1. The AWT (versus Swing Components)
CS 21b

2. The AWT AWT: Abstract Windowing Toolkit
Alternative way of designing GUIs in Java
The toolkit patterns its look and feel with the operating system you are using
In contrast, swing components (javax.swing.*) results in the same look and feel regardless of operating system
© Luis F. G. Sarmenta and John Paul Vergara, Ateneo de Manila University
Overview
Slide 2

3. AWT Components The same components (present in swing) are available
Just drop the starting “J”
Button instead of JButton
Panel instead of JPanel
Applet instead of JApplet
Frame instead of JFrame …
No need to import javax.swing.*;
© Luis F. G. Sarmenta and John Paul Vergara, Ateneo de Manila University
Overview
Slide 3

4. Containers in the AWT
Applets and Frames are themselves Containers in the AWT
When using swing:
Container c = this.getContentPane();
c.setLayout( … );
c.add( … );
When using the AWT, do this instead:
this.setLayout( … );
this.add( … );
© Luis F. G. Sarmenta and John Paul Vergara, Ateneo de Manila University
Overview
Slide 4

5. Why study the AWT?
Sometimes you want your Applets and Frames to follow the same GUI conventions as other Windows applications
Swing has problems particularly when you combine components with Graphics (paint)
Probably because Graphics is part of the AWT
© Luis F. G. Sarmenta and John Paul Vergara, Ateneo de Manila University
Overview
Slide 5