Re: comp.lang.java.gui FAQ
From: Thomas Weidenfeller (nobody_at_eed.ericsson.invalid)
Date: 07/23/04
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Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 06:58:53 +0000 (UTC)
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comp.lang.java.gui FAQ
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
Q1.1 What is this, and what does it contain?
Q1.2 Where do I find a Copy of the FAQ?
Q1.3 There are so many Java FAQs. Which is the right, official one?
Q1.4 I noticed broken links in the FAQ. Don't you verify them before
publishing?
Q1.5 What is AWT?
Q1.6 What is Swing?
Q1.7 What is SWT?
2 The Top 5 Questions
Q2.1 My GUI freezes or doesn't update. What to do?
Q2.2 How do I update the GUI from another thread, e.g. once I have
offloaded a time consuming task from the EDT to another thread?
Q2.3 I have arranged all my widgets nicely on a window. Then I changed
the OS / Java version / font / PLAF. Now everything is broken.
What's going on?
Q2.4 My graphics on a Canvas/JPanel/JComponent, etc. gets corrupted,
or I get a null pointer exception when trying to draw. How can I
avoid this?
Q2.5 How to create a transparent or non-rectangular window?
3 Window / [J]Frame / [J]Dialog (Top-Level Containers)
Q3.1 How can I ensure a window is always on top of all other windows
using AWT or Swing?
Q3.2 How can I (de)iconify a window?
Q3.3 How can I replace/remove the icon in the title bar (window
decoration) of a [J]Frame?
Q3.4 How to replace the icon in the title bar (window decoration)
of a [J]Dialog?
Q3.5 My modal dialog goes behind the main window. How can I ensure
it is in front instead?
Q3.6 How do I get the screen size? How Do I center a window
on the screen?
4 JTree
Q4.1 I changed the data / structure for my JTree, but the display
doesn't get updated. What's going on?
Q4.2 How do I set a custom icon for a node?
5 Graphics & Painting
Q5.1 What is the equivalent of AWT's Canvas in Swing?
Q5.2 When drawing on a JPanel, the background is garbled.
Q5.3 How do I generate some charts / plots in Java?
Q5.4 How to draw some graphs in Java?
Q5.5 I want to write a diagram editor. Where to start?
Q5.6 How do I draw lines between JLabels on a JPanel?
Q5.7 I need to draw a tree. How?
Q5.8 I need an algorithm for drawing ...
Q5.9 When I subclass JPanel/JComponent, I need to override paint(),
right?
Q5.10 Why does drawImage() fail when I try to display a loaded image?
Why are the width and height of my loaded image both zero?
6 Other Common Questions
Q6.1 My GUI has rendering problems when the JMenu opens over my
top Panel ...
Q6.2 I append text to a JTextArea. How to ensure the text area is
always scrolled down to the end of the text?
Q6.3 How can I do this JavaScript thing on my web site?
7 The Newsgroup
Q7.1 What is this newsgroup's charter? What are acceptable topics?
Q7.2 Which topics are not welcome in the newsgroup?
Q7.3 Where can I find an archive of this group?
Q7.4 What is an SSCCE?
Q7.5 Why don't people like top-posting? What is top-posting?
Q7.6 Is there more about posting to newsgroups and asking questions?
Q7.7 Does Sun support or endorse this Newsgroup?
8 Resources
8.1 Sun's Java Web Site
8.2 Icons
8.3 Misc. Examples, Tips and Tricks
8.4 Style Guides
8.5 SDK Documentation
8.6 More Swing
8.7 Online Magazines
8.8 Java 2D API
8.9 AWT
8.10 Java 3D API
8.11 General Java
8.12 More?
Q8.12.1 But I need more!
9 Improvement Suggestions
10 Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q1.1 What is this, and what does it contain?
This is the FAQ for the comp.lang.java.gui newsgroup. It mostly
consists of a selection of pointers to resources regarding Swing and
AWT programming in Java.
Q1.2 Where do I find a Copy of the FAQ?
The FAQ is regularly posted to
news:comp.lang.java.gui
Just search an archive like
http://groups.google.com/groups?group=comp.lang.java.gui
People have placed versions of the FAQ on web sites, too, e.g.
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/guifaq.html
http://www.physci.org/guifaq.jsp
There is even a Japanese translation around:
http://homepage1.nifty.com/algafield/JavaGUIFaq19j.html
Q1.3 There are so many Java FAQs. Which is the right, official one?
There is probably not THE FAQ. Everyone can start an FAQ, and many have
done so. See it as some benefit. There is a lot of information out
there. Note, however, that there is at least one so-called "Java FAQ"
which just recycles postings to the comp.lang.java.* newsgroups and
distributes them as a newsletter and as a book. You might consider
searching an archive of the groups instead of paying for this
material.
For a list of other FAQs and FAQ lists :-) see the "Resources" chapter
of this FAQ and
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/faqs.html
Q1.4 I noticed broken links in the FAQ. Don't you verify them before
publishing?
No, I don't. I rely on feedback from readers. Also, links might break
at any time, e.g. just seconds after a link has been verified.
Q1.5 What is AWT?
AWT (The Abstract Window Toolkit) is Sun's first Java GUI toolkit. It
is rather limited and uses the native GUI components of the operating
system.
Unless you have to support an old VM, Swing is usual the better choice
for a Java GUI toolkit.
Q1.6 What is Swing?
Swing is Sun's second attempt at a Java toolkit. It is rich in
functions and widgets, and is considered the standard Java GUI
toolkit. Nowadays it is bundled with the Java 2 Standard Edition.
Most parts of Swing are written in Java, especially most of the GUI
components. Swing uses some parts of AWT in order to gain access to the
native GUI system for event handling and top-level containers. It is
build on AWT's lightweight component framework.
Q1.7 What is SWT?
SWT is an alternative GUI toolkit from IBM. Unlike AWT and Swing, it is
not part of the Java 2 Standard Edition. You have to obtain it
separately for the platforms you want to support (it uses a native
library).
2 The Top 5 Questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q2.1 My GUI freezes or doesn't update. What to do?
Most likely you are blocking the event dispatching thread (EDT).
Offload time-consuming tasks from your event listeners to separate
threads.
You can do the necessary implementation by hand, or you can use
existing frameworks like the SwingWorker class from Sun. See the series
of articles in
http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/articles/threads/threads1.html
For some special cases you can give paintImmediately() a look. See
http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/articles/painting/index.html
for some information about using paintImmediately().
Q2.2 How do I update the GUI from another thread, e.g. once I have
offloaded a time consuming task from the EDT to another thread?
See the javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater() and
javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait() methods.
Usually you want invokeLater().
Again, see
http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/articles/threads/threads1.html
for more details.
Q2.3 I have arranged all my widgets nicely on a window. Then I changed
the OS / Java version / font / PLAF. Now everything is broken.
What's going on?
This sounds as if you don't use layout managers, but instead hard-coded
component sizes and widgets. If you want to avoid this problem, there
is no way around using layout managers, or implementing your own
geometry management from scratch.
Q2.4 My graphics on a Canvas/JPanel/JComponent, etc. gets corrupted,
or I get a null pointer exception when trying to draw. How can I
avoid this?
Do not use Component.getGraphics(). Instead, subclass and override the
paint() (AWT), or paintComponent() (Swing) method.
Component.getGraphics() simply can't work. Java uses a callback
mechanism for drawing graphics. You are not supposed to "push" graphics
information into a component using getGraphics(). Instead you are
supposed to wait until Java calls your paint()/paintComponent()
method. At that moment you are supposed to provide the Component with
the drawings you would like to do.
This mechanism is necessary so Java can support graphics systems which
don't remember a window's contents when it is obscured (e.g. overlayed
by another window). When the window becomes visible again, such
graphics systems have to ask the application to reconstruct the window
content. Therefore, paint()/paintComponent() is supposed to be the
memory of a component. getGraphics(), however, doesn't have any
recollection of previous drawing operations. So once a drawing done via
getGraphics() is lost, it can't be reconstructed. There is nothing in
there that stores the old drawing data, and there is nothing in
AWT/Swing which informs getGraphics() to do some re-drawing.
In addition, there are situations where Component.getGraphics() simply
returns null. This is a defined behavior of the method. And finally,
most users of getGraphics() forget to dispose the Graphics object after
usage.
See
http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/articles/painting/index.html
for more information.
Q2.5 How to create a transparent or non-rectangular window?
You can't in a good, platform independent way.
Although particular Java components can be 'transparent', they will
always be contained inside a rectangular root component that is not
transparent.
One hack is to take a snapshot of the underlying screen region using
java.awt.Robot.createScreenCapture(rectangle). And then using that
snapshot as a background image for the window. If the background
changes, the illusion is gone.
An alternative for applets can be found here:
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/faq/src/app/MatchBackgroundExample.html
3 Window / [J]Frame / [J]Dialog (Top-Level Containers)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q3.1 How can I ensure a window is always on top of all other windows
using AWT or Swing?
Before Java 1.5 you couldn't:
AWT and Swing didn't provide this feature. All you could do was to use
a (modal) [J]Dialog, and make sure the [J]Dialog is provided with the
correct parent/owner in the constructor.
Since Java 1.5:
Window.setAlwaysOnTop(), which is inherited by the other top-level
containers like JFrame.
Q3.2 How can I (de)iconify a window?
Before Java 1.2 you had to revert to native calls.
Since Java 1.2 you can use [J]Frame.setState().
Since Java 1.4 you can use [J]Frame.setExtendedState(), too.
setExtendedState() provides more features than setState().
Q3.3 How can I replace/remove the icon in the title bar (window
decoration) of a [J]Frame?
Use setIconImage().
To revert to the platform's default icon use:
frame.setIconImage(null);
On some platforms this might remove the icon. Alternatively you can try
a transparent Image if you don't want to have an icon.
Q3.4 How to replace the icon in the title bar (window decoration)
of a [J]Dialog?
There is only a partial solution to this problem, and it is not
recommended.
A dialog gets its icon from its parent frame. You can create a dummy
frame which you don't show, set the icon of that dummy frame, and use
it in the constructor of the dialog as the dialog's owner:
JFrame dummy = new JFrame();
Image icon = ...
dummyFrame.setIconImage(icon);
JDialog dialog = new JDialog(dummy);
However, this is dangerous. Certain GUI behavior depends on a correct
[J]Frame (parent window) <-> [J]Dialog (child window) relation.
Introducing a dummy parent breaks this relation. Things which can go
wrong include (de)iconising of all windows of an application, and
ensuring a modal dialog is always placed on-top of the main window.
Q3.5 My modal dialog goes behind the main window. How can I ensure
it is in front instead?
Make sure you have properly set up the 'owner' of the dialog in the
dialog's constructor. Don't use null, and don't use a dummy frame (to
set the dialog's icon).
Q3.6 How do I get the screen size? How Do I center a window
on the screen?
Manually, pre 1.4:
Use java.awt.Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize() to get the
screen size, and do the math:
import java.awt.*;
Dimension winSize = win.getSize();
Dimension screenSize =
Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();
win.setLocation(
screenSize.width / 2 - winSize.width / 2,
screenSize.height / 2 - winSize.height / 2
);
Since 1.4:
Window.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
4 JTree
~~~~~~~
Q4.1 I changed the data / structure for my JTree, but the display
doesn't get updated. What's going on?
Most likely you are directly manipulating the TreeNodes, instead of
updating the data via the TreeModel. TreeNodes don't have any means to
inform the JTree about changes. This is the job of the TreeModel.
If you use DefaultTreeModel, all the event notification mechanisms are
already implemented. If you use an own implementation of TreeModel, you
need to implement the necessary event firing yourself.
Don't call repaint() on the JTree. The JTree painting is not broken.
Your event notification is.
Q4.2 How do I set a custom icon for a node?
If you just want to change the icon for all nodes from the default, get
a DefaultCellRenderer, use the set...Icon() methods, and set the
renderer to be used by the JTree.
If you, however, need different icons for different nodes, then the
following three steps are involved.
1. Create your own TreeNode implementation (or subclass an existing
TreeNode implementation).
1.1. Add some means to the TreeNode to identify itself, e.g.
public int getType() { // return a type id }
1.2. Or let the TreeNode return a corresponding Icon (possibly a
shared instance):
public Icon getLeafIcon() { /* return icon */ }
public Icon getOpenIcon() { /* return icon */ }
public Icon getClosedIcon() { /* return icon */ }
1.3. Or just rely on the type of your subclass (to be checked with
instanceof). You will have to have an own subclass for each
node which needs a different icon.
2. Subclass DefaultTreeCellRenderer. Override
getTreeCellRendererComponent():
2.0. Start with
Component getTreeCellRendererComponent(
JTree tree, Object value,
boolean sel, boolean expanded, boolean leaf,
int row,
boolean hasFocus)
{
And continue, depending on your TreeNode implementation:
2.1. If you use a getType() method:
YourTreeNode node = (YourTreeNode)value;
// Use a lookup table (faster), some factory, or:
switch(node.getType()) {
case: ...
setLeafIcon(...);
setOpenIcon(...);
setClosedIcon(...);
break;
}
2.2. If you use a getIcon() method:
YourTreeNode node = (YourTreeNode)value;
setLeafIcon(node.getLeafIcon());
setOpenIcon(node.getOpenIcon());
setClosedIcon(node.getClosedIcon());
2.3. If you rely on the type:
if(value instanceof YourTreeNode) {
setLeafIcon(...);
setOpenIcon(...);
setClosedIcon(...);
} else if(value instanceof ...) ...
2.4. And finish with:
return super.getTreeCellRendererComponent(
tree, value,
sel, expanded, leaf,
row,
hasFocus);
}
3. Use JTree.setCellRenderer() to set your renderer.
5 Graphics & Painting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
See also: "2 The Top 5 Questions"
Q5.1 What is the equivalent of AWT's Canvas in Swing?
It depends on your purpose, and on the level of compliance you want to
have with the Swing opaque handling.
Use
a) JPanel, if you want to have a "complete" component with a
UI delegate which handles opaque settings (if
paintComponent() is correctly overridden).
b) JComponent, if you intend to always draw every pixel in the
area of the component (and break the opaque attribute API
contract, don't worry, most likely no one will notice). If
you need to have your own special key and mouse processing,
you might also want to start with JComponent and create
your own UI delegate.
c) You could even start higher up in the inheritance chain.
java.awt.Component is lightweight since Java 1.1. However,
you will not get Swing additions like double-buffering.
d) Canvas. No joke. Under very special circumstances (e.g.
game programming, accelerated graphics) AWT's Canvas might
be the right thing to use, even under Swing. Under normal
circumstances, however, this is not the right choice,
because it brings the problem of mixing heavyweight and
lightweight components.
If this is all Greek to you, use JPanel. And remember, if you use
JComponent or JPanel, override paintComponent(), not paint().
Q5.2 When drawing on a JPanel, the background is garbled.
It is likely that you managed to break the opaque handling of the
component. Your JPanel instance promises (via getOpaque()) to draw
each and every pixel under its influence, but doesn't.
Start your paintComponent() method with a call to
super.paintComponent(g) (which honors the opaque attribute and fills
the background with the background color). Also, check the setting of
the opaque flag, and have a look at the TSC article about "Painting".
See the list of resources at the end for a link.
Q5.3 How do I generate some charts / plots in Java?
If you want to do the drawing in Java, consider using a chart drawing
library. E.g.
http://www.jfree.org/jfreechart/index.html
http://www.jgraph.com/
gets recommended often. The web site also has a list of other chart
libraries.
If you just have to plot some (scientific) data, and if you can live
with an external C program, consider using gnuplot
Millions of scientific papers around the world have been illustrated
with gnuplot output.
Use Runtime.exec() to pipe the plot commands and data into gnuplot, or
just write the data to a file and use gnuplot separately.
Q5.4 How to draw some graphs in Java?
Non-trivial graph drawing is a serious business. If you want to do it
all by yourself, reserve some time and start studying graph drawing
algorithms. See the question "I need an algorithm for drawing ..." for
information where to start searching for such algorithms. Then, or in
parallel, start studying the Java 2D API.
If you don't want to concern yourself with the algorithm
implementation, use a graph library like:
http://jgrapht.sourceforge.net/
http://jung.sourceforge.net/
Or check if the algorithm used in Sun's GraphLayout applet demo is
suitable for your purpose. The source comes with every SDK, see the
directory
demo/applets/GraphLayout
in you SDK installation.
If you can live with an external C tool, give The Dot a try. It is part
of graphviz at
http://www.research.att.com/sw/tools/graphviz/refs.html
Or, if you are on Unix, with a complete troff installation, including
pic, you can use pic for typesetting simple graphs.
See also: "Q5.8 I need an algorithm for drawing ..."
Q5.5 I want to write a diagram editor. Where to start?
Consider using a framework like
http://www.jhotdraw.org/
http://www.jgraph.com/jgraphpad.html
http://gef.tigris.org/
for a start. You also might want to familiarize yourself with many of
the design patterns in
Gamma, E.; Helm, R.; Johnson, R.; Vlissides, J.: Design
Patterns: Elements of reusable object-oriented Software.
Addison-Wesley professional computing series. Brian W.
Kernighan, Consulting Editor. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley,
1994.
And (if you manage to find the old publications), the early work on
UniDraw and IDraw by Vlissides is also interesting (in C++).
Q5.6 How do I draw lines between JLabels on a JPanel?
You are apparently trying to draw a graph by using normal widgets to
draw the nodes of your graph. This is not a good idea. Consider using
the Java 2D API (nowadays part of J2SE) to draw the complete graph.
Have a look at java.awt.geom for predefined shapes. Also check out
Sun's 2D Programmer's Guide.
See also: "8 Resources"
Q5.7 I need to draw a tree. How?
This seems to be a common homework question, so please have a look at
the "Which topics are not welcome in the newsgroup?" to understand why
this answer is intentionally vague.
If the fixed layout of JTree suits your needs, you could start reading
the JTree API documentation.
Or you could use a simple (recursive) algorithm. E.g
x(node) = K * level(node), and
y(node) = M * inorder_rank(node).
gives very ugly trees, but trees. If this doesn't get you started, ask
your professor or tutor for more hints. Consult your text book about
(inorder) tree traversal, and consult
http://home.earthlink.net/~patricia_shanahan/beginner.html
Q5.8 I need an algorithm for drawing ...
Start with the FAQ for news:comp.graphics.algorithms
http://www.magic-software.com/CgaFaq.pdf
Q5.9 When I subclass JPanel/JComponent, I need to override paint(),
right?
Wrong. You are supposed to override paintComponent(), not paint(). You
would override paint() only when subclassing Canvas.
Swing has a slightly different painting model than AWT. Have a look at
the painting article in TSC. This is highly recommended reading if you
plan to do any kind of drawing or develop a custom component
(a reference to TSC article index is in the "Resources" section)!
Q5.10 Why does drawImage() fail when I try to display a loaded image?
Why are the width and height of my loaded image both zero?
The image has most likely not finished loading. Use a
java.awt.MediaTracker to monitor the loading of the image (see the
MediaTracker API documentation for details and an example).
Alternatively, use javax.swing.ImageIcon to load the image. It already
contains the necessary MediaTracker handling.
6 Other Common Questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q6.1 My GUI has rendering problems when the JMenu opens over my
top Panel ...
Swing (JMenu) and AWT (Panel) components do not mix well.
See
http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/articles/mixing/index.html
for things you have to pay attention to.
Q6.2 I append text to a JTextArea. How to ensure the text area is
always scrolled down to the end of the text?
textarea.setCaretPosition(textarea.getDocument().getLength());
Q6.3 How can I do this JavaScript thing on my web site?
Java is not JavaScript. Try news:comp.lang.javascript or another
suitable JavaScript newsgroup.
7 The Newsgroup
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q7.1 What is this newsgroup's charter? What are acceptable topics?
The voting for the group with the group's charter passed on 1997-04-10:
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=860665862.3170%40isc.org
A longer history of comp.lang.java.* reorganizations can be found in
ftp://ftp.isc.org/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/comp/comp.lang.ja
va-reorg
Here is an excerpt from the '97 reorg charter (Note, "all groups"
refers to all the Java groups from that voting, including
comp.lang.java.gui):
CHARTER: all groups
The normal practice should be that most articles are posted to one
single, correct group ONLY. Cross-posting is only appropriate when the
problem is hard to categorize or when it legitimately concerns more
than one group. Answers should be posted to a single group only once
the nature of the problem has been ascertained. Many articles of this
sort should go to comp.lang.java.help (only).
It is not appropriate to post binary class files or long (longer than
one or two screenfuls) source listings on any of these groups. Instead,
the post should reference a WWW or FTP site (short source snippets to
demonstrate a particular point or problem are fine).
END CHARTER.
[...]
CHARTER: comp.lang.java.gui
This unmoderated group is for any and all discussion relating to
GUI toolkits or window frameworks in Java. Topics include the AWT,
Netscape's IFC, Microsoft's planned AFC, Visix's Vibe toolkit, among
others. The newsgroup will also be the appropriate place for
discussion of the JDK event model, mouse and keyboard issues,
bugs in windowing code, and graphics programming in Java. If it
concerns something that can be seen on the screen, it belongs in this
group.
END CHARTER.
One will note the list of ancient Java GUI technologies, and the
absence of Swing. It is save to say, that nowadays most discussions are
about Swing, plus a few about AWT and Java printing.
Q7.2 Which topics are not welcome in the newsgroup?
Of course, this question is never asked, but over the time, it has
turned out that certain types of postings are not welcome, even if Java
related. This includes:
* Posting your homework.
* Advocacy. Goto comp.lang.java.advocacy instead.
* Postings urging the readers to help. Especially in
conjunction with whining. No one in the group is paid to
help you. No one owns you anything.
* Public and hidden advertising. You think you are too clever
to be caught? Well, read this thread in our sister group
c.l.j.programmer first, and watch how some business lost all
its reputation:
http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=58882783.
0307010403.67c54a5f%40posting.google.com
* Postings which just contain a statement like "Help! It does
not work!", without any additional information, like the
exact error message, source code, or even a hint what "it" is
supposed to mean.
* Postings demonstrating unwillingness to learn are not
welcome, too. And learning starts by reading the API
documentation before posting.
* Test messages are not welcome. Instead, use alt.test.*, and
learn how newsgroups work.
Q7.3 Where can I find an archive of this group?
See e.g.
http://groups.google.com/groups?group=comp.lang.java.gui
Q7.4 What is an SSCCE?
Short/small, self contained, compilable, example (source code).
It would be best if you provide such short (see the group's charter)
example source code in our first request for help. When asked for one,
please don't complain that your source code is too large, too tricky,
too secret for being cut down to a reasonable size and posted. You have
the problem, and you asked in a public forum, so it is in your interest
to provide the requested information.
For more information about hacking some example code together, go to
http://www.physci.org/codes/sscce.jsp
Q7.5 Why don't people like top-posting? What is top-posting?
See the following Question & Answer (well, Answer & Question) section:
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet and in e-mail?
-- Common Usenet signature
Q7.6 Is there more about posting to newsgroups and asking questions?
Yes, see e.g. the following for making the most out of a newsgroup
(ignore the hacker slang):
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
[The author of this web page has requested a notice that he is not
a general help desk for all your problems].
http://www.yoda.arachsys.com/java/newsgroups.html
Also see the newsgroups:
news:news.newusers.questions
news:news.answers
And RFC 1855. E.g. at
ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc1855.txt
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1855.html
Q7.7 Does Sun support or endorse this Newsgroup?
Frankly, no one really knows, but it doesn't appear so. From time to
time a poster can be spotted apparently working for Sun's Swing
development team. But there is no one in an official capacity from Sun
taking part in the discussions.
It is save to say that the newsgroup isn't of much interest for Sun, and
that suggestions or informed opinions posted to the group will most
likely not be seen, noted or followed-up by Sun.
The author of this FAQ also does not have any inside information or
contacts to Sun's Java or GUI development team and has never been
contacted by Sun. Therefore, the FAQ's author is not in a position to
forward suggestions to Sun or help with expedited answers from Sun.
Please refrain from such requests.
You might want to try
http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/bugParade/
or
http://jcp.org/
if you want to suggest some changes. Good luck.
8 Resources
~~~~~~~~~~~
There are many good on-line resources regarding Java GUI programming
out there. The following list is limited by intention to resources
which get recommended often on c.l.j.g, including resources from
regulars.
8.1 Sun's Java Web Site
Sun's Swing Example Tutorial (previously Quick-Start Tutorial):
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/mini/index.html
The complete Sun's Swing Tutorial:
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/index.html
Sun's Swing Connection (TSC) (Swing developer's site). Note: Sun is
currently doing some heavy restructuring of the site. Apparently, parts
have already ended up at http://www.javadesktop.org, while others are
currently missing:
http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/index.html
The TSC article index (Swing architecture, Swing and threads, painting
architecture, etc.):
http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/articles/
Or, at least for now, the article index is at
http://www.javadesktop.org/tsc/index.html
8.2 Icons
It is suggested to check the licenses of each icon collection before
using them in any products.
Sun's well hidden set of Icons for Swing's Metal LnF:
http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/techDocs/hi/repository/
More icons:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/icon-collection/
(the link to javalobby.org on that page is broken)
The Ximian Open-Office icons (very nice):
http://developer.ximian.com/themes/icons/ooo-icons.html
Gnome icons:
http://tigert.gimp.org/gnome/gnome-stock/
SVG BlueSphere Icon Theme:
http://svgicons.sourceforge.net/
KDE Icons:
http://www.buzzard.org.uk/jonathan/kde-icons.html
8.3 Misc. Examples, Tips and Tricks
A collection of examples for doing nice things with Swing components
(some are a little bit outdated):
http://www.physci.org/codes/tame/
Originally from
http://www2.gol.com/users/tame/swing/examples/SwingExamples.html
which is now off-line.
Christian Kaufhold's Java and Swing info (including JTable info):
Jeanette's notes (including JTable remarks):
http://www.mycgiserver.com/~Kleopatra/swing/swingentry.html
Marco Schmidt's Java resource page (Java imaging information)
http://www.geocities.com/marcoschmidt.geo/java.html
Karsten Lentsch's company web page:
8.4 Style Guides
Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines:
http://java.sun.com/products/jlf/ed2/book/index.html
Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics:
http://java.sun.com/products/jlf/at/book/index.html
8.5 SDK Documentation
GUI Information in the SDK documentation is commonly overlooked, but
worth some reading:
See your local SDK installation, or
Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT)
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/awt/index.html
Swing
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/swing/index.html
2D Graphics and Imaging
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/2d/index.html
Image I/O
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/imageio/index.html
Print Service
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/jps/index.html
Input Method Framework
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/imf/index.html
Accessibility
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/access/index.html
Drag-and-Drop data
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/dragndrop/index.html
Swing Examples in the SDK:
See the directory demo/jfc in your Java SDK installation.
8.6 More Swing
Swing class-hierarchy chart
http://www.holub.com/goodies/java.swing.html
jGuru Swing FAQ
http://www.jguru.com/faq/Swing
CodeGuru Swing Examples
http://www.codeguru.com/java/Swing/index.shtml
8.7 Online Magazines
JavaWorld has regular GUI articles. The magazine closed shop on
2004-01-02, but was re-launched March 2004.
8.8 Java 2D API
The Programmer's Guide
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/2d/spec/j2d-bookTOC.html
See also the other SDK documentation.
The 2D Tutorial (a light introduction, avoids the tough stuff):
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/2d/index.html
Sample code
See the demo/jfc directory of your SDK installation. Same as:
http://java.sun.com/products/java-media/2D/samples/suite/index.html
8.9 AWT
Sun's AWT FAQ. Very much outdated (Java 1.0.2 and 1.1.x), and quite
often the answers of questions are missing:
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/faq/faqawt.html
8.10 Java 3D API
There is a separate newsgroup. see
news:comp.lang.java.3d
http://groups.google.com/groups?group=comp.lang.java.3d
8.11 General Java
The Java Tutorial:
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/
All kinds of tutorials:
http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/onlineTraining/
Roedy's Java Glossary:
http://www.mindprod.com/jgloss/jgloss.html
8.12 More?
Q8.12.1 But I need more!
Look at the source code. Every SDK comes with the source code of the
public parts of the API. The source code is packed in a file called
src.zip or src.jar (older SDKs), usually right in the top level
directory of your SDK installation.
Also, learn how to use a search engine like
9 Improvement Suggestions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please mail suggestions, corrections, updates, etc. to the account
"cljg_faq" on the domain "gmx.de". Your "Subject:" line must contain
the string
[cljg]
somewhere, including the square brackets. Otherwise your mail will be
discarded automatically. In addition, the address is heavily
spam-protected. So if you mail from a spam-invested network, there is
little chance to reach me. Your alternative is to post to c.l.j.g.
If you suggest a new entry, please also provide the answer, not only
the question.
10 Acknowledgments
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This FAQ contains contributions and help from:
Andrew Thompson, David Postill, Manish Hatwalne, Hiwa.
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