual code and use a dummy JButton the JButton's placement was perfect. I even added some settings to that JButton to mimic my custom JLabel and it still worked, but when I used mine JLabel? That's when things don't work. I don't get it. There's got to be something preventing my JLabel from doing what these dummy JButtons do. – Sella

Doesn't work: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: cannot add to layout: constraints must be a GridBagConstraint. -1 – Lennon

Answer 2

Supose your JLabel is called label, then use:

label.setHorizontalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER);

Kassala

This is wrong. It affects the position of the label's contents, not the label's position within container. – Revolutionize

Answer 3

Forget all the LayoutManagers in the Java Standard Library and use MigLayout. In my experience it's much easier to work with an usually does exactly what you expect it to do.

Here's how to accomplish what you're after using MigLayout.

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

import net.miginfocom.swing.MigLayout;

public class Test
{
    public static void main( String[] args )
    {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame( );
        JPanel panel = new JPanel( );

        // use MigLayout
        panel.setLayout( new MigLayout( ) );

        // add the panel to the frame
        frame.add( panel );

        // create the label
        JLabel label = new JLabel( "Text" );

        // give the label MigLayout constraints
        panel.add( label, "push, align center" );

        // show the frame
        frame.setSize( 400, 400 );
        frame.setVisible( true );
    }
}

Most of that is just boilerplate. The key is the layout constraint: "push, align center":

align center tells MigLayout to place the JLabel in the center of its grid cell.

push tells MigLayout to expand the grid cell to fill available space.

Tyrannicide

There's a great MigLayout cheat sheet available at: migcalendar.com/miglayout/mavensite/docs/cheatsheet.html – Tyrannicide

You can download the latest version of MigLayout from here: migcalendar.com/miglayout/versions/4.0/miglayout-4.0-swing.jar – Tyrannicide

Interesting! Thanks for the tip I will have to keep that in mind for the future, but for now I am hoping to stay within the Java libraries for things. I'm still very new and trying to learn. – Sella

I suspect most people aren't going to want to use external libraries for something trivial like this. Getting your program legal with an external library isn't horrible to do, but why would you waste the money on a lawyer's time when you can do it with the Java Standard Library? And at that, your code using this MigLayout is not more simple than JavaSE layouts. I'd argue it's even far more complicated because there appears to be a grammar associated with the LayoutManager for the component Constraints when adding to a Container. – Bodleian

This looks like something I've been missing out on for years! I can't wait to try it. +1 – Lennon

Answer 4

BoxLayout is the way to go. If you set up a X_AXIS BoxLayout, try adding horizontal glues before and after the component:

panel.add(Box.createHorizontalGlue());
panel.add(label);
panel.add(Box.createHorizontalGlue());

Claviform

Answer 5

I don't like the answers here.

I've never seen a valid use of a GridBagLayout ever in my career. Not saying there isn't one, just saying I haven't seen [a valid] one, and there might be correlation there. Moreover, adding a single JLabel to the middle of a Container might make it center for demonstrational purposes, but you're going to have a lot harder of a time later on if you try to continue to work with that over some other layouts.

I do like the suggestion about the BoxLayout, because that is actually a great way to do it. That said, that answer is only part of the puzzle, hence why I'm dredging up a 7 year old question.

My 'Answer'

Really there is no short answer to your question. There is an exact answer to your question based on what you asked, but StackOverflow is about a community learning from each other, and I suspect you're trying to learn how to use layouts in general (or you were 7 years ago) and telling you to type a combination of keys to do exactly your demo case is not going to teach you the answer.

I'm going to try not to explain any layouts that you can't web-search the answer for on your own (with a link to the Oracle tutorial at the end, because I think it explains the different layouts fairly well).

BoxLayout

BoxLayout is one way to do it, and there is already a code snippet to demo it above so I won't provide one. I'll expand on it to say that, just as mentioned, that only answers your question exactly, but doesn't really teach you anything. Glue, as the BoxLayout refers to it, basically gives you an equal amount of remaining real-estate between all the 'glue' currently in the Container. So, if you were to do something like

panel.add(Box.createHorizontalGlue());
panel.add(label);
panel.add(Box.createHorizontalGlue());
panel.add(otherLabel);

You would find that your JLabel is no longer centered, because the 'glue' is only the remaining real-estate left, after two JLabels were added to the Container which will be equally divided between the two 'slots' (two calls to Container#add(Component) with a glue parameter) in theContainer`.

BorderLayout

BorderLayout is another way to go about this. BorderLayout is broken down into 5 regions. BorderLayout#CENTER, as you might guess, is the center region. The important note about this layout and how it centers things is how it obeys sizes of the Component that is in the center. That I won't detail though; the Oracle tutorial at the end covers it well enough if you're interested, I think.

Worth Noting

I suppose you could use a GridLayout, but it's a more simple way to do it over a GridBagLayout, which I already said even that I think is not a good approach. So I won't detail this one either.

The Point of it All

Now all that said, I think all LayoutManagers are worth a look. Just like anything else with relation to programming - use the tool that fits the job. Don't just assume because you used X layout before, that you should always use X layout and no other layout is viable. Figure out what you want your display to look like, and how you think it should behave with respect to resizing components, and then pick what you think would work best.

Another dual meaning of picking the right tool, is that you don't have to just fit all of your components into one single Container and make one layout do everything. There is nothing stopping you (and I strongly encourage you to) use multiple Containers and group them all together. Control each Container with a layout that is appropriate for that section of the display, and a different layout for a different Container.

Important!!

The reason why this is very important is because each layout has rules and things that they obey, and other things that they respect, and then others that are effectively ignored (i.e. preferred, maximum, and minimum sizes, for instance). If you use different layouts [correctly], you will find your display accepts dynamically being resized while still obeying the shape that you wanted it to hold. This is a very important key difference between doing it the right way, and just settling with GridBagLayout.

JPanel outer = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
JPanel centerPanel = new JPanel();
centerPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(centerPanel, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
JPanel southPanel = new JPanel(new CardLayout());

outer.add(centerPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
outer.add(southPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);

Figure out what is appropriate to your scenario, and go with that. There is no one-size-fits-all unless you want something overly cumbersome and made redundant by other layouts (i.e. GridBagLayout).

Oracle's Tutorial

If you've made it this far, then I think you're looking for as much information as you can get. In which case, I strongly encourage you to read Oracle's tutorial on layout managers because it lays out general details of them all very well: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/layout/visual.html

Bodleian

Answer 6

Use this.

labelName.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.CENTER);

or

labelName.setHorizontalAlignment(JPanel.CENTER);

Both of them must work.

Septillion

Answer 7

Do like this instead of libraries and layouts :

JLabel jlabel = new JLabel("Label Text", SwingConstants.CENTER);

Make sure to import javax.swing.SwingConstants INTERFACE , BUT DO NOT IMPLEMENT IT. It contains only constants and no methods.

Put the JLabel in a JPanel or else it will come at the center of the JFrame or JWindow (your top level container).

Bigot