JMenu problem

[JavaEnquirer]

I have a JMenu which contains a sub menu and a couple of
JCheckBoxMenuItems. I'm wondering how to go about aligning the text
such that the sub menu label is in line with the text of the check
boxes. Like so:

A Menu
A submenu >
[] Item1
[] Item2

and not:

A Menu
A submenu >
[] Item1
[] Item2


This alignment is automatic with the windows look and feel, but not
metal or motif. I've included the code below. Thoughts so far:


1. Call some simple methods I've foolishly overlooked. ( I don't want
to customize a look and feel. )


2. Dynamically scale a transparent gif and set it as the image icon of
the submenu. Problem - how to calculate the pad icon width in a
platform independent, screen resolution independent way i.e. the width
of the checkbox part of the JCheckBoxMenuItem ignoring the text. (
Note: a text less one gives me a wdith too large. )

Many thanks in advance.

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Here's some code if anyone wants to give it a go.


import javax.swing.*;


public class AligmentTest
{
public static void main(String []args)
{
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
JMenuBar menuBar = new JMenuBar();
JMenu menu = new JMenu("A menu");
JMenu subMenu = new JMenu("A submenu");


menu.add(subMenu);
menuBar.add(menu);
frame.setJMenuBar(menuBar);


JCheckBoxMenuItem item1 = new JCheckBoxMenuItem("Item1");
JCheckBoxMenuItem item2 = new JCheckBoxMenuItem("Item2");
JCheckBoxMenuItem item3 = new JCheckBoxMenuItem("Item3");


menu.add(item1);
menu.add(item2);
subMenu.add(item3);


frame.setSize(100,100);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setVisible(true);
}


Many thanks in advance.