BorderLayout showing border lines

Question

I am not very good in Java GUI and needs to seek help.

I intend to add images at the west of my BorderLayout, center to be my contents and buttons at the bottom.

I created an empty border to make some paddings between my south panel and my west and center panels. Now I just want to add a line across on top of the south border.

As shown in the screenshot below, there's a line between the west panel and center panel as well, how can I remove that line and maintain the line across on top of the south panel?

Attached is my code:

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

public class test {
    public static void main(String[] args) { 

        JPanel panel1 = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
        JPanel panel2 = new JPanel(new FlowLayout());
        JPanel panel3 = new JPanel(new FlowLayout());
        JPanel panel4 = new JPanel(new FlowLayout());

        JFrame frame = new JFrame();

        panel2.add( new JLabel( "WEST <will be adding image here>" ));
        panel3.add( new JLabel( "CENTER <contents>"));  
        panel4.add( new JLabel( "SOUTH <will be adding buttons>" ));

        panel1.add(panel2, BorderLayout.WEST);
        panel1.add(panel3, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        panel1.add(panel4, BorderLayout.SOUTH);

        panel2.setBorder(BorderFactory.createRaisedBevelBorder());
        panel3.setBorder(BorderFactory.createRaisedBevelBorder());      
        panel4.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(10,10,10,10));

        frame.add(panel1); 
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setSize(510,390);
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        frame.setVisible(true);
        frame.setResizable(false);
    }
}

Answer 1

To remove the border between WEST and CENTER, just remove their borders

panel2.setBorder(BorderFactory.createRaisedBevelBorder());
panel3.setBorder(BorderFactory.createRaisedBevelBorder());

If you want to retain their border with the frame's edge, then add a border to panel1 instead.

As for SOUTH, if you want "to add a line across on top of the south border" and keep the empty border, use:

panel4.setBorder(BorderFactory.createCompoundBorder(
       BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(10, 10, 10, 10),
       BorderFactory.createMatteBorder(2, 0, 0, 0, Color.BLACK)));

or createRaisedBevelBorder() instead of createMatteBorder.

Remember that you can switch the order of the borders and their style. See the tutorial for more info.

Answer 2

Try this:

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

public class test {
    public static void main(String[] args) { 

        JPanel panel1 = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
        JPanel panel2 = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
        JPanel panel3 = new JPanel(new FlowLayout());
        JPanel panel4 = new JPanel(new FlowLayout());
        JPanel panel5 = new JPanel(new FlowLayout());

        JFrame frame = new JFrame();

        panel4.add( new JLabel( "WEST <will be adding image here>" ));
        panel5.add( new JLabel( "CENTER <contents>"));  
        panel3.add( new JLabel( "SOUTH <will be adding buttons>" ));

        panel1.add(panel2, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        panel1.add(panel3, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        panel2.add(panel4, BorderLayout.WEST);
        panel2.add(panel5, BorderLayout.CENTER);

        panel2.setBorder(BorderFactory.createRaisedBevelBorder());     
        panel3.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(10,10,10,10));

        frame.add(panel1); 
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setSize(510,390);
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        frame.setVisible(true);
        frame.setResizable(false);
    }
}

Answer 3

`The following code adds components to a frame's content pane. Because content panes use the BorderLayout class by default, the code doesnot need to set the layout manager. The complete program is in the BorderLayoutDemo.java file.

...//Container pane = aFrame.getContentPane()...
JButton button = new JButton("Button 1 (PAGE_START)");
pane.add(button, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);

//Make the center component big, since that's the 
//typical usage of BorderLayout.
button = new JButton("Button 2 (CENTER)");
button.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 100));
pane.add(button, BorderLayout.CENTER);

button = new JButton("Button 3 (LINE_START)");
pane.add(button, BorderLayout.LINE_START);

button = new JButton("Long-Named Button 4 (PAGE_END)");
pane.add(button, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);

button = new JButton("5 (LINE_END)");
pane.add(button, BorderLayout.LINE_END);

Specify the component's location (for example, BorderLayout.LINE_END) as one of the arguments to the add method. If this component is missing from a container controlled by a BorderLayout object, make sure that the component's location was specified and no another component was placed in the same location.

All tutorial examples that use the BorderLayout class specify the component as the first argument to the add method. For example:

add(component, BorderLayout.CENTER)  //preferred
However, the code in other programs specifies the component as the second  argument. For example, here are alternate ways of writing the preceding code:

add(BorderLayout.CENTER, component)  //valid but old fashioned
     or
add("Center", component)             //valid but error prone