How to Use Internal Frames

With the JInternalFrame class you can display a JFrame-like window within another window. Usually, you add internal frames to a desktop pane. The desktop pane, in turn, might be used as the content pane of a JFrame. The desktop pane is an instance of JDesktopPane, which is a subclass of JLayeredPane that has added API for managing multiple overlapping internal frames.

You should consider carefully whether to base your program's GUI around frames or internal frames. Switching from internal frames to frames or vice versa is not necessarily a simple task. By experimenting with both frames and internal frames, you can get an idea of the tradeoffs involved in choosing one over the other.

Here is a picture of an application that has two internal frames (one of which is iconified) inside a regular frame:

The following code, taken from InternalFrameDemo.java, creates the desktop and internal frames in the previous example.

...//In the constructor of InternalFrameDemo, a JFrame subclass:
    desktop = new JDesktopPane();
    createFrame(); //Create first window
    setContentPane(desktop);
    ...
    //Make dragging a little faster but perhaps uglier.
    desktop.setDragMode(JDesktopPane.OUTLINE_DRAG_MODE);
...
protected void createFrame() {
    MyInternalFrame frame = new MyInternalFrame();
    frame.setVisible(true);
    desktop.add(frame);
    try {
        frame.setSelected(true);
    } catch (java.beans.PropertyVetoException e) {}
}

...//In the constructor of MyInternalFrame, a JInternalFrame subclass:
static int openFrameCount = 0;
static final int xOffset = 30, yOffset = 30;

public MyInternalFrame() {
    super("Document #" + (++openFrameCount),
          true, //resizable
          true, //closable
          true, //maximizable
          true);//iconifiable
    //...Create the GUI and put it in the window...
    //...Then set the window size or call pack...
    ...
    //Set the window's location.
    setLocation(xOffset*openFrameCount, yOffset*openFrameCount);
}

Internal Frames vs. Regular Frames

The code for using internal frames is similar in many ways to the code for using regular Swing frames. Because internal frames have root panes, setting up the GUI for a JInternalFrame is very similar to setting up the GUI for a JFrame. JInternalFrame also provides other API, such as pack, that makes it similar to JFrame.

Internal frames are not windows or top-level containers, however, which makes them different from frames. For example, you must add an internal frame to a container (usually a JDesktopPane); an internal frame cannot be the root of a containment hierarchy. Also, internal frames do not generate window events. Instead, the user actions that would cause a frame to fire window events cause an internal frame to fire internal frame events.

Because internal frames are implemented with platform-independent code, they add some features that frames cannot give you. One such feature is that internal frames give you more control over their state and capabilities than frames do. You can programatically iconify or maximize an internal frame. You can also specify what icon goes in the internal frame's title bar. You can even specify whether the internal frame has the window decorations to support resizing, iconifying, closing, and maximizing.

Another feature is that internal frames are designed to work within desktop panes. The JInternalFrame API contains methods such as moveToFront that work only if the internal frame's container is a layered pane such as a JDesktopPane.

Rules of Using Internal Frames

If you have built any programs using JFrame and the other Swing components, then you already know a lot about how to use internal frames. The following list summarizes the rules for using internal frames. For additional information, see How to Make Frames and The JComponent Class.

You must set the size of the internal frame.

If you do not set the size of the internal frame, it will have zero size and thus never be visible. You can set the size using one of the following methods: setSize, pack, or setBounds.

As a rule, you should set the location of the internal frame.

If you do not set the location of the internal frame, it will come up at 0,0 (the upper left of its container). You can use the setLocation or setBounds method to specify the upper left point of the internal frame, relative to its container.

To add components to an internal frame, you add them to the internal frame's content pane.

This is exactly like the JFrame situation. See Adding Components to the Content Pane for details.

Dialogs that are internal frames should be implemented using JOptionPane or JInternalFrame, not JDialog.

To create a simple dialog, you can use the JOptionPane showInternalXxxDialog methods, as described in How to Make Dialogs.

You must add an internal frame to a container.

If you do not add the internal frame to a container (usually a JDesktopPane), the internal frame will not appear.

You need to call show or setVisible on internal frames.

Internal frames are invisible by default. You must invoke setVisible(true) or show() to make them visible.

Internal frames fire internal frame events, not window events.

Handling internal frame events is almost identical to handling window events. See How to Write an Internal Frame Listener for more information.

desktop.setDragMode(JDesktopPane.OUTLINE_DRAG_MODE);

The Internal Frame API

The following tables list the commonly used JInternalFrame constructors and methods, as well as a few methods that JDesktopPane provides. Besides the API listed in this section, JInternalFrame inherits useful API from its superclasses, JComponent, Component, and Container. See The JComponent Class for lists of methods from those classes.

Like JInternalFrame, JDesktopPane descends from JComponent, and thus provides the methods described in The JComponent Class. Because JDesktopPane extends JLayeredPane, it also supports the methods described in The Layered Pane API.

The API for using internal frames falls into these categories:

• Creating the internal frame
• Adding components to the internal frame
• Specifying the internal frame's visibility, size, and location
• Performing window operations on the internal frame
• Controlling window decorations and capabilities
• Using the JDesktopPane API

Examples that Use Internal Frames

The following examples use internal frames. Because internal frames are similar to regular frames, you should also look at Examples that Use Frames.