In this example, the JXCollapsiblePane is used to build a Search pane which can be shown and hidden on demand.

 
 JXCollapsiblePane cp = new JXCollapsiblePane();

 // JXCollapsiblePane can be used like any other container
 cp.setLayout(new BorderLayout());

 // the Controls panel with a textfield to filter the tree
 JPanel controls = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT, 4, 0));
 controls.add(new JLabel("Search:"));
 controls.add(new JTextField(10));
 controls.add(new JButton("Refresh"));
 controls.setBorder(new TitledBorder("Filters"));
 cp.add("Center", controls);

 JXFrame frame = new JXFrame();
 frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());

 // Put the "Controls" first
 frame.add("North", cp);

 // Then the tree - we assume the Controls would somehow filter the tree
 JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane(new JTree());
 frame.add("Center", scroll);

 // Show/hide the "Controls"
 JButton toggle = new JButton(cp.getActionMap().get(JXCollapsiblePane.TOGGLE_ACTION));
 toggle.setText("Show/Hide Search Panel");
 frame.add("South", toggle);

 frame.pack();
 frame.setVisible(true);
 
 

The JXCollapsiblePane has a default toggle action registered under the name TOGGLE_ACTION . Bind this action to a button and pressing the button will automatically toggle the pane between expanded and collapsed states. Additionally, you can define the icons to use through the EXPAND_ICON and COLLAPSE_ICON properties on the action. Example

 
 // get the built-in toggle action
 Action toggleAction = collapsible.getActionMap().
   get(JXCollapsiblePane.TOGGLE_ACTION);

 // use the collapse/expand icons from the JTree UI
 toggleAction.putValue(JXCollapsiblePane.COLLAPSE_ICON,
                       UIManager.getIcon("Tree.expandedIcon"));
 toggleAction.putValue(JXCollapsiblePane.EXPAND_ICON,
                       UIManager.getIcon("Tree.collapsedIcon"));
 
 

Note: JXCollapsiblePane requires its parent container to have a LayoutManager using getPreferredSize() when calculating its layout (example VerticalLayout , BorderLayout ).