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Trail: Creating a GUI with JFC/Swing
Lesson: Using Swing Components
Section: How to Use Various Components
Using Swing Components
A Visual Index to the Swing Components
Using HTML in Swing Components
Using Top-Level Containers
Using Models
The JComponent Class
Using Text Components
Text Component Features
The Text Component API
How to Use Various Components
How to Make Applets
How to Use Buttons, Check Boxes, and Radio Buttons
How to Use Color Choosers
How to Use Combo Boxes
How to Make Dialogs
How to Use Editor Panes and Text Panes
How to Use File Choosers
How to Use Formatted Text Fields
How to Make Frames (Main Windows)
How to Use Internal Frames
How to Use Labels
How to Use Layered Panes
How to Use Lists
How to Use Menus
How to Use Panels
How to Use Password Fields
How to Use Progress Bars
How to Use Root Panes
How to Use Scroll Panes
How to Use Separators
How to Use Sliders
How to Use Spinners
How to Use Split Panes
How to Use Tabbed Panes
How to Use Tables
How to Use Text Areas
How to Use Text Fields
How to Use Tool Bars
How to Use Tool Tips
How to Use Trees
How to Use Icons
How to Use Borders
Solving Common Component Problems
Home Page > Creating a GUI with JFC/Swing > Using Swing Components
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How to Use Separators

> The `JSeparator` class provides a horizontal or vertical dividing line or empty space. It's most commonly used in menus and tool bars. In fact, you can use separators without even knowing that a `JSeparator` class exists, since menus and tool bars provide convenience methods that create and add separators customized for their containers. Separators are somewhat similar to borders, except that they are genuine components and, as such, are drawn inside a container, rather than around the edges of a particular component.

> Here is a picture of a menu that has three separators, used to divide the menu into four groups of items:

> The code to add the menu items and separators to the menu is extremely simple, boiling down to something like this:

> >     menu.add(menuItem1);
> >     menu.add(menuItem2);
> >     menu.add(menuItem3);
> >     menu.addSeparator();
> >     menu.add(rbMenuItem1);
> >     menu.add(rbMenuItem2);
> >     menu.addSeparator();
> >     menu.add(cbMenuItem1);
> >     menu.add(cbMenuItem2);
> >     menu.addSeparator();
> >     menu.add(submenu);

> Adding separators to a tool bar is similar. You can find the full code explained in the how-to sections for menus and tool bars. If you want more control over separators in menus and tool bars, you can directly use the `JSeparator` subclasses that implement them: JPopupMenu.Separator and JToolBar.Separator. In particular, `JToolBar.Separator` has API for specifying the separator's size.

### Using JSeparator

> You can use the `JSeparator` class directly to provide a dividing line in any container. The following picture shows a GUI that has a separator to the right of the button labeled Fire.

> Separators have almost no API and are extremely easy to use as long as you keep one thing in mind: In most implementations, a vertical separator has a preferred height of 0, and a horizontal separator has a preferred width of 0. This means a separator is not visible unless you either set its preferred size or put it in under the control of a layout manager such as `BorderLayout` or `BoxLayout` that stretches it to fill its available display area.

> The vertical separator does have a bit of width (and the horizontal a bit of height), so you should see some space where the separator is. However, the actual dividing line isn't drawn unless the width and height are both non-zero.

> The following code snippet shows how ListDemo puts together the panel that contains the vertical separator. You can find the full source code for ListDemo in `ListDemo.java`.

> >     JPanel buttonPane = new JPanel();
> >     buttonPane.setLayout(new BoxLayout(buttonPane,
> >                                        BoxLayout.LINE_AXIS));
> >     buttonPane.add(fireButton);
> >     buttonPane.add(Box.createHorizontalStrut(5));
> >     buttonPane.add(new JSeparator(SwingConstants.VERTICAL));
> >     buttonPane.add(Box.createHorizontalStrut(5));
> >     buttonPane.add(employeeName);
> >     buttonPane.add(hireButton);
> >     buttonPane.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(5,5,5,5));

> As the code shows, the buttons, separator, and text field all share a single container — a `JPanel` instance that uses a left-to-right box layout. Thanks to the layout manager (and to the fact that separators have unlimited maximum sizes), the separator is automatically made as tall as its available display area.

> In the preceding code, the horizontal struts are invisible components used to provide space around the separator. A 5-pixel empty border provides a cushion around the panel, and also serves to prevent the separator from extending all the way to the component above it and the window's edge below it.

> Here's a picture of another GUI that uses a separator, this time to put a dividing line between a group of controls and a display area.

> You can find the code in the example index. Here is the code that sets up the separator's container:

> >     JPanel panel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
> >     ...
> >     panel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(
> >                             GAP/2, //top
> >                             0,     //left
> >                             GAP/2, //bottom
> >                             0));   //right
> >     panel.add(new JSeparator(JSeparator.VERTICAL),
> >               BorderLayout.LINE_START);
> >     panel.add(addressDisplay,
> >               BorderLayout.CENTER);

> As in the last example, the panel uses an empty border so that the separator doesn't extend all the way to the edges of its container. Placing the separator in the leftmost area of the `BorderLayout`-controlled container makes the separator as tall as the address-display component that's in the center of the container. See How to Use BorderLayout for details on how border layouts work.

### The Separator API

> The API for using separators is minimal, since they have no contents and don't respond to user input.

> Creating and Initializing Separators
> Constructor or Method | Purpose
> --- | ---
> void addSeparator() void addSeparator(Dimension) (in `JToolBar`) | Append a tool bar separator (which is invisible in most, if not all, look and feels) to the current end of the tool bar. The optional argument specifies the size of the separator. The no-argument version of this method uses a separator with a default size, as determined by the current look and feel.
> void addSeparator() void insertSeparator(int) (in `JMenu`) | Put a separator in the menu. The `addSeparator` method puts the separator at the current end of the menu. The `insertSeparator` method inserts the separator into the menu at the specified position.
> void addSeparator() (in `JPopupMenu`) | Put a separator at the current end of the popup menu.
> JSeparator() JSeparator(int) | Create a separator. If you don't specify an argument, the separator is horizontal. The argument can be either `SwingConstants.HORIZONTAL` or `SwingConstants.VERTICAL`.
> void setOrientation(int) int getOrientation() (in `JSeparator`) | Get or set the separator's orientation, which can be either `SwingConstants.HORIZONTAL` or `SwingConstants.VERTICAL`.
> JToolBar.Separator() JToolBar.Separator(Dimension) | Create a separator for use in a tool bar. The optional argument specifies the separator's size.
> setSeparatorSize(Dimension) (in `JToolBar.Separator`) | Specify the separator's size. More specifically, the specified `Dimension` is used as the separator's minimum, preferred, and maximum sizes.
> JPopupMenu.Separator() | Create a separator for use in a menu.

### Examples that Use Separators

> Several of this lesson's examples use separators, usually in menus. Here is a list of some of the more interesting examples.

> Example | Where Described | Notes
> --- | --- | ---
> `ListDemo` | This section and How to Use Lists | Uses a vertical separator in a panel controlled by a horizontal box layout.
> `TextInputDemo` | This section and How to Use Formatted Text Fields | Uses a vertical separator at the left of a panel controlled by a border layout.
> `MenuDemo` | This section and How to Use Menus | Uses the `JMenu` method `addSeparator` to put separators in a menu.
> `ToolBarDemo2` | How to Use Tool Bars | Uses the `JToolBar` method `addSeparator` to put space between two kinds of buttons.

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