Rotating a JTextField vertically

Actually, yes, it can be done, but will require some additional libraries and access to some source code which has vanished off the net.

Using JXLayer, it is possible to transform live components at runtime…

public class JLayerTransform {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new JLayerTransform();
    }

    public JLayerTransform() {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                try {
                    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
                } catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
                }

                JFrame frame = new JFrame();
                frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
                frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
                frame.add(new ExamplePane());
                frame.pack();
                frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
                frame.setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }

    public class ExamplePane extends JPanel {

        private JSlider slider;
        private FieldPane fieldPane;
        private DefaultTransformModel transformModel;

        public ExamplePane() {

            setLayout(new BorderLayout());

            slider = new JSlider(0, 360);
            slider.setValue(0);
            slider.addChangeListener(new ChangeListener() {
                @Override
                public void stateChanged(ChangeEvent e) {

                    transformModel.setRotation(Math.toRadians(slider.getValue()));

                }
            });

            fieldPane = new FieldPane();

            transformModel = new DefaultTransformModel();
            transformModel.setRotation(Math.toRadians(0));
            transformModel.setScaleToPreferredSize(true);
            JXLayer<JComponent> rotatePane = TransformUtils.createTransformJXLayer(fieldPane, transformModel);

            add(slider, BorderLayout.NORTH);
            add(rotatePane);

        }
    }

    public class FieldPane extends JPanel {

        public FieldPane() {
            setLayout(new GridBagLayout());

            JTextField field = new JTextField(10);
            field.setText("Hello world");

            add(field);

        }
    }
}

Caveats

This requires JXLayer (I was using version 3), SwingX (I was using version 1.6.4) and Piet Blok’s excellent examples, which no longer seem to be available on the net…

I’ve put all the source code of JXLayer (version 3) and Piet’s examples into a single zip and I would suggest, if you are interested, you grab a copy and store it some where safe.