Java BoxLayout

The Java BoxLayout class is used to arrange the components either vertically or horizontally. For this purpose, the BoxLayout class provides four constants. They are as follows:

Note: The BoxLayout class is found in javax.swing package.

Fields of BoxLayout Class

public static final int X_AXIS: Alignment of the components are horizontal from left to right.
public static final int Y_AXIS: Alignment of the components are vertical from top to bottom.
public static final int LINE_AXIS: Alignment of the components is similar to the way words are aligned in a line, which is based on the ComponentOrientation property of the container. If the ComponentOrientation property of the container is horizontal, then the components are aligned horizontally; otherwise, the components are aligned vertically. For horizontal orientations, we have two cases: left to right, and right to left. If the value ComponentOrientation property of the container is from left to right, then the components are rendered from left to right, and for right to left, the rendering of components is also from right to left. In the case of vertical orientations, the components are always rendered from top to bottom.
public static final int PAGE_AXIS: Alignment of the components is similar to the way text lines are put on a page, which is based on the ComponentOrientation property of the container. If the ComponentOrientation property of the container is horizontal, then components are aligned vertically; otherwise, the components are aligned horizontally. For horizontal orientations, we have two cases: left to right, and right to left. If the value ComponentOrientation property of the container is also from left to right, then the components are rendered from left to right, and for right to left, the rendering of components is from right to left. In the case of vertical orientations, the components are always rendered from top to bottom.

Constructor of BoxLayout class

BoxLayout(Container c, int axis): creates a box layout that arranges the components with the given axis.

Example of BoxLayout class with Y-AXIS:

FileName: BoxLayoutExample1.java

  import java.awt.*;    import javax.swing.*;        public class BoxLayoutExample1 extends Frame {     Button buttons[];         public BoxLayoutExample1 () {       buttons = new Button [5];             for (int i = 0;i<5;i++) {          buttons[i] = new Button (“Button ” + (i + 1));          // adding the buttons so that it can be displayed        add (buttons[i]);        }      // the buttons will be placed horizontally  setLayout (new BoxLayout (this, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));    setSize(400,400);    setVisible(true);    }      // main method  public static void main(String args[]){    BoxLayoutExample1 b=new BoxLayoutExample1();    }    }    

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Output:

BoxLayout class example

Example of BoxLayout class with X-AXIS

FileName: BoxLayoutExample2.java

  import java.awt.*;    import javax.swing.*;        public class BoxLayoutExample2 extends Frame {     Button buttons[];         public BoxLayoutExample2() {       buttons = new Button [5];             for (int i = 0;i<5;i++) {          buttons[i] = new Button (“Button ” + (i + 1));          // adding the buttons so that it can be displayed        add (buttons[i]);        }     // the buttons in the output will be aligned vertically   setLayout (new BoxLayout(this, BoxLayout.X_AXIS));    setSize(400,400);    setVisible(true);    }     // main method   public static void main(String args[]){    BoxLayoutExample2 b=new BoxLayoutExample2();    }    }    

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Output:

BoxLayout class example

Example of BoxLayout Class with LINE_AXIS

The following example shows the effect of setting the value of ComponentOrientation property of the container to RIGHT_TO_LEFT. If we do not set the value of ComponentOrientation property, then the components would be laid out from left to right. Comment line 11, and see it yourself.

FileName: BoxLayoutExample3.java

  // import statements  import java.awt.*;    import javax.swing.*;        public class BoxLayoutExample3 extends Frame   {    Button buttons[];      // constructor of the class    public BoxLayoutExample3()   {    buttons = new Button[5];  setComponentOrientation(ComponentOrientation.RIGHT_TO_LEFT);  // line 11    for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)   {      buttons[i] = new Button (“Button ” + (i + 1));         // adding the buttons so that it can be displayed      add (buttons[i]);    }      // the ComponentOrientation is set to RIGHT_TO_LEFT. Therefore,  // the added buttons will be rendered from right to left   setLayout (new BoxLayout(this, BoxLayout.LINE_AXIS));    setSize(400, 400);    setVisible(true);    }        // main method  public static void main(String argvs[])  {    // creating an object of the class BoxLayoutExample3  BoxLayoutExample3 obj = new BoxLayoutExample3();    }    }    

Output:

BoxLayout class example

Example of BoxLayout Class with PAGE_AXIS

The following example shows how to use PAGE_AXIS.

FileName: BoxLayoutExample4.java

  // import statements  import java.awt.*;    import javax.swing.*;        public class BoxLayoutExample4 extends Frame   {    Button buttons[];    // constructor of the class  public BoxLayoutExample4()   {    JFrame f = new JFrame();  JPanel pnl = new JPanel();  buttons = new Button[5];  GridBagConstraints constrntObj = new GridBagConstraints();      constrntObj.fill = GridBagConstraints.VERTICAL;  for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)   {      buttons[i] = new Button (“Button ” + (i + 1));         // adding the buttons so that it can be displayed    add(buttons[i]);    }      // the components will be displayed just like the line is present on a page  setLayout (new BoxLayout(this, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));    setSize(400, 400);    setVisible(true);    }        // main method  public static void main(String argvs[])  {    // creating an object of the class BoxLayoutExample4  BoxLayoutExample4 obj = new BoxLayoutExample4();  }    }    

Output:

BoxLayout class example

The above output shows that the buttons are aligned horizontally. Now, we will display the buttons vertically using the PAGE_AXIS.

FileName: BoxLayoutExample5.java

  // import statementss  import java.awt.*;    import javax.swing.*;        public class BoxLayoutExample5 extends Frame   {    Button buttons[];       // constructor of the class   public BoxLayoutExample5()   {    JFrame f = new JFrame();  buttons = new Button[5];    // Creating a Box whose alignment is horizontal  Box horizontalBox = Box.createHorizontalBox();    // ContentPane returns a container  Container contentPane = f.getContentPane();    for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)   {      buttons[i] = new Button (“Button ” + (i + 1));         // adding the buttons to the box so that it can be displayed    horizontalBox.add(buttons[i]);    }      // adding the box and the borderlayout to the content pane  contentPane.add(horizontalBox, BorderLayout.NORTH);    // now, the rendered components are displayed vertically.   // it is because the box is aligned horizontally  f.setLayout (new BoxLayout(contentPane, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));       f.setSize(400, 400);    f.setVisible(true);    }        // main method  public static void main(String argvs[])  {    // creating an object of the class BoxLayoutExample5  BoxLayoutExample5 obj = new BoxLayoutExample5();  }    }   

Output:

BoxLayout class example

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Java BoxLayout

Java BoxLayout

Note: The BoxLayout class is found in javax.swing package.

Fields of BoxLayout Class

Constructor of BoxLayout class

Example of BoxLayout class with Y-AXIS:

Example of BoxLayout class with X-AXIS

Example of BoxLayout Class with LINE_AXIS

Example of BoxLayout Class with PAGE_AXIS

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