What does .pack() do?

Question

I am learning about JPanel and GridLayout , this snippet of code will produce a simple JPanel with 6 buttons

package testing;


import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.security.*;
import javax.xml.bind.DatatypeConverter;
import java.lang.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class Testing 
{

    public static class GridPanel extends JPanel 
    {
        public GridPanel()
        {
            setLayout(new GridLayout(2,3));
            setBackground(Color.GREEN);
            this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500,500));

            JButton b1 = new JButton ("Button 1");
            JButton b2 = new JButton ("Button 2");
            JButton b3 = new JButton ("Button 3");
            JButton b4 = new JButton ("Button 4");
            JButton b5 = new JButton ("Button 5");
            JButton b6 = new JButton ("Button 6");

            add(b1);
            add(b2);
            add(b3);
            add(b4);
            add(b5);
            add(b6);
        }

    }



    public static void main(String[] args) 

    {
       GridPanel gp = new GridPanel();
       JFrame jf = new JFrame();
       jf.add(gp);
       jf.pack(); //code wouldnt work if i comment out this line
       jf.setVisible(true);

    }

}

I am wondering why my code wouldnt work if i comment out jf.pack()

Answer 1

The pack method sizes the frame so that all its contents are at or above their preferred sizes. An alternative to pack is to establish a frame size explicitly by calling setSize or setBounds (which also sets the frame location). In general, using pack is preferable to calling setSize, since pack leaves the frame layout manager in charge of the frame size, and layout managers are good at adjusting to platform dependencies and other factors that affect component size.

From Java tutorial

You should also refer to Javadocs any time you need additional information on any Java API