using Swing and JDK 1.4.

That sounds like a job for Foam! That is so simple using Foam. Simply
don't give the component any sizing anchors, and tell Foam to Center
Horizontally and Vertically. That's it.  Plus, one line of code will
load up the JPanel - no more messy layout code to maintain!

Check it out at http://www.computersinmotion.com - the Introduction
movie shows OK and Cancel buttons being centered, horizontally only but
vertically is only one more menu away!

--
Cheers,
Graham Perks.

a) write your own LayoutManager
b) [if you have only one component] forget LayoutManager (set it to null)
and add ComponentListener to your JPanel which should compute and set right
location

____________

http://reader.imagero.com the best java image reader.

GridBagLayout will do this.  In fact, it is the default behavior when
you have a single item in a container using GBL.

Jim S.

Yes. GridBagLayout.

By default, a new GridBagConstraints object is initialized to do exactly
what you want (Anchor CENTER, fill NONE, etc)

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/layout/gridbag.html

Here's a simple example:

  JFrame frame = new JFrame();
  JLabel label = new JLabel( "Foo" );

  // These next two are just to make it easier to see what's going on
  label.setBackground( Color.green );
  label.setOpaque( true );

  // Now for the actual work
  GridBagConstraints constr = new GridBagConstraints();
  frame.getContentPane().setLayout( new GridBagLayout() );
  frame.getContentPane().add( label, constr );

  // Now to see what happens
  frame.pack();
  frame.show();