1. By Kalman Hazins (kalman.hazins@jhuapl.edu)
SWT TUTORIAL
By Kalman Hazins

2. Links Tutorials: http://www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~eclipse/
Additional tutorials:
Code examples:
Eclipse - SWT Gui builders:
Jigloo -
Eclipse ve (visual editor)
SwtGuiBuilder (trial)
Additional free IDEs with builders– Jdeveloper, NetBeans mattise

3. Agenda Brief History of Java GUI Installing SWT Creating widgets
SWT Layouts
Event Handling
Sample Application

4. History of Java GUI AWT – Abstract Windowing Toolkit
First released in 1995 as part of JDK 1.0 by Sun
Heavyweight GUI components – a Java component creates a peer component on the operating system and the peer draws itself.
Least Common Denominator problem – for simple GUI components creating a peer works, what about the components that are only available on some platforms and not others? If you want to write code that’s truly portable – you have to use components that are available on all platforms
The logic makes sense – but how do you develop a serious application using just the basic components (available on all platforms)?
You don’t …
Enter Swing

5. History of Java GUI (Cont.)
Swing (JFC – Java Foundation Classes)
Released in 1998 as part of JDK 1.1
Lightweight GUI components – no need for operating system “peer”-based drawing. Let’s draw the components ourselves. Lightweight – there is no actual weight (operating system component) behind the Java component.
Nice toolkit with enhanced Model-View-Controller architecture and superior graphics 2D library.
Portable? You bet. Any problems? Now that you are not actually using the operating system components – you are just mimicking the behavior of the operating system. Hence, the look and feel as well as the response speed are not the same.
Swing has gotten much better with release and 1.5 of SDK
Still, very few commercial applications are written in Swing.

6. History of Java GUI (Cont.)
SWT (Standard Widget Toolkit)
GUI toolkit released in November 2001
Was initially designed to write the now extremely famous and popular Eclipse IDE
“Best of both worlds” approach – use native functionality when available, and Java implementation when unavailable
Takes on the appearance and behavior of the native platform
Because of its close bond with the operating system, SWT needs to be ported separately for every platform
Currently, implementations of SWT are already available for all major desktop operating systems and some handheld devices
The code YOU write will be portable for all the platforms that have SWT implementations for them (unless you decide to do some platform specific stuff like OLE on windows)
- SWT home page

7. Installing SWT To compile and run SWT applications you need
SWT jars (usually just swt.jar)
SWT native libraries
Detailed Instructions on obtaining and “installing”
Go to and follow one of the many mirror links
This will bring you to another page, where you want to follow the “Latest Release” link
This should bring you to a page which will say “Release Build: “ in bold letters on the very top
Scroll down to the bottom of the page till you see “SWT Binary and Source” section
Pick the platform you intend to develop on from the list (e.g. Windows XP) and click on “(http)” to start downloading the zip file
Extract the contents of the zip file into a directory and you are ready for the final step(s) (let’s say our directory path is C:\SWT)

8. Installing SWT (Cont.)
You need to include swt.jar (and possibly other jars) from the C:\SWT folder in your classpath (for an example on setting classpath see
You also need to include the native library files (e.g. *.dll) from C:\SWT in your java.library.path.
The easiest way to do this one is to execute the following command from a regular java program
System.out.println(System.getProperty(“java.library.path”));
which will give you a list of the directories in your “library path”. You can then copy the native library files from C:\SWT to one of those directories.
-OR-
Simply provide the path when running java
java –Djava.library.path=C:\SWT classname

9. Creating Widgets
SWT Javadoc -
Simplest SWT program (explained over the next few slides)
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Shell;
public class HelloWorld {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Display display = new Display();
Shell shell = new Shell(display);
shell.setText("Hello World");
shell.setSize(250, 100);
shell.open();
while (!shell.isDisposed()) {
if (!display.readAndDispatch()) {
display.sleep(); }
display.dispose();

10. Creating Widgets (Cont.)
Think of Shell object (line 6) being almost the same as a JFrame in Swing, i.e. the highest-level container, which contains other widgets (e.g. buttons, labels etc.) inside of it
Unlike Swing
You need to create Display object (line 5), which represents the underlying windowing system. This in turn serves as a parent to the Shell. (In SWT, every widget you create will always have its parent passed into the widget’s constructor.)
You need to keep the Shell open to listen for events with a while loop (lines 12-16). Otherwise, the Shell will immediately close itself.
Since you are not just writing some Java code (having the luxury of garbage collector clean up after you), but are actually requesting some heavyweight resources from the underlying platform – you need to dispose of those resources when you are done with them(line 17). (Luckily, disposing of the parent disposes of its child, so 99% of time you will not be running around disposing of widgets right and left.)
If you are a Swing guy, and the above 3 things greatly bother you – you can write a simple SWTUtil class to help you deal with it …

11. Homegrown SWT Utility SWTUtil.java import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
public class SWTUtil {
private static Display display = new Display();
public static Shell getShell() {
Shell shell = new Shell(display);
return shell; }
public static void openShell(Shell shell) {
shell.open();
// This loop keeps the shell open constantly listening for events
while (!shell.isDisposed()) {
if (!display.readAndDispatch()) {
display.sleep();
display.dispose();

12. SWT Utility in Action
“Simplest SWT program” rewritten using SWTUtil class
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
public class HelloWorld {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Shell shell = SWTUtil.getShell();
shell.setText(“Still Hello World");
shell.setSize(250, 100);
SWTUtil.openShell(shell); }

13. Widget creation explained
A widget in SWT is created by
Specifying parent
Specifying style
A parent is the container that the widget is created inside of (e.g. Shell).
Style is any constant from the SWT class (SWT.PUSH, SWT.BORDER, SWT.LEFT etc).
All styles applicable to the widget can be found in the Javadoc for that widget (as well as its superclasses if any).
If more than one style is desired – separate them out with a “|” bitwise operator (e.g. SWT.MULTI | SWT.V_SCROLL|SWT.H_SCROLL| SWT.BORDER creates a multiline textarea that has vertical and horizontal scrollbars and a border around it). If no specific style is desired – use SWT.NONE. The style you are requesting is only a hint, so if the underlying platform doesn’t support it – you are out of luck.
Creating Label
Label (Composite parent, int style)
Creating Button
Button(Composite parent, int style)

14. Label Unselectable, uneditable text
SWT.VERTICAL or SWT.HORIZONTAL can be used together with SWT.SEPARATOR to create a label that is a horizontal/vertical separator
LabelWorld.java
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.GridLayout;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
public class LabelWorld {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Shell shell = SWTUtil.getShell();
shell.setText("Label World");
shell.setLayout(new GridLayout()); // layouts are explained later
// Create labels
new Label(shell, SWT.NONE).setText("Regular label");
new Label(shell, SWT.SEPARATOR);
new Label(shell, SWT.SEPARATOR|SWT.HORIZONTAL);
// pack and show
shell.pack();
SWTUtil.openShell(shell); }

15. Button
Once a button – always a button. All types of buttons are created using the Button class. Push buttons, radio buttons, check buttons, toggle buttons and even flat buttons.
ButtonWorld.java
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.GridLayout;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
public class ButtonWorld {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Shell shell = SWTUtil.getShell();
shell.setText("Button World");
shell.setLayout(new GridLayout(2, true)); // layouts are explained later
new Button(shell, SWT.PUSH | SWT.FLAT).setText("Flat Push Button");
new Button(shell, SWT.CHECK).setText("Check Button");
new Button(shell, SWT.TOGGLE).setText("Toggle Button");
new Button(shell, SWT.RADIO).setText("Radio Button");
// pack and show
shell.pack();
SWTUtil.openShell(shell); }

16. Text
Different types of text widgets are created using Text class by providing the appropriate styles
TextWorld.java
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.GridLayout;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
public class TextWorld {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Shell shell = SWTUtil.getShell();
shell.setText("Text World");
shell.setLayout(new GridLayout()); // layouts are explained later
new Text(shell, SWT.NONE).setText("Missing something ...");
new Text(shell, SWT.BORDER); // regular textfield
new Text(shell, SWT.PASSWORD | SWT.BORDER).setText("password");
new Text(shell, SWT.READ_ONLY | SWT.BORDER).setText("Can't type inside");
new Text(shell, SWT.MULTI | SWT.V_SCROLL | SWT.WRAP
| SWT.BORDER).setText("\n\n\n");
// pack and show
shell.pack();
SWTUtil.openShell(shell); }

17. List Pick from a list – single or multiple selection available
ListWorld.java
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.GridLayout;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
public class ListWorld {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Shell shell = SWTUtil.getShell();
shell.setText("List World");
shell.setLayout(new GridLayout(2, true)); // layouts are explained later
String[] items = "One Two Three Four Five Six".split(" ");
List one = new List(shell, SWT.SINGLE | SWT.BORDER);
one.setItems(items);
one.select(2);
List two = new List(shell, SWT.MULTI | SWT.BORDER);
two.setItems(items);
two.setSelection(items);
// pack and show
shell.pack();
SWTUtil.openShell(shell); }

18. Combo ComboWorld.java Benefits of both Text and List widgets in one!
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.GridLayout;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
public class ComboWorld {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Shell shell = SWTUtil.getShell();
shell.setText("Combo World");
shell.setLayout(new GridLayout(3, true)); // layouts are explained later
String[] items = "One Two Three Four Five Six".split(" ");
Combo one = new Combo(shell, SWT.DROP_DOWN);
one.setItems(items);
Combo two = new Combo(shell, SWT.DROP_DOWN | SWT.READ_ONLY);
two.setItems(items);
Combo three = new Combo(shell, SWT.SIMPLE);
three.setItems(items);
// pack and show
shell.pack();
SWTUtil.openShell(shell); }

19. Group
Used to group widgets together. (Very similar to JPanel in Swing)
GroupWorld.java
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.GridLayout;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
public class GroupWorld {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Shell shell = SWTUtil.getShell();
shell.setText("Group World");
shell.setLayout(new GridLayout()); // layouts are explained later
Group buttonGroup = new Group(shell, SWT.SHADOW_OUT);
buttonGroup.setText("Six buttons");
buttonGroup.setLayout(new GridLayout(3, true));
for(int i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
new Button(buttonGroup, SWT.RADIO).setText("Bottle " + (i + 1)); }
// pack and show
shell.pack();
SWTUtil.openShell(shell);

20. Browser One of the newer widgets of SWT for displaying web content.
Cool stuff!!! (See the sample application later)
BrowserWorld.java
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.browser.Browser;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.FillLayout;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Shell;
public class BrowserWorld {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Shell shell = SWTUtil.getShell();
shell.setText("Browser World");
shell.setLayout(new FillLayout());
Browser browser = new Browser(shell, SWT.BORDER);
browser.setSize(900, 500);
browser.setUrl("
// pack and show
shell.pack();
SWTUtil.openShell(shell); }

21. Browser in Action

22. SWT Layouts Layouts first introduced in AWT
Ease burden of laying out components
Promote cross-platform GUI design
SWT offers 5 layouts:
FillLayout
RowLayout
StackLayout
GridLayout
FormLayout
You set the composite’s layout by calling setLayout()
You don’t have to use a layout, but do you really want your widgets to disappear when the user resizes the window?
More on layouts

23. FillLayout
Places all widgets in either a single column or a single row depending on if SWT.VERTICAL or SWT.HORIZONTAL is used
Makes all widgets the same size
FillLayoutExample.java
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.FillLayout;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
public class FillLayoutExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Shell shell = SWTUtil.getShell();
shell.setText("FillLayoutExample");
shell.setLayout(new FillLayout(SWT.HORIZONTAL));
for(int i = 0; i < 3; i ++) {
new Button(shell, (i % 2 == 0) ? SWT.RADIO : SWT.PUSH).setText("Button " + i);
new Text(shell, SWT.BORDER).setText("same size"); }
// pack and show
shell.pack();
SWTUtil.openShell(shell);

24. RowLayout
Similar to FillLayout - places all widgets in either a single column or a single row depending on if SWT.VERTICAL or SWT.HORIZONTAL is used
Doesn’t force all widgets to be the same size
Can wrap to a new row or column if it runs out of space
Can use RowData objects to determine initial heights/widths for controls
RowLayoutExample.java
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.RowData;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.RowLayout;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
public class RowLayoutExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Shell shell = SWTUtil.getShell();
shell.setText("RowLayoutExample");
shell.setLayout(new RowLayout(SWT.HORIZONTAL));
for(int i = 0; i < 3; i ++) {
new Button(shell, (i % 2 == 0) ? SWT.RADIO : SWT.PUSH).setText("Button " + i);
new Text(shell, SWT.BORDER).setLayoutData(new RowData(5, 50)); }
// pack and show
shell.pack();
SWTUtil.openShell(shell);

25. StackLayout
Similar to CardLayout in Swing. The basic idea is that all widgets are stacked on top of each other and you can only see one at a time.
Need to set topControl attribute for the layout to show any widget on top
Need to call layout() on the Composite every time you reassign topControl
StackLayoutExample.java
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.custom.StackLayout;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.*;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
public class StackLayoutExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
final Shell shell = SWTUtil.getShell();
shell.setText("RowLayoutExample");
shell.setLayout(new StackLayout());
final Button button1 = new Button(shell, SWT.PUSH);
button1.setText("Button One");
final Button button2 = new Button(shell, SWT.PUSH);
button2.setText("Button Two");
class StackLayoutAdapter extends SelectionAdapter {
public void widgetSelected(SelectionEvent event) {
((StackLayout)shell.getLayout()).topControl =
(event.widget == button1) ? button2 : button1;
shell.layout(); }
button1.addSelectionListener(new StackLayoutAdapter());
button2.addSelectionListener(new StackLayoutAdapter());
((StackLayout)shell.getLayout()).topControl = button1;
shell.pack();
SWTUtil.openShell(shell);

26. GridLayout Lays out controls in a grid.
A lot of people love this powerful layout.
You can easily specify what you want to happen when the composite is resized
6 attributes (defaults are preset):
int horizontalSpacing – horizontal space in pixels between adjacent cells
int verticalSpacing – vertical space in pixels between adjacent cells
boolean makeColumnsEqualWidth – forces all columns to be same width
int marginWidth – margin in pixels along right and left edges
int marginHeight – margin in pixels along top and bottom edges
int numColumns – number of columns for the layout
GridLayout(int numColumns, boolean makeColumnsEqualWidth)
Uses GridData objects to provide for better control
Too many options to list …
Warning for Swing programmers – DO NOT TRY TO REUSE GridData objects
Instead, you need to create a new GridData object for every widget that needs non-default behavior

27. GridLayoutExample.java import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.*;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
public class GridLayoutExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Shell shell = SWTUtil.getShell();
shell.setText("GridLayoutExample");
shell.setLayout(new GridLayout(2, false)); // 2 columns, same width
// Username
new Label(shell, SWT.RIGHT).setText("Username:");
Combo cmbUsername = new Combo(shell, SWT.DROP_DOWN);
cmbUsername.setLayoutData(new GridData(GridData.FILL_HORIZONTAL));
cmbUsername.setItems(new String[]{"Howard", "Admin", "Kalman"});
cmbUsername.setText("Admin");
// Password
new Label(shell, SWT.RIGHT).setText("Password:");
new Text(shell, SWT.BORDER | SWT.PASSWORD).GridData(GridData.FILL_HORIZONTAL));
// Login Button
Button loginButton = new Button(shell, SWT.PUSH | SWT.FLAT);
loginButton.setText("Proceed to your account");
GridData data = new GridData(GridData.FILL_HORIZONTAL);
data.horizontalSpan = 2; // span 2 columns
loginButton.setLayoutData(data);
shell.pack();
SWTUtil.openShell(shell); }

28. FormLayout Considered the most complex layout of SWT
Based on y = ax + b (not that most people who use it care)
MAXIMUM flexibility
People who understand it – love it 
The basic idea is that you layout the widgets relative to each other or to the enclosing composite
Needs a tutorial of its own and is therefore not covered here …

29. Event Handling
If you are familiar with Swing – this last part should be a joke.
SWT widgets can listen for events to happen.
If you would like to hear when and what they hear – you need to attach a listener to the widget
Listener is basically an interface that defines when certain behaviors happen
Sometimes, listener tries listening out for two many things, but you only care to listen for one particular event
In such a case – you need an adapter. Adapter is a class that implements the interface and from which you can just extend and override the method you are interested in.
Some of the popular listeners/adapters are listed below
FocusListener/FocusAdapter – listens for focus gained and focus lost events
KeyListener/KeyAdapter – listens for key releases and key presses
ModifyListener(only has 1 method) – listens for text modifications
VerifyListener – listens for (and potentially intercepts) text modifications
MouseListener/MouseAdapter – listens for mouse button presses
SelectionListener/SelectionAdapter – listens for selection events (similar to ActionListener in Swing)

30. EventHandling.java import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.*;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.*;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
public class EventHandling {
private static boolean numbersOnly;
public static void main(String[] args) {
Shell shell = SWTUtil.getShell();
shell.setText("EventHandling");
shell.setLayout(new GridLayout(2, false));
// input
Label lblInput = new Label(shell, SWT.RIGHT);
lblInput.setText("Type in here:");
GridData data = new GridData(GridData.HORIZONTAL_ALIGN_END);
lblInput.setLayoutData(data);
Text input = new Text(shell, SWT.BORDER);
input.addVerifyListener(new VerifyListener() {
public void verifyText(VerifyEvent vEvent) {
vEvent.doit = false; // don't allow anything but numbers
if(!numbersOnly || vEvent.character == '\b') {
vEvent.doit = true; }
else if(Character.isDigit(vEvent.character) && numbersOnly) {
});

31. EventHandling.java Button btnAllow = new Button(shell, SWT.CHECK);
btnAllow.setText("Allow numbers only");
data = new GridData(GridData.HORIZONTAL_ALIGN_CENTER);
data.horizontalSpan = 2;
btnAllow.setLayoutData(data);
btnAllow.addSelectionListener(new SelectionAdapter() {
public void widgetSelected(SelectionEvent selectionEvent) {
numbersOnly = ((Button)(selectionEvent.widget)).getSelection(); }
});
shell.pack();
SWTUtil.openShell(shell);

32. syncExec() / asyncExec()
You should only be updating user interfaces from the user interface thread.
For example, say you create a Label in your main thread. Then, you have a separate thread that does some sort of a long computation. Then, you want to update your label with the result of the second thread’s computation. You CANNOT just call label.setText(newValue) in your second thread.
Instead, you have to call either syncExec(Runnable) or asyncExec(Runnable) methods on the instance of Display
// Say you run a thread that calculates new time approximately every second
// and tries to update a label
new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
Display display = shell.getDisplay();
while(!shell.isDisposed()) {
try {
display.asyncExec(new Runnable() {
clock.setText((new Date()).toString()); }
});
Thread.sleep(1000);
catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}).start();

33. Sample Application
Goal: Write a cute browser in SWT (under 300 lines) that handles most HTML
CuteBrowser.java uses SWTUtil.java
Run the application on Windows XP computer that has java installed