1. Is there NO GUI builder that allows me to drag and drop elements (like JButton, JList, JTextField, etc.) onto the the application window AND IT STAYS WHERE I PUT IT (meaning i don't have to hard code the exact position of every single element i put into the GUI)
(not sure if this'll fix your issue, pretty sure it will)
- Change your content pane layout to absolute (null). (I use eclipse guibuilder, so i'm not too sure on the intelliJ version), you can just use the line mainPn1.setLayout(null);
2. Assuming i should still be using IntellJ's GUI form builder, why is there no code about how i customized it in the form onto the output code file
- I don't use intelliJ so I can't answer this sorry
3. How do i get the GUI to open in onStart
- I would create a "main" void, set the frame equal to a new instance of your PidgeonGUI class, set the frame to visible & then utilize it with PidgeonGUI.main();, this probably isn't the 'right' way to go about it, but I have a "if it works, why change it" mentality about smaller things like this.
lmk if any of these help