jButton Align Icon and text

This code works.  I really did nothing more than what StillUnAware recommended, but there were a few tricks required.

The primary one being that you have to set the setIconTextGap AFTER the button has been initially painted; thereofre, it is done in an invokeLater.  Also, the left/right margins of the buttons had to set or ellipse appeared int he button text.

This sample has five buttons, each with different text and icons.  All icons are right aligned, and all text is left aligned.

Keep in mind that if the user resizes something that changes the size of the button(s), then you must have a listener for that event and call the setButtonGap() method for each button again (probably via invokeLater).

Here is the code:

package com.yourcompany.yourprodcut.yourpackage;

import java.awt.FontMetrics;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.Insets;

import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingConstants;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

public class Testola extends JPanel {

      private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
      private JButton jButton = null;
      private JButton jButton1 = null;
      private JButton jButton2 = null;
      private JButton jButton3 = null;
      private JButton jButton4 = null;
      ImageIcon myIcon = new ImageIcon("C:/calendar.gif");
      ImageIcon myIcon1 = new ImageIcon("C:/Iso.gif");
      ImageIcon myIcon2 = new ImageIcon("C:/older.gif");
      ImageIcon myIcon3 = new ImageIcon("C:/folderopen.gif");
      ImageIcon myIcon4 = new ImageIcon("C:/History.gif");

      /**
       * This is the default constructor
       */
      public Testola() {
            super();
            initialize();
            // InvokeLater or buttonWidth() returns zero
            SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
                  public void run() {
                        setButtonGap(getJButton());
                        setButtonGap(getJButton1());
                        setButtonGap(getJButton2());
                        setButtonGap(getJButton3());
                        setButtonGap(getJButton4());
                  }
            });
      }

      /**
       * This method initializes this
       *
       * @return void
       */
      private void initialize() {
            GridLayout gridLayout = new GridLayout();
            gridLayout.setRows(5);
            this.setLayout(gridLayout);
            this.setSize(300, 200);
            this.add(getJButton(), null);
            this.add(getJButton1(), null);
            this.add(getJButton2(), null);
            this.add(getJButton3(), null);
            this.add(getJButton4(), null);
      }

      /**
       * Given a JButton, setIconTextGap such that icon is right justified.
       * @param button
       */
      private void setButtonGap(JButton button) {
            Insets myInsets = button.getInsets();
            Insets myMargins = button.getMargin();
            myMargins.right = 0; // zero out of get ellipse (...) in button text
            myMargins.left = 0; // zero out of get ellipse (...) in button text
            FontMetrics metrics = button.getFontMetrics(button.getFont());
            int textWidth = metrics.stringWidth(button.getText());
            int buttonWidth = button.getWidth();
            System.out.println("button.getWidth() = " + buttonWidth);
            int gapSize = buttonWidth - (button.getIcon().getIconWidth() +
                                                       myInsets.left +
                                                       myInsets.right +
                                                       myMargins.left +
                                                       myMargins.right +
                                                       textWidth);
            button.setIconTextGap(gapSize);
      }

      /**
       * This method initializes jButton      
       *       
       * @return javax.swing.JButton      
       */
      private JButton getJButton() {
            if(jButton == null) {
                  jButton = new JButton();
                  jButton.setText("Button Text");
                  jButton.setHorizontalTextPosition(SwingConstants.LEFT);
                  jButton.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.LEFT);
                  jButton.setIcon(myIcon);
            }
            return jButton;
      }

      /**
       * This method initializes jButton1      
       *       
       * @return javax.swing.JButton      
       */
      private JButton getJButton1() {
            if(jButton1 == null) {
                  jButton1 = new JButton();
                  jButton1.setText("Different Text");
                  jButton1.setHorizontalTextPosition(SwingConstants.LEFT);
                  jButton1.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.LEFT);
                  jButton1.setIcon(myIcon1);
            }
            return jButton1;
      }

      /**
       * This method initializes jButton2      
       *       
       * @return javax.swing.JButton      
       */
      private JButton getJButton2() {
            if(jButton2 == null) {
                  jButton2 = new JButton();
                  jButton2.setText("Only Text");
                  jButton2.setHorizontalTextPosition(SwingConstants.LEFT);
                  jButton2.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.LEFT);
                  jButton2.setIcon(myIcon2);
            }
            return jButton2;
      }

      /**
       * This method initializes jButton3      
       *       
       * @return javax.swing.JButton      
       */
      private JButton getJButton3() {
            if(jButton3 == null) {
                  jButton3 = new JButton();
                  jButton3.setText("Button Text");
                  jButton3.setHorizontalTextPosition(SwingConstants.LEFT);
                  jButton3.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.LEFT);
                  jButton3.setIcon(myIcon3);
            }
            return jButton3;
      }

      /**
       * This method initializes jButton4      
       *       
       * @return javax.swing.JButton      
       */
      private JButton getJButton4() {
            if(jButton4 == null) {
                  jButton4 = new JButton();
                  jButton4.setText("Short");
                  jButton4.setHorizontalTextPosition(SwingConstants.LEFT);
                  jButton4.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.LEFT);
                  jButton4.setIcon(myIcon4);
            }
            return jButton4;
      }
}