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.
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:
- 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 will 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.