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How to Make Frames (Main Windows)

A frame, implemented as an instance of the JFrame class, is a window that has decorations such as a border, a title, and buttons for closing and iconifying the window. Applications with a GUI typically use at least one frame. Applets sometimes use frames, as well.

To make a window that's dependent on another window -- disappearing when the other window is iconified, for example -- use a dialog instead of a frame. To make a window that appears within another window, use an internal frame.

Here are two pictures of an empty-looking frame, each taken on a different platform.

Solaris	Windows

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Note:  The decorations on a frame are platform-dependent. You cannot change the decorations on a frame.

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The following code creates and sets up the frame from the previous figure and makes it visible onscreen. You can find the whole program in FrameDemo.java.

public static void main(String s[]) {
    JFrame frame = new JFrame("FrameDemo");

    frame.addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() {
        public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) {System.exit(0);}
    });

    //...create a blank label, set its preferred size...

    frame.getContentPane().add(emptyLabel, BorderLayout.CENTER);

    frame.pack();
    frame.setVisible(true);
}

The first line of code creates a frame with the constructor that lets you set the frame's title. The only other constructor provided by JFrame is a no-argument constructor.

Next the code adds a window listener to the frame. The listener's implementation makes the program exit when the user closes the frame. This behavior is appropriate for this program because the program has only one frame, and closing the frame makes the program useless. If the program didn't exit, then it would continue to run but have no visible GUI and no way of making any GUI visible. See Responding to Window-Closing Events for more information.

The bold line in the code segment adds a blank label to the frame's content pane. If you're not already familiar with content panes and how to add components to them, please read Adding Components to the Content Pane.

The next line gives the frame a size, using the pack method. The pack method sizes the frame so that all its contents are at or above their preferred sizes. An alternative to pack is to establish a frame's size explicitly by calling setSize. In general, using pack is preferable to calling setSize, since pack leaves the frame's layout manager in charge of the frame's size, and layout managers are good at adjusting to platform dependencies and other factors that affect component size.

The last line uses the setVisible method to make the frame appear onscreen. Sometimes you might see the show method used instead of setVisible(true). The two usages are equivalent, but we use setVisible(true) for consistency's sake.

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Note:  If any part of the frame has been realized you should invoke setVisible from the event dispatching thread. For a definition of the term "realized" and information about the event dispatching thread, refer to Threads and Swing.

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By default, when the user closes a frame onscreen, the frame is hidden. Although invisible, the frame still exists and the program can make it visible again. If you want different behavior, then you need to either register a window listener that handles window-closing events, or you need to specify default close behavior using the setDefaultCloseOperation method. You can even do both.

The argument to setDefaultCloseOperation must be one of the following values, which are defined in the WindowConstants interface (which JFrame implements):

• DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE -- Don't do anything when the user's requests that the frame close. Instead, the program should probably use a window listener that performs some other action in its windowClosing method.
• HIDE_ON_CLOSE (the default) -- Hide the frame when the user closes it. This removes the frame from the screen.
• DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE -- Hide and dispose of the frame when the user closes it. This removes the frame from the screen and frees up any resources used by it.
• EXIT_ON_CLOSE -- Exit the application, using System.exit(0). This is recommended for applications only. If used within an applet, a SecurityException may be thrown. Introduced in 1.4.

The default close operation is executed after the frame's window listeners (if any) handle the window-closing event. So, for example, assume that you specify that the default close operation is to dispose of the frame. You also implement a window listener that tests whether the frame is the last one and, if so, exits the application. Under these conditions, when the user closes a frame, the window listener will be called first. If it doesn't exit the application, then the default close operation -- disposing of the frame -- will then be performed.

For more information about handling window-closing events, see How to Write a Window Listener. Besides handling window-closing events, window listeners can also react to other window state changes, such as iconification and activation.

The Frame API

The following tables list the commonly used JFrame constructors and methods. Other methods you're likely to call are defined by the java.awt.Frame and java.awt.Window classes, from which JFrame descends. These methods include pack, setSize, setVisible, setTitle, and getTitle.

Because each JFrame object has a root pane, frames have support for interposing input and painting behavior in front of the frame's children, placing children on different "layers", and for Swing menu bars. These topics are introduced in Using Top-Level Containers. and explained in detail in How to Use Root Panes.

The API for using frames falls into these categories:

• Creating and Setting Up a Frame
• Methods Related to the Root Pane

Creating and Setting Up a Frame

Method	Purpose
JFrame() JFrame(String)	Create a frame that is initially invisible. Call setVisible(true) on the frame to make it visible. The String argument provides a title for the frame. You can also use setTitle to set a frame's title. The constructors taking a GraphicsConfiguration argument were introduced in 1.3.
void setDefaultCloseOperation(int) int getDefaultCloseOperation()	Set or get the operation that occurs when the user pushes the close button on this frame. Possible choices are: DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE HIDE_ON_CLOSE (the default) DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE EXIT_ON_CLOSE The first three constants are defined in the WindowConstants interface, which JFrame implements. The EXIT_ON_CLOSE constant is defined in the JFrame class, and was introduced in 1.3.
setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(boolean) boolean isDefaultLookAndFeelDecoration()	Determine whether newly created JFrames should have their Window decorations (such as borders, widgets for closing the window, title) provided by the current look and feel. Note that this is only a hint, as some look and feels may not support this feature. Introduced in 1.4. [PENDING: add discussion and example of L&F-generated decorations; link from here to discussion.]

Methods Related to the Root Pane

Method	Purpose
void setContentPane(Container) Container getContentPane()	Set or get the frame's content pane. The content pane contains the frame's visible GUI components and should be opaque.
JRootPane createRootPane() void setRootPane(JRootPane) JRootPane getRootPane()	Create, set, or get the frame's root pane. The root pane manages the interior of the frame including the content pane, the glass pane, and so on.
void setJMenuBar(JMenuBar) JMenuBar getJMenuBar()	Set or get the frame's menu bar to manage a set of menus for the frame.
void setGlassPane(Component) Component getGlassPane()	Set or get the frame's glass pane. You can use the glass pane to intercept mouse events.
void setLayeredPane(JLayeredPane) JLayeredPane getLayeredPane()	Set or get the frame's layered pane. You can use the frame's layered pane to put components on top of or behind other components.

Examples that Use Frames

All of the examples in this trail that are standalone applications use JFrame. The following table lists a few and tells you where each is discussed.

Example	Where Described	Notes
FrameDemo	The Example Explained	Displays a basic frame with one component.
Framework	--	A study in creating and destroying windows, in implementing a menu bar, and in exiting an application.
ColorChooserDemo	How to Use Color Choosers	A subclass of JFrame that adds components to the default content pane.
TableDemo	How to Use Tables	A subclass of JFrame that sets the frame's content pane.
LayeredPaneDemo	How to Use Layered Panes	Illustrates how to use a layered pane (but not the frame's layered pane).
GlassPaneDemo	The Glass Pane	Illustrates the use of a frame's glass pane.
MenuDemo	How to Use Menus	Shows how to put a JMenuBar in a JFrame.

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