How can I align all elements to the left in JPanel?

Question

I would like to have all elements in my JPanel to be aligned to the left. I try to do it in the following way:

JPanel panel = new JPanel();
panel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(panel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
panel.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);

As a result Java use left side of all elements as a position of the element and then put all elements in the center (not left part) of the JPanel.

Answer 1

You should use setAlignmentX(..) on components you want to align, not on the container that has them..

JPanel panel = new JPanel();
panel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(panel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
panel.add(c1);
panel.add(c2);

c1.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);
c2.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);

Answer 2

The easiest way I've found to place objects on the left is using FlowLayout.

JPanel panel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT);

adding a component normally to this panel will place it on the left