labels and fields

I am trying to get a label, then next to it on the right a text area, then underneath those another label and beside that a smaller text field.
I haven't had very much luck so far. Each time I enter my second label, my first one disappears.
I'm in a java class, I haven't heard from the professor, so I thought I might have better luck here.
I hope so.

Code Java:

---

import javax.swing.*;
 
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.Container;
 
 
public class Index extends JFrame {
 
	/**
	 * Program Name: Index.java
	  * Program description: This program will take a character from a user and a               *line of text, 
	 * and tell how many occurrences of that character there is.
	 */
	private JTextField textInput;	
	private FlowLayout layout;
	private Container container;
 
 
	public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
	{
 
	}
 
 
	public static void main(String[] args) {
 
		JTextArea userCharFld;
		JPanel panel, panel1;
		JLabel label;
 
 
		JFrame mainFrame = new JFrame("Character Finder");	
		mainFrame.setVisible(true);
		mainFrame.setSize(450, 250);
		mainFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
 
 
 
		}
 
 
}

---

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

The code you posted doesn't create or display anything apart from the frame, so it's impossible to say what you may be doing wrong...

Please post the code you wrote that tries to display the labels and text.

Sorry, I erased it all before I posted. I didn't really think about it at the time because I was a bit frustrated.
I haven't tried to put it back in yet. I really need to move parts of it into a method but I'm just not sure how.
I have to try and finish it all today so I may repost.
Thanks