Comments on: Techniques of Java UI Development

By: Brett

Brett — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:51:04 +0000

Hi there,

I’m new to Java development, having spent my last 10+ years doing Microsoft VB/C# development. I must say that I am somewhat daunted by the overall complexity of generating a UI in JAVA. But I would like to thank the author of the article for his insight in things like EDT and its inherit problems. Good tip for a new Java guru like myself.

Many thanks.
-Brett

By: ArtemGr

ArtemGr — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:49:23 +0000

Using a table layout ( https://tablelayout.dev.java.net/ ) may make it easier to code dialogues.

By: Richard Kennard

Richard Kennard — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:02:05 +0000

Daniel,

Nice article!

I recently started an Open Source project that takes a somewhat different approach to Swing form creation. If you get chance to take a look at it, I would really appreciate your insight.

The project is called Metawidget: http://www.metawidget.org

Regards,

Richard.

By: Mikael Grev

Mikael Grev — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:38:30 +0000

If you still are not convinced, you should come to the JavaOne technical sesson on MigLayout.

By: Mikael Grev

Mikael Grev — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:36:52 +0000

@Daniel

IMO MigLayout would also be simpler and easier to read. Or how about this code, which is the outline for the whole frame. The only difference is that all the gaps follow the style guides, on both Mac and Windows.

[code]
adrPanel.add(line1, "");
adrPanel.add(line1TF, "wrap");
adrPanel.add(line2, "");
adrPanel.add(line2TF, "wrap");
adrPanel.add(city, "");
adrPanel.add(cityTF, "split 3, grow");
adrPanel.add(state, "");
adrPanel.add(stateCombo, "wrap");
adrPanel.add(zip, "");
adrPanel.add(zipTF, "");

panel.add(firstName, "");
panel.add(firstNameTF, "growx, wrap");
panel.add(lastName, "");
panel.add(lastNameTF, "growx, wrap");
panel.add(addressCheck, "gap 15, span, wrap");
panel.add(adrPanel, "span, wrap 10");
panel.add(cancel, "alignx center, span, split");
panel.add(save, "alignx center");
[/code]

By: Daniel Spiewak

Daniel Spiewak — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:47:10 +0000

@Mikael
I’ve thought about it actually. If I were doing something with concern for resolution independence, I probably would be using it. I’m skeptical about layout managers in general that specify constraints in that form however (JGoodies FormLayout is similar IIRC). It’s powerful, but requires a bit of runtime-checked ASCII goodness. GridLayout is no-where near as potent as MigLayout, but it’s more likely that the average UI developer will understand code written using it quite intuitively, enabling easier maintenance.

I have to admit, I’ve never looked at it *that* closely though, so maybe all my worries are completely off-base.

By: Mikael Grev

Mikael Grev — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:38:01 +0000

Hello,

If you haven’t already you should look at http://www.miglayout.com. With it you will not only get simpler and cleaner code but also default -per platform- gaps and resolution independence.

By: Jan Erik Paulsen

Jan Erik Paulsen — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:38:26 +0000

I wrote a tool that lets you prototype stuff like this faster. Teppefall Layout.

By: DeltaGeek

DeltaGeek — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:59:36 +0000

.pack() works just fine *IF* you set the preferredSize on the components you want to specify an initial size for. Using .setSize() just sets the current size of a Component and is ignored when the layout managers calculate things (i.e., when you call .pack()).

By: Jack @ Tech Teapot

Jack @ Tech Teapot — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:38:25 +0000

Paper prototyping allows you to very cheaply and easily get feedback on a design without resort to any technology at all.