Miglayout

Recently, found amazing Swing layout manager called MigLayout.

Compare this GroupLayout:

    GroupLayout layout = new GroupLayout(infoPanel);
    infoPanel.setLayout(layout);
    layout.setAutoCreateGaps(true);
    layout.setAutoCreateContainerGaps(true);
    GroupLayout.SequentialGroup hGroup = layout.createSequentialGroup();
    hGroup.addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup().addComponent(typeLabel).addComponent(formatLabel).addComponent(idLabel).addComponent(resultLabel));
    hGroup.addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup().addGroup(layout.createSequentialGroup().addComponent(typeUser).addComponent(typePlaylist).addComponent(typeFavorites)).addComponent(formats).addComponent(id).addComponent(result, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, 400, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE));
    hGroup.addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup().addComponent(typesGap).addComponent(formatsGap).addComponent(generateButton).addComponent(copyButton));
    layout.setHorizontalGroup(hGroup);
    GroupLayout.SequentialGroup vGroup = layout.createSequentialGroup();
    vGroup.addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(GroupLayout.Alignment.BASELINE).addComponent(typeLabel).addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup().addComponent(typeUser).addComponent(typePlaylist).addComponent(typeFavorites)).addComponent(typesGap));
    vGroup.addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(GroupLayout.Alignment.BASELINE).addComponent(formatLabel).addComponent(formats).addComponent(formatsGap));
    vGroup.addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(GroupLayout.Alignment.BASELINE).addComponent(idLabel).addComponent(id).addComponent(generateButton));
    vGroup.addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(GroupLayout.Alignment.BASELINE).addComponent(resultLabel).addComponent(result, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, 200, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE).addComponent(copyButton));
    layout.setVerticalGroup(vGroup);

to this MigLayout:

    JPanel infoPanel = new JPanel(new MigLayout("", "[][grow][]", "[][][][grow]"));
    infoPanel.add(typeLabel, "");
    infoPanel.add(typeUser, "split 3");
    infoPanel.add(typePlaylist, "");
    infoPanel.add(typeFavorites, "wrap");
    infoPanel.add(formatLabel, "");
    infoPanel.add(formats, "wrap");
    infoPanel.add(idLabel, "");
    infoPanel.add(id, "growx, width 30::");
    infoPanel.add(generateButton, "wrap");
    infoPanel.add(resultLabel, "top");
    infoPanel.add(result, "grow, width 30:300:, height 10:100:");
    infoPanel.add(copyButton, "top");

Both pieces of code layouts form the same way, but code for GroupLayout looks squared compared to MigLayout. And I was thinking GroupLayout is good!

It is absolutely amazing how more undestandable it is compared to any other layout and how powerfull it is. I have created my form in 5 minutes after reading "Quick Start" guide. This MigLayout is also available for SWT and JavaFX, so maybe JavaFX is not that bad after all (except for textareas).