Resize applet

Hi all,

I'm writing an applet using swing components. I add a Jpanel and add 2
JPanels on it to display different information. I am using GridLayout(2,1)
to create 2 rows and a column.

What i want to do is to change the main panel's size on init() depending on
the data i get from TCP socket. Is it possible? I've seen some solutions
about adding the main panel to a JFrame and then setting the frame's size
but could not manage it. Is that the only solution.

Thanks for all the replies...