How do I lay out Input panel with multiple textfields and OK, CANCEL buttons?

Question

I am trying to achieve the following effect in Java:

However, I am not sure what layout to use and how. FlowLayout obviously doesn't work. GridLayout won't work either because the first 4 rows are supposed to be 1 column rows, but the 5th row needs to have 2 columns.

This is my code so far:

public class DepositPanel extends JPanel
{
    private JLabel cashL, checksL;
    private JTextField cashTF, checksTF;
    private JButton ok, cancel;

    DepositPanel()
    {
        JPanel depositP = new JPanel();
        depositP.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT, 2, 2));
        depositP.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(250, 85));

        JTextField cashTF = new JTextField(22);
        JTextField checksTF = new JTextField(22);

        JLabel cashL = new JLabel("Cash:");
        JLabel checksL = new JLabel("Checks:");

        ok = new JButton("OK");
        cancel = new JButton("CANCEL");

        depositP.add(cashL);
        depositP.add(cashTF);
        depositP.add(checksL);
        depositP.add(checksTF);
        depositP.add(ok);
        depositP.add(cancel):
    }
}

Answer 1

You could try with combinations of Layouts, 2 JPanels, 1 for buttons and 1 for fields, button panel with FlowLayout and fields panel with BoxLayout. And adding them to the frame. (I did a JFrame for testing, but you can change it to a JPanel and add that panel to your JFrame). Just be sure to have only 1 JFrame, see The use of multiple JFrames, Good / Bad Practice.

For example:

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.util.*;
public class DepositExample {
    JFrame frame;
    JPanel buttonPane, fieldsPanel;
    JLabel cash, checks;
    JTextField cashField, checksField;
    JButton ok, cancel;

    DepositExample() {
        frame = new JFrame("Deposit");
        buttonPane = new JPanel();
        fieldsPanel = new JPanel();
        cash = new JLabel("Cash");
        checks = new JLabel("Checks");
        cashField = new JTextField("");
        checksField = new JTextField("");
        ok = new JButton("OK");
        cancel = new JButton("Cancel");

        fieldsPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(fieldsPanel, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
        buttonPane.setLayout(new FlowLayout());

        fieldsPanel.add(cash);
        fieldsPanel.add(cashField);
        fieldsPanel.add(checks);
        fieldsPanel.add(checksField);
        buttonPane.add(ok);
        buttonPane.add(cancel);
        frame.add(fieldsPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);
        frame.add(buttonPane, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);

        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        new DepositExample();
    }
}

To get some more spacing between components you can add EmptyBorders as recommended by @LuxxMiner in his comment below.