Programming and Problem Solving with Java

(^384) | Event-Driven Input and Output
Figure 8.3 A Grid with Centered Headings in the First Row
is typically used to display a table of values, often with a text label at the top of each column
(called a column heading) that explains what the column contains. Figure 8.2 uses the column
headings “Format” and “Example.”

Alignment of Text Within Jlabels

By default, the text within a label begins at the left edge of the label. Sometimes, however,

we want to center the text within the label or have it appear as far to the right as possible

within the label. Java allows us to do so by providing a second argument when calling the

JLabelconstructor. This argument can be any of three predefined class constants provided

by the JLabelclass: JLabel.LEFT,JLabel.CENTER, or JLabel.RIGHT. For example, if we want the

column heading “Format” in Figure 8.2 to be centered, we would write

datePane.add(new Label("Format", JLabel.CENTER));

If instead we write

datePane.add(new Label("Format", JLabel.RIGHT));

then the text would be positioned as far to the right as possible within the label. Because the

usual position for text is toward the left, we rarely need to use JLabel.LEFT. Figure 8.3 shows

the result of centering the headings from the example in Figure 8.2.