When working with Swing GridBagLayout, SWT GridLayout,
or null layout, you can specify a preference to show or hide the grid
feedback in the Design view.
About this task
By default, the grid feedback for these layout managers
is displayed whenever the container or a child component is selected.
However, you can choose to not display the grid feedback.
Note: - When you are dropping or moving components within Swing GridBagLayout,
the grid markers and the column and row numbers are always displayed.
- When you are dropping or moving components within SWT GridLayout,
the grid markers are always displayed.
You can specify the grid display preferences on the
Visual Editor preferences page:
Procedure
- From the main menu, click to open the Preferences
window.
- Expand Java and select Visual
Editor.
- Select Show grid when container or its children
are selected. By default, this check box is
selected. If you clear this check box, the grid feedback does not
display, even when the container or a child component is selected.
- Optional: For null layout, in the X/Y
grid spacing field, enter a value in pixels to specify
the distance between the grid dots.
Note: You can override
this universal preference in individual containers that use null layout
by specifying custom X and Y distances using the Customize Layout

window.