How to get X and Y index of element inside GridLayout?

You have saved an array of all JButtons; you could search for ae.getSource() and you have the position.

for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
  for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++) {
    if( b[i][j] == ae.getSource() ) { 
      // position i,j
    }
  }
}

This example shows how to create a grid button that knows its location on the grid. The method getGridButton() shows how to obtain a button reference efficiently based on its grid coordinates, and the action listener shows that the clicked and found buttons are identical.

package gui;

import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

/**
 * @see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7702697
 */
public class GridButtonPanel {

    private static final int N = 5;
    private final List<JButton> list = new ArrayList<JButton>();

    private JButton getGridButton(int r, int c) {
        int index = r * N + c;
        return list.get(index);
    }

    private JButton createGridButton(final int row, final int col) {
        final JButton b = new JButton("r" + row + ",c" + col);
        b.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                JButton gb = GridButtonPanel.this.getGridButton(row, col);
                System.out.println("r" + row + ",c" + col
                    + " " + (b == gb)
                    + " " + (b.equals(gb)));
            }
        });
        return b;
    }

    private JPanel createGridPanel() {
        JPanel p = new JPanel(new GridLayout(N, N));
        for (int i = 0; i < N * N; i++) {
            int row = i / N;
            int col = i % N;
            JButton gb = createGridButton(row, col);
            list.add(gb);
            p.add(gb);
        }
        return p;
    }

    private void display() {
        JFrame f = new JFrame("GridButton");
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.add(createGridPanel());
        f.pack();
        f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        f.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                new GridButtonPanel().display();
            }
        });
    }
}

From JButtons

• JButton#setName(String);

• JBUtton#setActionCommand(String);

• JBUtton#setAction(Action);

from/to Container

SwingUtilities#convert...

SwingUtilities#getDeepestComponentAt