I am working on a GUI for a project at school. I am using a GridBagLayout in swing.

I want to have a label indicating the input(a type of file @ x = 0, y = 0), followed by another label(the actual file name once selected @ x = 1, y = 0), followed by a browse button for a file chooser( @ x = 2, y = 0). The label at (1,0) is initially blank, however I want the area that the text will occupy to take up some space when the label contains no text. I also want the space between the label at (0,0) and the button at (2,0) to remain constant.

To achieve this, I'm trying to put the label onto a panel and then play with the layouts. However I can't seam to achieve the desired results. Could anyone offer some suggestions? The next three rows of the GridBagLayout will be laid out exactly the same way.

Here is a link to a screen shot of the GUI.

    calibrationFileSelectionValueLabel = new JLabel("",Label.LEFT);
    calibrationFileSelectionValueLabel.setName("calibrationFileSelection");
    calibrationFileSelectionValueLabel.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(100,0));



    calibrationFileSelectionValuePanel = new JPanel();
    calibrationFileSelectionValuePanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder());
    calibrationFileSelectionValuePanel.add(calibrationFileSelectionValueLabel);

    c.gridx = 0;
    c.gridy = 0;
    c.fill = GridBagConstraints.NONE;

    filesPanel.add(calibrationFileLabel,c);

    c.gridy = 1;
    filesPanel.add(frequencyFileLabel,c);

    c.gridy = 2;
    filesPanel.add(sampleFileLabel,c);

    c.gridy = 3;
    filesPanel.add(outputFileLabel,c);

    c.gridx = 1;
    c.gridy = 0;
    c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;

   // filesPanel.add(calibrationFileSelection,c);
    filesPanel.add(calibrationFileSelectionValuePanel,c);

    c.gridy = 1;
   // filesPanel.add(frequencyFileSelection,c);
    filesPanel.add(frequencyFileSelectionValueLabel,c);

    c.gridy = 2;
   // filesPanel.add(sampleFileSelection,c);
    filesPanel.add(sampleFileSelectionValueLabel,c);

    c.gridy = 3;
   // filesPanel.add(outputFileSelection,c);
    filesPanel.add(outputFileSelectionValueLabel,c);

    c.gridx = 2;
    c.gridy = 0;
    c.fill = GridBagConstraints.NONE;
    filesPanel.add(calibrationFileSelectionButton,c);

    c.gridy = 1;
    filesPanel.add(frequencyFileSelectionButton,c);      

    c.gridy = 2;
    filesPanel.add(sampleFileSelectionButton,c);

    c.gridy = 3;
    filesPanel.add(createOutputFileButton,c);       

    panelForFilesPanelBorder = new JPanel();
    panelForFilesPanelBorder.setBorder(BorderFactory.createCompoundBorder(new EmptyBorder(5,10,5,10), BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder()));
    panelForFilesPanelBorder.add(filesPanel);

    buttonsPanel = new JPanel();
    buttonsPanel.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER));
    buttonsPanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createCompoundBorder(new EmptyBorder(5,10,10,10), BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder()));
    buttonsPanel.add(startButton);
    buttonsPanel.add(stopButton);
    basePanel.add(panelForFilesPanelBorder);
    basePanel.add(numericInputPanel); 
    basePanel.add(buttonsPanel);