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);