Chapter 4. Laying Out Components within a Container
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/layout/index.html
This chapter tells you how to use layout managers, which are objects that control the size and position of components in a container. It also tells you how to use absolute positioning (no layout manager) and presents an example of how to write a custom layout manager. How-to information for each of the commonly used layout managers is in Chapter 8, Layout Manager Reference (page 457).
The chapter contains the following sections:
A Visual Guide to Layout Managers shows examples of the standard layout managers and points to each one's how-to section.
Using Layout Managers includes how to set the layout manager, add components to a container, ...
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