Re: JLayeredPane possible in BorderLayout.CENTER ?

as far as i understand, that is because there is no layout manager is
set for the JLayeredPane.

Solution:
either: lpane.setLayoutManager( /* some manager */ );

or: tlabel.setBounds(0,0,100,10);

and here is the code that shows overlapping components:
============================================

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class LPTry {

public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame jf = new JFrame();
jf.getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());

JLabel tlabel = new JLabel("east");

jf.getContentPane().add(tlabel, BorderLayout.EAST);

JLayeredPane lpane = new JLayeredPane();
tlabel = new JLabel("center bottom");
tlabel.setBounds(0,0,100,10);
lpane.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200,100));
lpane.add(tlabel, JLayeredPane.DEFAULT_LAYER);
tlabel = new JLabel("center top");
tlabel.setBounds(0,0,100,10);
tlabel.setForeground(Color.RED);
tlabel.setOpaque(false);
lpane.add(tlabel, JLayeredPane.PALETTE_LAYER);

jf.getContentPane().add(lpane, BorderLayout.CENTER);

jf.pack();
jf.setVisible(true);

}
}

.