1. Swing & the JFC – Advanced Java GUI
Lecture 29
Swing & the JFC – Advanced Java GUI

2. Java Foundation Classes (JFC)
JFC consists of five API
AWT
Java 2D
Java Accessibility
Java Drag & Drop
Swing

3. Versions
Java AWT 1.0, but no Swing (NB AWT 1.0 incompatible with Swing)
Java AWT 1.1, Swing as an add-on
Java 2 - Swing is core
Java 1.2 / 1.3 / 1.4 / 1.5
Be particularly careful with applets – Swing will only work if a Java2 VM is present in the browser

4. What is Swing? Swing is a component library
Based upon AWT 1.1 widgets and event model
AWT extended by JComponents and supporting classes
Analagous classes to AWT (mostly extended)
New classes

5. Swing vs AWT Much larger than AWT No native code
Most components (eg buttons, labels, lists etc) can display images as well as text
Text formatting allowed (HTML)
Better border control
Components do not have to be rectangular

6. Limitations of Swing Large API
Be careful with mixing Swing with “heavyweight” non-Swing components.
Swing components are not “thread safe”
Swing components must be in a Swing container

7. Swing Packages javax.swing javax.swing.border javax.swing.text
javax.swing.colorchooser
javax.swing.event
javax.swing.filechooser
javax.swing.plaf
javax.swing.table
javax.swing.text
javax.swing.text.html
javax.swing.text.rtf
javax.swing.tree
javax.swing.undo
javax.accessibility

8. Content Panes Swing containers are much more complex than AWT
All containers have “panes”, to which components are added
These are loosly similar to AWT panels, but have many other properties

9. Plugable User Interfaces
plaf - Plugable Look & Feel
Cross-platform look & feel (Metal)
Motif
OS Specific (eg Windows, Macintosh etc)
Customised look & feel

10. Converting AWT to Swing
Import main Swing package (import javax.swing)
Check threading issues (only modify components with their own methods)
Replace all AWT components with Swing equivalents
Modify methods as necessary
Change calls to add() and setLayout() methods to use panes of containers