BorderLayout makes everything disappear

[jason3460]

Hey, so when i attempt to use the BorderLayout, then run the program nothing is shown in the window, my slider/textboxes and labels are gone. Then when i revert back to using a FlowLayout, they come back.

package calculations;
 
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.ChangeEvent;
import javax.swing.event.ChangeListener;
 
public class MyControlPanel extends javax.swing.JPanel
{
    private MyShape theShape;//creating instance of MyShape
 
    static int min = 0;//minimum value for jSlider
    static int max = 100;//maximum value for jSlider
    static int initial = 0;//inital value for jSlider
 
    //creating components
    JSlider jSlider;
    JLabel jLabel1;
    JLabel jLabel2;
    JLabel jLabel3;
    JLabel jLabel4;
    JTextField jText1;
    JTextField jText2;
 
    private int shapeSize;//used to hold sliderValue  
 
    DrawShape drawShape = new DrawShape(20,20,shapeSize,theShape);
 
    public MyControlPanel() 
    {
        initComponents();
 
        //JSlider setup
        jSlider = new JSlider(JSlider.HORIZONTAL, min, max, initial);
        jSlider.setMajorTickSpacing(10);
        jSlider.setMinorTickSpacing(1);
        jSlider.setPaintLabels(true);
        jSlider.setPaintTicks(true);
        jSlider.setValue(50);
 
        jSlider.addChangeListener(new MyChangeAction());
 
        //create instance of jTexts          
        jText1 = new JTextField();
        jText2 = new JTextField();
 
        //setText for jTexts
        jText1.setText("          ");
        jText2.setText("          ");
 
        //create instance of labels
        jLabel1 = new JLabel();
        jLabel2 = new JLabel();
        jLabel3 = new JLabel();
        jLabel4 = new JLabel();
 
        //setText for jLabels
        jLabel1.setText("Shape Dimension = ");
        jLabel2.setText("     Boundary Length = ");
        jLabel3.setText("     Area = ");
        jLabel4.setText("");
 
        //adding components
        this.add(jSlider);
        this.add(jLabel1);
        this.add(jLabel4);
        this.add(jLabel2);
        this.add(jText1);
        this.add(jLabel3);
        this.add(jText2);
        //this.add(drawShape);
 
        setLayout(new FlowLayout());
        repaint();
    }
 
    public void setShape(MyShape suppliedShape)
    {       
        theShape = suppliedShape;
    }
    public MyShape getShape()
    {
        return theShape;
    }
 
        public class MyChangeAction implements ChangeListener
        {
            @Override
            public void stateChanged(ChangeEvent e) 
            {   
                DrawShape drawShape = new DrawShape(20,20,shapeSize,theShape);
                int sliderValue = jSlider.getValue();
                shapeSize = sliderValue;
                double area;
                double boundaryLength;
 
                String str = Double.toString(sliderValue);
                jLabel4.setText(str);
 
                area = theShape.getArea(sliderValue);
                boundaryLength = theShape.getBoundaryLength(sliderValue);
 
                jText1.setText(Double.toString(Math.round(boundaryLength)));
                jText2.setText(Double.toString(Math.round(area))); 
                add(drawShape);
            }            
        }
    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    // <editor-fold defaultstate="collapsed" desc="Generated Code">                          
    private void initComponents() {
 
        javax.swing.GroupLayout layout = new javax.swing.GroupLayout(this);
        this.setLayout(layout);
        layout.setHorizontalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGap(0, 400, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        );
        layout.setVerticalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGap(0, 300, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        );
    }// </editor-fold>                        
    // Variables declaration - do not modify                     
    // End of variables declaration                   
}

this is my code with the FlowLayout, can someone tell me how i would implement the BorderLayout correctly, so that my program looks something like this:

Currently:


What i would like:


Slider/textboxes and labels at the bottom, but the paint panel at above it.

Thanks in advance! Any help would be great!

[andbin]

can someone tell me how i would implement the BorderLayout correctly

You should take some time to learn, at least, the most basic layout managers like BorderLayout, FlowLayout, GridLayout (and put also GridBagLayout). Each of these has its specific features, restrictions and so on.
Without a good background on these concepts you will always have doubts and you won't understand "why" things happen in that way.

FlowLayout is very simple, it can manage any number of components. As the name "Flow" implies, FlowLayout arranges components in one row and if it's not sufficient, components can "flow" on the next row. Exactly like words flow in a word processor or a web page.

BorderLayout can manage only 5 components. They are arranged in 5 areas whose names are conceptually: "north", "south", "east", "west", "center". Only 1 component can appear in one area.
When you want to add a component in a BorderLayout you should write code like this (container is the container with the BorderLayout, can be implicitly the this if you are extending eg. JPanel):

container.add(comp1, BorderLayout.NORTH);
container.add(comp2, BorderLayout.CENTER);

NORTH, CENTER, EAST, etc... are constants in BorderLayout for "absolute" positioning (the east is always .... at east). There are other constants for "relative" positioning. But I don't want to go further. You need a background on these things, so please read:

How to Use BorderLayout
How to Use FlowLayout
and in general: Laying Out Components Within a Container

If you don't understand these concepts you won't go further.