This shows you how to add JcomboBox to JPanel
import java.awt.*; import java.awt.event.*; import java.text.DecimalFormat; import javax.imageio.ImageIO; import javax.swing.*; public class Example implements WindowListener { JFrame content_frame = new JFrame(); JPanel panel = new JPanel(); JComboBox Combonote; public Example() { content_frame.setTitle("Contents"); content_frame.addWindowListener(this); content_frame.setSize(300, 300); content_frame.setVisible(true); content_frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null); content_frame.setResizable(false); ///cannot maximize content_frame.setVisible(true); showComboBox(); } private void showComboBox() { String test[]= {"[select Exercise...]","Exercise1","Exercise2","Exercise3","Exercise4","Exercise5"}; panel.setBackground(Color.lightGray); panel.setVisible(true); Combonote = new JComboBox(test); Combonote.setBounds(250, 240, 250, 30); panel.add(Combonote); panel.setBounds(250, 240, 250, 30); content_frame.getContentPane().add(panel); Combonote .addItemListener(new ItemListener() { public void itemStateChanged(ItemEvent ie) { if(ie.getStateChange() == ie.SELECTED) { if(Combonote.getSelectedItem().equals("Exercise1")) { //code... } } } }); } public static void main(String[] args) { new Example(); } @Override public void windowActivated(WindowEvent arg0) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub } @Override public void windowClosed(WindowEvent arg0) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub } @Override public void windowClosing(WindowEvent arg0) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub } @Override public void windowDeactivated(WindowEvent arg0) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub } @Override public void windowDeiconified(WindowEvent arg0) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub } @Override public void windowIconified(WindowEvent arg0) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub } @Override public void windowOpened(WindowEvent arg0) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub } }