how to position gui components

[programmer1]

hello everybody i have been learning java for the summer for next semester i am currently looking at gui i was wondering how you can position components such as JLabels and JTextFields where ever you want. here is a peice of code i have been working on

import java.awt.FlowLayout;
 
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.SwingConstants;
 
 
 
public class gui extends JFrame{
	private JTextField num1;
	private JTextField num2;
	//private JTextField num3;
 
	private JLabel lnum1;
	private JLabel lnum2;
	//private JLabel lnum3;
 
		public gui(){
			super("sum program");
			setLayout(new FlowLayout());
 
			lnum1 = new JLabel("first number");
			lnum1.setToolTipText("enter the first number here.");
			num1 = new JTextField(10);
			lnum1.setHorizontalTextPosition(SwingConstants.LEFT);
			lnum1.setVerticalTextPosition(SwingConstants.BOTTOM);
 
 
			lnum2 = new JLabel("second number");
			lnum2.setToolTipText("enter the second number here.");
			lnum2.setHorizontalTextPosition(SwingConstants.RIGHT);
			lnum2.setVerticalTextPosition(SwingConstants.TOP);
			num2 = new JTextField(10);
 
			add(lnum1);
			add(num1);
			add(lnum2);
			add(num2);
		}
 
}

i know about flowlayout and i have hearded about gridlayout. but when i run this program both labels and textfields are in the top and center. what i want to do is position the first textfield and label in the bottom left hand corner and the second label and textfield in the top right hand corner. i know i sounds weird but i just need an example like that so i can understand how to do it.

thanks in advance.

[dlorde]

setHorizontalTextPosition and setVerticalTextPosition refer to the position of the text within the text component, not where the component displays.

I find BorderLayout most convenient for placing components top, bottom, left, or right because the centre part of BorderLayout expands to take up all available space. Generally, the simplest way to use layouts is to combine them, nesting layouts within panels. In this case, I'd have a top (North) panel and a bottom (South) panel and use a BorderLayout within each to place the components to the right (East) and left (West) respectively. To make the label and text fields sit next to each other, I'd put them into their own sub-panels:

public Gui() {
    super("sum program");
    setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
    setSize(400, 300);
    setLayout(new BorderLayout());
 
    lnum1 = new JLabel("first number");
    lnum1.setToolTipText("enter the first number here.");
    num1 = new JTextField(10);
 
    JPanel inputPanel1 = new JPanel();
    inputPanel1.add(lnum1);
    inputPanel1.add(num1);
 
    JPanel southPanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
    southPanel.add(inputPanel1, BorderLayout.WEST);
    add(southPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
 
    lnum2 = new JLabel("second number");
    lnum2.setToolTipText("enter the second number here.");
    num2 = new JTextField(10);
 
    JPanel inputPanel2 = new JPanel();
    inputPanel2.add(lnum2);
    inputPanel2.add(num2);
 
    JPanel northPanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
    northPanel.add(inputPanel2, BorderLayout.EAST);
    add(northPanel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
 
    setVisible(true);
}

Please note that the Java naming conventions are that class names begin with an upper case letter, method and variable names begin with a lower case letter.

[programmer1]

thank for your help dlorde it was annoying me for a few days now, and also thanks for the tip on java naming convention, its good to stop bad habits early. thanks again.