Using JToolBar import javax.swing.*; import java.awt.*; import java.awt.event.*; public class ToolBarDemo2 extends JFrame { protected JTextArea textArea; protected String newline = "\n"; public ToolBarDemo2() { //Do frame stuff. super("ToolBarDemo2"); addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() { public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) { System.exit(0); } }); JToolBar toolBar = new JToolBar(); toolBar.setFloatable(false); addButtons(toolBar); textArea = new JTextArea(5, 30); JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea); //Lay out the content pane. JPanel contentPane = new JPanel(); contentPane.setLayout(new BorderLayout()); contentPane.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400, 100)); contentPane.add(toolBar, BorderLayout.NORTH); contentPane.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER); setContentPane(contentPane); } protected void addButtons(JToolBar toolBar) { JButton button = null; button = new JButton(new ImageIcon("images/left.gif")); button.setToolTipText("This is the left button"); button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() { public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { displayResult("Action for first button"); } }); toolBar.add(button); button = new JButton(new ImageIcon("images/middle.gif")); button.setToolTipText("This is the middle button"); button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() { public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { displayResult("Action for second button"); } }); toolBar.add(button); button = new JButton(new ImageIcon("images/right.gif")); button.setToolTipText("This is the right button"); button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() { public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { displayResult("Action for third button"); } }); toolBar.add(button); toolBar.addSeparator(); button = new JButton("Another button"); button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() { public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { displayResult("Action for fourth button"); } }); toolBar.add(button); JTextField textField = new JTextField("A text field"); toolBar.add(textField); } protected void displayResult(String actionDescription) { textArea.append(actionDescription + newline); } public static void main(String[] args) { ToolBarDemo2 frame = new ToolBarDemo2(); frame.pack(); frame.setVisible(true); } }