How to change the dimension of a component in a JFrame

Question

Suppose I have a JPanel in a JFrame. When I invoke a method that changes the preferred size of that JPanel, it does not change.

The code looks something like this:

Answer 1

You need to invalidate the container hierarchy to make it re-layout the components.

Simply call invalidate followed by revalidate on the component you have changed.

Here's a small example...

public class TestComponentHierarcy {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new TestComponentHierarcy();
    }

    public TestComponentHierarcy() {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                try {
                    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
                } catch (ClassNotFoundException ex) {
                } catch (InstantiationException ex) {
                } catch (IllegalAccessException ex) {
                } catch (UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
                }

                JFrame frame = new JFrame("Test");
                frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
                frame.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
                frame.add(new Test());
                frame.pack();
                frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
                frame.setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }

    public class Test extends JPanel {

        private Dimension size = new Dimension(10, 10);

        public Test() {

            setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
            addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {
                @Override
                public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
                    size.width += 10;
                    size.height += 10;
                    invalidate();
                    revalidate();
                }
            });

        }

        @Override
        public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
            return size;
        }

        @Override
        protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
            super.paintComponent(g);
            g.setColor(Color.RED);
            g.drawRect(0, 0, getWidth() - 1, getHeight() - 1);
        }

    }

}