Creating GUI -hard coding

[Nation]

Hello everyone,

I want to develop a GUI like the one shown in the image below.
I want to do this through hard coding - no drag and drop.

Please may you assist me with:

1. what should i include to come up with such a layout.
2. how do i group my components - File, Record and Tools -in those litle boxes.

I want concepts and ideas not source code. Thanks in advance.

[JamesCherrill]

You can do almost anything with a GridBagLayout, but it's not easy to write, and even harder to read! The simplest approach is just to use JPanels within JPanels to build it up starting from the smallest groups.
At the topmost level a JTabbedPane will give you the tabs and the means to navigate/control them.

(Or the equivalent components in JavaFX)

[Nation]

Hie James,

I mastered GridBagLayout Manager. With this there is no problem.
Thanks for the ideas.

few things right over here:

I have uploaded an image that shows the the following items.

Let us start with this - the File box there:
1. is it a panel- i mean the box that shows etched edges-for File only
2. the vertical line there - its name is escaping me
3. is this component a label

[JamesCherrill]

In real life I would expect to have to do some experimenting to get the right results and sensible code, but as a starting point...
1: Yes, I'd have a JPanel for that whole "File" area
2: How about a JSeparator(javax.swing.SwingConstants.VERTICAL)
3: I would make that a JButton, if only because it's a thing you click.

[Nation]

Hie James,

Thanks very much, that should work. Let me work on that.