How can I align all elements to the left in JPanel?

I would like to have all elements in my JPanel to be aligned to the left. I try to do it in the following way:

JPanel panel = new JPanel();
panel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(panel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
panel.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);

As a result Java use left side of all elements as a position of the element and then put all elements in the center (not left part) of the JPanel.

The easiest way I've found to place objects on the left is using FlowLayout.

JPanel panel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));

adding a component normally to this panel will place it on the left

You should use setAlignmentX(..) on components you want to align, not on the container that has them..

JPanel panel = new JPanel();
panel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(panel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
panel.add(c1);
panel.add(c2);

c1.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);
c2.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);