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I'm about to begin developing a new small application. It'll contain around 10 different GUIs.
Using Netbeans, I can create either a JFrame or a JPanel - but which one should I use?
I'll have a Menu GUI which will contain buttons to the remaining GUIs. I will also have to pass some Controllers as parameters
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The JFrame Class. Whenever you create a graphical user interface with Java Swing functionality, you will need a container for your application. In the case of Swing, this container is called a JFrame. All GUI applications require a JFrame.
JFrame is a top-level container that provides a window on the screen. A frame is actually a base window on which other components rely, namely the menu bar, panels, labels, text fields, buttons, etc. Almost every other Swing application starts with the JFrame window.
JPanel, a part of the Java Swing package, is a container that can store a group of components. The main task of JPanel is to organize components, various layouts can be set in JPanel which provide better organization of components, however, it does not have a title bar.
JavaFX new fixes will continue to be supported on Java SE 8 through March 2022 and removed from Java SE 11. Swing and AWT will continue to be supported on Java SE 8 through at least March 2025, and on Java SE 11 (18.9 LTS) through at least September 2026.
I assume you are a little bit confused on the differences between a JPanel and a JFrame. A JPanel acts as a container to hold other GUI components, such as buttons, textfields and other JPanels.
On the other hand, you can consider a JFrame to be a top-level component (the main JPanel).
Quotes and Images taken from this site and this site.
JFrameA Frame is a top-level window with a title and a border.
The following is an image of a typical JFrame:
JPanelThe
JPanelclass provides general-purpose containers for lightweight components.
The following is an image of JPanels. Each colour represents a different JPanel
:
Therefore, to answer your question, you need to use both. Start off with a JFrame (which acts as the main container), and add JPanels to build your graphical user interface.
I recommend that you read those two links to get a better idea and see the code.
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10 different GUIs
There are a variety of option for displaying the JPanel based GUI elements.
CardLayoutJTabbedPaneSee The Use of Multiple JFrames, Good/Bad Practice? for many other ideas about combining or displaying different groups of widgets.
N.B. Resist extending either JFrame or JPanel - instead simply keep a reference to one, and use it as needed.
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