About XYLayout

XYLayout is a JDeveloper custom layout manager. XYLayout puts components in a container at specific (x,y) coordinates relative to the upper left corner of the container. Regardless of the type of display, the container will always retain the relative (x,y) positions of components. However, when you resize a container with an XYLayout, the components do not reposition or resize.

XYLayout image

You'll discover that XYLayout is very convenient to use in prototyping a user interface. When you design more complicated user interfaces with multiple nested panels, XYLayout can be used for the initial layout of the panels and components, after which you can choose from one of the standard layouts for the final design.

Note: XYLayout uses absolute x,y values when positioning objects on the screen, and does not adjust to different screen resolutions. To ensure your layout adjusts to other resolutions, don't leave any containers in XYLayout in your final design.

You can use the UI design tools to specify the container's size and its components' x,y coordinates.

To specify the size of a container using XYLayout, select the XYLayout object in the Structure window and enter the pixel dimension for the height and width properties in the Property Inspector. This setting specifies the size of the XYLayout container.
To change the (x,y) values for a container using XYLayout, do one of the following:
- In the Java Visual Editor, drag the component to a new size. JDeveloper automatically updates the constraint values in the Property Inspector.
- Select the component in the Structure window, then click the constraints property edit field and enter coordinates for that component.

Alignment Options for XYLayout

The following table explains the alignment options available from the context menu:

Select this	To do this
Move to first	Moves the selected component to the top of the Z-order.
Move to last	Moves the selected component to the bottom of the Z-order.
Align Left	Lines up the left edges of the selected components with the left edge of the first selected component.
Align Center	Horizontally lines up the centers of the selected components with the center of the first selected component.
Align Right	Lines up the right edges of the selected components with the right edge of the first selected component.
Align Top	Lines up the top edges of the selected components with the top edge of the first selected component.
Align Middle	Vertically lines up the centers of the selected components with the middle of the first selected component.
Align Bottom	Lines up the bottom edges of the selected components with the bottom edge of the first selected component.
Even Space Horizontal	Evenly spaces the selected components horizontally between the first and last selected components.
Even Space Vertical	Evenly spaces the selected components vertically between the first and last selected components.
Same Size Horizontal	Makes all the selected components the same width as the first selected component.
Same Size Vertical	Makes all the selected components the same height as the first selected component.