Graphical User Interfaces - JavaTech: An Introduction to Scientific and Technical Computing with Java - page 226

Figure 7.9 Arranging
components with (a) the
BoxLayout , (b) the Box
container, and (c) the Box
plus glue and struts.
(a)
(b)
(c)
{
BoxPanel () {
setLayout (new BoxLayout (this,BoxLayout.Y - AXIS));
// Default for JPanel is BoxLayout
add (new JButton ( " One " ));
add (new JButton ( " Two " ));
add (new JButton ( " Three " ));
add (new JButton ( " Four " ));
add (new JButton ( " Five " ));
} // ctor
} // class BoxPanel
The Box is a container like JPanel except that it uses BoxLayout as a
default instead of the FlowLayout used by JPanel .Inaddition, Box provides
for three special invisible elements that insert spacing between components. You
can create a Box object with its constructor or you can use two static methods to
produce Box instances with either horizontal or vertical alignment:
Box horizontalBox = Box.createHorizontalBox();
Box verticalBox = Box.createVerticalBox();
Figure 7.9(b) shows the buttons arranged according to the following code:
public class BoxApplet extends JApplet
{
public void init () {
Container content - pane = getContentPane ();