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Learning Java : Chapter 14: Using Swing Components

Buy this book Title: Learning Java ISBN: 1565927184 Order No 7184 US Price: $ 34.95 Publication Date: May 2000 Pages: 722 © O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. Author's Top Ten Tips and Tricks

Borders

Any Swing component can have a decorative border. JComponent includes a method called setBorder( ); all you have to do is call setBorder( ), passing it an appropriate implementation of the Border interface.

Swing provides many useful Border implementations in the javax.swing.border package. You could create an instance of one of these classes and pass it to a component's setBorder( ) method, but there's an even simpler technique.

The BorderFactory class can create any kind of border for you using static "factory" methods. Creating and setting a component's border, then, is simple:

JLabel labelTwo = new JLabel("I have an etched border.");
labelTwo.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder(  ));

Every component has a setBorder( ) method, from simple labels and buttons right up to the fancy text and table components we'll cover in the next chapter.

BorderFactory is convenient, but it does not offer every option of every border type. For example, if you want to create a raised EtchedBorder instead of the default lowered border, you'll need to use EtchedBorder's constructor rather than a method in BorderFactory, like this:

JLabel labelTwo = new JLabel("I have a raised etched border.");
labelTwo.setBorder( new EtchedBorder(EtchedBorder.RAISED) );

The Border implementation classes are listed and briefly described here:

BevelBorder

This border draws raised or lowered beveled edges, giving an illusion of depth.

SoftBevelBorder

This border is similar to BevelBorder, but thinner.

EmptyBorder

Doesn't do any drawing, but does take up space. You can use it to give a component a little breathing room in a crowded user interface.

EtchedBorder

A lowered etched border gives the appearance of a rectangle that has been chiseled into a piece of stone. A raised etched border looks like it is standing out from the surface of the screen.

LineBorder

Draws a simple rectangle around a component. You can specify the color and width of the line in LineBorder's constructor.

MatteBorder

A souped-up version of LineBorder. You can create a MatteBorder with a certain color and specify the size of the border on the left, top, right, and bottom of the component. MatteBorder also allows you to pass in an Icon that will be used to draw the border. This could be an image (ImageIcon) or any other implementation of the Icon interface.

TitledBorder

A regular border with a title. TitledBorder doesn't actually draw a border; it just draws a title in conjunction with another border object. You can specify the locations of the title, its justification, and its font. This border type is particularly useful for grouping different sets of controls in a complicated interface.

CompoundBorder

A border that contains two other borders. This is especially handy if you want to enclose a component in an EmptyBorder and then put something decorative around it, like an EtchedBorder or a MatteBorder.

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