Hello,

I'm trying to make a GUI which looks like this:

           |
           |
         frame

Here's the code:

public class MyFrame extends JFrame
{
 private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

 public void showFrame()
 {
     setTitle( "Please Wait..." );
     setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

     JPanel centerPanel = new JPanel();
     centerPanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLoweredBevelBorder());
     centerPanel.setSize(new Dimension(50, 25));

     Dimension screenDim =
Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();
     Rectangle winRect = getBounds();
     setLocation((screenDim.width - winRect.width) /
2,(screenDim.height - winRect.height) / 2);

     getContentPane().add(centerPanel);
     setSize(225, 100);
     setVisible(true);
 }
}

The problem is that centerPanel is taking on the same dimensions as the
frame.  I've read in this NG that setPreferredSize can be problematic
and my use of "centerPanel.setSize(new Dimension(50, 25));" seems to be
either ignored or overridden somehow.  How can I size centerPanel to my
needs?

I also tried creating another panel without setting the size, putting
it in the frame and then putting centerPanel in that other panel.  I
got the same results.

Suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thanks.