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<meta name="description" content="The JGoodies Forms helps you layout and implement elegant Panel quickly and consistently.">
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<b>General</b>
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<h1>:: Tutorial :: Building ::</h1>
Layout managers have been designed to talk to a container,
not a human. The Forms framework separates concerns: the layout
task from the layout specification and the panel building process.
Therefore Forms provies a set of non-visual builder classes that
assist you in building panels and that can shield you from details
of the layout manager.
<p>
When constructing a panel you talk to a builder which in turn
talks to the layout manager. This leads to a smaller layout manager API
and to more flexibility. The builders that ship with the Forms
can create frequently used components, provide a cursor to keep
track of the grid location where the next component will be added,
and they can assist you in style guide compliance.
<p>
<b>It is recommended to have the JGoodies Forms Demo open on your screen!</b>
<h2>Plain Building</h2>
You can use the pure FormLayout without any builders.
It is good style to use a builder, because you often
write less code and so increase the code readability.
<h2>PanelBuilder</h2>
The <tt>PanelBuilder</tt> is a general purpose builder for
many types of Swing panels. It is recommend for building
panels that cannot be build well with a specialized
builder like the <tt>ButtonBarBuilder</tt> or <tt>DefaultFormBuilder</tt>.
Typically you specify the columns and rows before you add
the components. If the panel has many rows,
consider using a row variable to address the current row.
<h2>Row Counter</h2>
If your layout has rows, hard-coded row numbers become difficult
to maintain - at least if you often add and remove rows.
You can introduce a variable to track the current row.
Since this style makes the code harder to understand,
you should use row variables judiscously.
<h2>Dynamic Rows</h2>
Almost always columns should be defined statically;
they describe the essence of form-oriented grids.
In contrast, forms have often quite simple row structures:
just a sequence of component rows and gap rows like
<i>pref, 3dlu, pref, 3dlu, pref, ...</i>
In this case you may consider creating the rows dynamically.
Use this style judicously, because it makes the layout
harder to understand for other readers.
<h2>DefaultFormBuilder</h2>
The <tt>DefaultFormBuilder</tt> builds consistent forms quickly.
It combines frequently used panel building steps: add a new row,
add a label, proceed to the next data column, then add a component.
Typically you specify the columns statically and use the builder's
<tt>#append</tt> methods to create the rows on-the-fly.
This saves a lot of code and works well with a large set
of editors and viewers.
However, use this builder only if appropriate; your code
should not be cluttered by builder commands.
<h2>Custom Rows and DefaultFormBuilder</h2>
All builders allow to append rows dynamically.
If you create rows dynamically with the <tt>DefaultFormBuilder</tt>
there are basically three ways to add custom rows.
Such rows are required for components that grow
or that are larger than the default rows.
You can add:
1) a single custom row (plus gap before),
2) a standard row plus custom row, or
3) multiple standard rows.
These approaches differ in the way, labels and components
will be aligned, and in the flexibility available for the
alignment in the custom row.
<h2>Indent Column and DefaultFormBuilder</h2>
It is good design practice to indicate panel sections
with a leading indent for all component rows, not the separators.
The <tt>DefaultFormBuilder</tt> provides a method
<tt>#setLeadingColumnOffset(int)</tt> that allows to specify
that the components added by the builder should leave
out the first <i>offset</i> columns - which is often <i>1</i>.
<h2>Debugging a Panel Layout</h2>
The classes <tt>FormDebugPanel</tt> and <tt>FormDebugUtils</tt>
can help you debug a panel layout implementation.
The debug panel paints lines to mark the columns and rows.
The debug utils print detailed information about the column and
row specifications, column and row groups, component constraints
and the grid bounds.
The printed information 'unfold' all implicit specifications
for column and row specifications, and default alignments that
have been applied to individual cells.
<h2>ButtonBarBuilder</h2>
The <tt>ButtonBarBuilder</tt> builds consistent button bars
that comply with style guides. It ensures minimum widths,
uses logical gaps for related and unrelated buttons,
and allows to add gridded and ungridded buttons
- with default or narrow margins.
<h2>ButtonStackBuilder</h2>
The <tt>ButtonStackBuilder</tt> builds consistent button stacks
that comply with style guides. It ensures minimum widths,
uses logical gaps for related and unrelated buttons,
and allows to add gridded and ungridded buttons
- with default or narrow margins.
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