javaswingjframejpanelcardlayout

Is good to use a CardLayout to switch between a login pane and a working pane?

I'm learning Swing. I have a JFrame which JPanel containers - layout is a CardLayout. Right now, when you fill the user and password fields, the panel switches and the "working" one is displayed.

I want to add one more panel for selecting a few options before you get into the working pane.

CardLayout cl = new CardLayout();
setLayout(cl);
loginPane = new LoginPanel();
devicePane = new DevicePanel();
workingPane = new WorkingPanel();

add(loginPane,"1");
add(devicePane,"2");
add(workingPane, "3");

LoginPanel, DevicePanel and WorkingPanel are all Java classes that extend JPanel.

Is this a good practice to follow or should I consider to do something else? Because I'm starting to see that I'll have to create listener from these panels to communicate the frame what to do.

Solution

  • Is good to use a CardLayout to switch between a login pane and a working pane?"

    Yes. In fact, unless it makes sense to include on or more of the panels in a dialog (JDialog or JOptionPane), a CardLayout is the way to go.

    I'm starting to see that I'll have to create listener from these panels to communicate the frame what to do.

    The problem here is extending components that likely do not need to be extended. By that I mean, LoginPanel, DevicePanel & WorkingPanel should all be plain JPanel instances. By extending panel, the code likely has encapsulated components & listeners which should all be part of one class.

    Doing it as one class would negate the problem, as all the components and listeners would have the same scope (& reachability).