---
title: Custom Layouts
order: 14
layout: page
---
[[layout.customlayout]]
= Custom Layouts
ifdef::web[]
[.sampler]
image:{live-demo-image}[alt="Live Demo", link="http://demo.vaadin.com/sampler/#ui/layout/custom-layout"]
endif::web[]
While it is possible to create almost any typical layout with the standard
layout components, it is sometimes best to separate the layout completely from
code. With the [classname]#CustomLayout# component, you can write your layout as
a template in HTML that provides locations of any contained components. The
layout template is included in a theme. This separation allows the layout to be
designed separately from code, for example using WYSIWYG web designer tools such
as Adobe Dreamweaver.
A template is a HTML file located under [filename]#layouts# folder under a theme
folder under the [filename]#/VAADIN/themes/# folder, for example,
[filename]#/VAADIN/themes/__themename/layouts/mylayout.html__#.
(Notice that the root path [filename]#/VAADIN/themes/# for themes is
fixed.) A template can also be provided dynamically from an
[classname]#InputStream#, as explained below. A template includes
[literal]#++
++# elements with a [parameter]#location# attribute that
defines the location identifier. All custom layout HTML-files must be saved
using UTF-8 character encoding.
[subs="normal"]
----
<table width="100%" height="100%">
<tr height="100%">
<td>
<table align="center">
<tr>
<td align="right">User name:</td>
<td>**<div location="username"></div>**</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">Password:</td>
<td>**<div location="password"></div>**</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right" colspan="2">
**<div location="okbutton">**</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
----
The client-side engine of Vaadin will replace contents of the location elements
with the components. The components are bound to the location elements by the
location identifier given to [methodname]#addComponent()#, as shown in the
example below.
[source, java]
----
Panel loginPanel = new Panel("Login");
CustomLayout content = new CustomLayout("layoutname");
content.setSizeUndefined();
loginPanel.setContent(content);
loginPanel.setSizeUndefined();
// No captions for fields is they are provided in the template
content.addComponent(new TextField(), "username");
content.addComponent(new TextField(), "password");
content.addComponent(new Button("Login"), "okbutton");
----
The resulting layout is shown below in <>.
[[figure.layout.customlayout]]
.Example of a Custom Layout Component
image::img/customlayout-example1.png[width=40%, scaledwidth=70%]
You can use [methodname]#addComponent()# also to replace an existing component
in the location given in the second parameter.
In addition to a static template file, you can provide a template dynamically
with the [classname]#CustomLayout# constructor that accepts an
[classname]#InputStream# as the template source. For example:
[source, java]
----
new CustomLayout(new ByteArrayInputStream("Template".getBytes()));
----
or
[source, java]
----
new CustomLayout(new FileInputStream(file));
----