getPreferredSize : Java Glossary

2007-08-06 by Roedy Green ©1996-2008 Canadian Mind Products
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getPreferredSize

Each component has four sizes (height,width).

Component. getMinimumSize() — smallest could be shrunk to.
Component. getMaximumSize() — largest it makes sense to grow it to.
Component. getPreferredSize() — ideal size.
Component. getSize() — actual size it is now.

These methods often return 0,0 as the size. The reason is, they rely on the underlying GUI to compute the size, and if there in no peer object yet, there is no hook to ask the native GUI. See addNotify.

If you want to manually control any of these sizes, e.g. to create a fixed size Component, override all three methods: Component. getMinimumSize(), Component. getMaximumSize() and Component. getPreferredSize().

In JDK 1.5+, alternatively you can use Component.setMinimumSize, Component.setMaximumSize, and Component.setPreferredSize instead of overriding getXXXXsize methods.

Learning More

Sun’s Javadoc on the getMinumimSize method : available:

on the web at java.Sun.com
in the JDK 1.6.0_06 or in the older JDK 1.5.0_15 or the even older JDK 1.4.2_17 on your local J: drive.

Sun’s Javadoc on the getMaximumSize method : available:

on the web at java.Sun.com
in the JDK 1.6.0_06 or in the older JDK 1.5.0_15 or the even older JDK 1.4.2_17 on your local J: drive.

Sun’s Javadoc on the getPreferredSize method : available:

on the web at java.Sun.com
in the JDK 1.6.0_06 or in the older JDK 1.5.0_15 or the even older JDK 1.4.2_17 on your local J: drive.

Sun’s Javadoc on the getSize method : available:

on the web at java.Sun.com
in the JDK 1.6.0_06 or in the older JDK 1.5.0_15 or the even older JDK 1.4.2_17 on your local J: drive.

Sun’s Javadoc on the setMinumimSize method : available:

on the web at java.Sun.com
in the JDK 1.6.0_06 or in the older JDK 1.5.0_15 or the even older JDK 1.4.2_17 on your local J: drive.

Sun’s Javadoc on the setMaximumSize method : available:

on the web at java.Sun.com
in the JDK 1.6.0_06 or in the older JDK 1.5.0_15 or the even older JDK 1.4.2_17 on your local J: drive.

Sun’s Javadoc on the setPreferredSize method : available:

on the web at java.Sun.com
in the JDK 1.6.0_06 or in the older JDK 1.5.0_15 or the even older JDK 1.4.2_17 on your local J: drive.

Sun’s Javadoc on the setSize method : available:

on the web at java.Sun.com
in the JDK 1.6.0_06 or in the older JDK 1.5.0_15 or the even older JDK 1.4.2_17 on your local J: drive.

Component
JComponent
layout

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