How do I disable a JPanel so that it can't change size in Java

Question

I have several JPanels in a layout and whenever I change the size of the JFrame manually with my mouse, it stretches the JPanels and makes it look messy. Is there a way to disable this?

Answer 1

JPanel is not resizable by the user.

If you are referring to JFrame, you can use

yourFrame.setResizable(false);

Answer 2

It's all about the LayoutManager you are using. Some LayoutManagers like BorderLayout always give extra space to children added in the center position. However, north, south, east, and west only allocated the preferred size to them. My favorite LayoutManager is TableLayout which is extremely easy to use, and very powerful. You can choose how extra space is allocated to each child. So it really just depends on what you are using.

You can also setMaximumSize on the JFrame and it won't allow you to resize the JFrame.