pek wrote On 07/05/07 08:12,:

   If I understand what you're trying for, I think
this arrangement will do it:

   - panel 1 uses BorderLayout
     - NORTH place holds panel 2, using BoxLayout (Y_AXIS)
       - panel 3 uses FlowLayout, and holds eight red boxes
       - panel 4 uses GridLayout, and holds two yellow boxes
       - panel 5 uses BorderLayout
         - WEST place holds one red box
         - CENTER place holds one yellow box
     - CENTER place holds orange box
     - SOUTH place holds panel 6, using BorderLayout
       - WEST place holds one red box
       - CENTER place holds one yellow box
       - EAST place holds panel 7, using BoxLayout (X_AXIS)
         - one red box
         - panel 8, using BoxLayout (Y_AXIS)
           - two gray buttons

... but it's possible I've misunderstood you.

This is usually the desired behaviour.  You can use the ipadx feature
of Grid bag layouts to plumpen up your buttons.

You can use the growth growth percentage feature to allocate
additional space to various components with grid bags.

See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/gridbaglayouts for rules of thumb.

Your screenshot shows you have mastered most of this already.
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
The Java Glossary
http://mindprod.com

Here's one way to do it using only nested BoxLayouts

package Misc;

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;

import javax.swing.Box;
import javax.swing.BoxLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

public class LayoutProblem extends JPanel {

    LayoutProblem() {
        setLayout(new BoxLayout(this, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
        add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(0,5)));

        JPanel row1Panel = new JPanel();
        row1Panel.setLayout(
            new BoxLayout(row1Panel, BoxLayout.LINE_AXIS));
        for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) {
            row1Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
            row1Panel.add(makeRedBox());
        }
        row1Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
        row1Panel.add(Box.createHorizontalGlue()); // else boxes centred
        add(row1Panel);
        add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(0,5)));

        JPanel row2Panel = new JPanel();
        row2Panel.setLayout(
            new BoxLayout(row2Panel, BoxLayout.LINE_AXIS));
        row2Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
        row2Panel.add(makeYellowBox(100));
        row2Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
        row2Panel.add(makeYellowBox(100));
        row2Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
        add(row2Panel);
        add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(0,5)));

        JPanel row3Panel = new JPanel();
        row3Panel.setLayout(
            new BoxLayout(row3Panel, BoxLayout.LINE_AXIS));
        row3Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
        row3Panel.add(makeRedBox());
        row3Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
        row3Panel.add(makeYellowBox(30));
        row3Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
        add(row3Panel);
        add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(0,5)));

        JPanel row4Panel = new JPanel();
        row4Panel.setLayout(
            new BoxLayout(row4Panel, BoxLayout.LINE_AXIS));
        row4Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
        row4Panel.add(makeOrangeBox());
        row4Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
        add(row4Panel);
        add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(0,5)));

        JPanel row5Panel = new JPanel();
        row5Panel.setLayout(
            new BoxLayout(row5Panel, BoxLayout.LINE_AXIS));
        row5Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
        row5Panel.add(makeRedBox());
        row5Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
        row5Panel.add(makeYellowBox(30));
        row5Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
        row5Panel.add(makeRedBox());
        row5Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
        row5Panel.add(makeButtonPanel());
        row5Panel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(5, 0)));
        add(row5Panel);
        add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(0,5)));
    }

    JPanel makeRedBox() {
        JPanel p = new JPanel();
        p.setBackground(Color.RED);
        Dimension d = new Dimension(30,30);
        p.setPreferredSize(d);
        p.setMaximumSize(d);
        return p;
    }

    JPanel makeYellowBox(int height) {
        JPanel p = new JPanel();
        p.setBackground(Color.YELLOW);
        p.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(height, height));
        p.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(9999,height));
        return p;
    }

    JPanel makeOrangeBox() {
        JPanel p = new JPanel();
        p.setBackground(Color.ORANGE);
        Dimension d = new Dimension(100,100);
        p.setPreferredSize(d);
        return p;
    }

    JPanel makeButtonPanel() {
        JPanel p = new JPanel();
        p.setLayout(new BoxLayout(p, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
        p.add(new JButton("Button"));
        p.add(new JButton("Button"));
        return p;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                JFrame f = new JFrame("");
                f.add(new LayoutProblem());
                f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
                f.pack();
                f.setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }
}

Of course, the buttons need to be made smaller but at this point I got
bored :-)