How can I let JToolBars wrap to the next line (FlowLayout) without them being hidden ty the JPanel below them?

Question

I am in the process of making a GUI which shows three JToolBars above a big JPanel. These toolbars are collectively very large, so I'm using a FlowLayout to make them wrap to the next line if they reach the JFrame border. The problem is that when they wrap to the next line, they become hidden by the JPanel below.. I wish I could force the JPanel containing the toolbars to grow enough to show all toolbars..

Is there a way to do this? Or is there another way to make these toolbars visible?

Answer 1

I have run into this problem before. I found the best solution is to use a modified version of FlowLayout that takes into account vertical changes and wraps them to the next line. Here is the code for such a layout.

import java.awt.*;

/**
  * A modified version of FlowLayout that allows containers using this
  * Layout to behave in a reasonable manner when placed inside a
  * JScrollPane
  * @author Babu Kalakrishnan
  * Modifications by greearb and jzd
  */

 public class ModifiedFlowLayout extends FlowLayout {
       public ModifiedFlowLayout() {
              super();
           }

           public ModifiedFlowLayout(int align) {
              super(align);
           }
       public ModifiedFlowLayout(int align, int hgap, int vgap) {
          super(align, hgap, vgap);
       }

       public Dimension minimumLayoutSize(Container target) {
          // Size of largest component, so we can resize it in
          // either direction with something like a split-pane.
          return computeMinSize(target);
       }

       public Dimension preferredLayoutSize(Container target) {
          return computeSize(target);
       }

       private Dimension computeSize(Container target) {
          synchronized (target.getTreeLock()) {
             int hgap = getHgap();
             int vgap = getVgap();
             int w = target.getWidth();

             // Let this behave like a regular FlowLayout (single row)
             // if the container hasn't been assigned any size yet
             if (w == 0) {
                w = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
             }

             Insets insets = target.getInsets();
             if (insets == null){
                insets = new Insets(0, 0, 0, 0);
             }
             int reqdWidth = 0;

             int maxwidth = w - (insets.left + insets.right + hgap * 2);
             int n = target.getComponentCount();
             int x = 0;
             int y = insets.top + vgap; // FlowLayout starts by adding vgap, so do that here too.
             int rowHeight = 0;

             for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
                Component c = target.getComponent(i);
                if (c.isVisible()) {
                   Dimension d = c.getPreferredSize();
                   if ((x == 0) || ((x + d.width) <= maxwidth)) {
                      // fits in current row.
                      if (x > 0) {
                         x += hgap;
                      }
                      x += d.width;
                      rowHeight = Math.max(rowHeight, d.height);
                   }
                   else {
                      // Start of new row
                      x = d.width;
                      y += vgap + rowHeight;
                      rowHeight = d.height;
                   }
                   reqdWidth = Math.max(reqdWidth, x);
                }
             }
             y += rowHeight;
             y += insets.bottom;
             return new Dimension(reqdWidth+insets.left+insets.right, y);
          }
       }

       private Dimension computeMinSize(Container target) {
          synchronized (target.getTreeLock()) {
             int minx = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
             int miny = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
             boolean found_one = false;
             int n = target.getComponentCount();

             for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
                Component c = target.getComponent(i);
                if (c.isVisible()) {
                   found_one = true;
                   Dimension d = c.getPreferredSize();
                   minx = Math.min(minx, d.width);
                   miny = Math.min(miny, d.height);
                }
             }
             if (found_one) {
                return new Dimension(minx, miny);
             }
             return new Dimension(0, 0);
          }
       }

    }