The JFC Swing Tutorial A Guide to Constructing GUIs

by Walrath, Kathy; Campione, Mary; Huml, Alison; Zakhour, Sharon Biocca

• ISBN13: 9780201914672
• ISBN10: 0201914670
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-02-24
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional

Summary

The perfect book to learn the ins and outs of JFC and Swing Fully understand how to build GUIs using JFC and Swing Written by lead writer on the Swing team and best-selling author of The Java Tutorial -- Kathy Walrath The previous edition sold over 17,000 copies

Author Biography

Kathy Walrath is a senior technical writer on the Swing team at Sun Microsystems. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Kathy wrote extensively about Unix, Mach, and NextStep. Since 1993, Kathy has been writing specifications and how-to guides for the Java platform. Mary Campione was formerly a senior technical writer at Sun Microsystems, where she started writing about the Java platform in 1995. Mary graduated from California Polytechnic, San Luis Obispo, with a B.S. in Computer Science and has worked as both a technical writer and programmer.

Alison Huml is a technical writer at Sun Microsystems, where she joined The Java Tutorial team in 1997 and also works with the Security team. Alison received her B.A. in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently pursuing her master's degree in Computer Science at Mills College.

Sharon Zakhour, the Java Tutorial team lead, has worked at Sun as a senior technical writer for seven years. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Computer Science and has worked as a programmer, developer support engineer, and technical writer for more than 20 years.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Before You Start	p. 1
Getting Started with Swing	p. 3
About the JFC and Swing	p. 4
Compiling and Running Swing Programs	p. 6
Questions and Exercises	p. 9
Example Programs	p. 9
Learning Swing by Example	p. 11
Your First Swing Program	p. 12
SwingApplication	p. 15
CelsiusConverter	p. 21
An Improved CelsiusConverter	p. 22
LunarPhases	p. 25
VoteDialog	p. 30
Summary	p. 32
Questions and Exercises	p. 33
Example Programs	p. 34
Using Swing Components	p. 35
A Visual Index to Swing Components	p. 37
Using HTML in Swing Components	p. 43
Using Top-Level Containers	p. 46
Using Models	p. 50
The JComponent Class	p. 53
Using Text Components	p. 60
Summary	p. 83
Questions and Exercises	p. 83
Example Programs	p. 84
Laying Out Components within a Container	p. 87
A Visual Guide to Layout Managers	p. 88
Using Layout Managers	p. 92
How Layout Management Works	p. 97
Creating a Custom Layout Manager	p. 98
Doing without a Layout Manager (Absolute Positioning)	p. 100
Summary	p. 102
Questions and Exercises	p. 102
Example Programs	p. 105
Writing Event Listeners	p. 107
Some Event-Handling Examples	p. 108
General Information about Writing Event Listeners	p. 112
Listeners Supported by Swing Components	p. 118
Listener API Table	p. 122
Summary	p. 125
Questions and Exercises	p. 126
Example Programs	p. 127
Performing Custom Painting	p. 129
How Swing Components Are Displayed	p. 130
Introduction to Painting Concepts	p. 134
Implementing a Custom Component	p. 140
Summary	p. 144
Questions and Exercises	p. 144
Example Programs	p. 146
Components Reference	p. 147
How to Make Applets	p. 149
How to Use Buttons	p. 156
How to Use Check Boxes	p. 163
How to Use Color Choosers	p. 167
How to Use Combo Boxes	p. 176
How to Make Dialogs	p. 187
How to Use Editor Panes and Text Panes	p. 200
How to Use File Choosers	p. 206
How to Use Formatted Text Fields	p. 221
How to Make Frames (Main Windows)	p. 236
How to Use Internal Frames	p. 245
How to Use Labels	p. 253
How to Use Layered Panes	p. 258
How to Use Lists	p. 267
How to Use Menus	p. 277
How to Use Panels	p. 292
How to Use Password Fields	p. 297
How to Use Progress Bars	p. 300
How to Use Radio Buttons	p. 311
How to Use Root Panes	p. 316
How to Use Scroll Panes	p. 325
How to Use Separators	p. 343
How to Use Sliders	p. 348
How to Use Spinners	p. 357
How to Use Split Panes	p. 369
How to Use Tabbed Panes	p. 382
How to Use Tables	p. 388
How to Use Text Areas	p. 418
How to Use Text Fields	p. 423
How to Use Tool Bars	p. 427
How to Use Tool Tips	p. 434
How to Use Trees	p. 437
Layout Manager Reference	p. 457
How to Use BorderLayout	p. 459
How to Use BoxLayout	p. 462
How to Use CardLayout	p. 476
How to Use FlowLayout	p. 479
How to Use GridBagLayout	p. 481
How to Use GridLayout	p. 490
How to Use SpringLayout	p. 492
Other Swing Features Reference	p. 509
How to Use Actions	p. 513
How to Support Assistive Technologies	p. 519
How to Use Borders	p. 535
How to Use Drag and Drop and Data Transfer	p. 545
How to Use the Focus Subsystem	p. 583
How to Use Icons	p. 603
How to Use Key Bindings	p. 623
How to Set the Look and Feel	p. 628
How to Use Threads	p. 632
How to Use Timers	p. 639
Event Listeners Reference	p. 643
How to Write an Action Listener	p. 646
How to Write a Caret Listener	p. 649
How to Write a Change Listener	p. 652
How to Write a Component Listener	p. 654
How to Write a Container Listener	p. 658
How to Write a Document Listener	p. 661
How to Write a Focus Listener	p. 665
How to Write an Internal Frame Listener	p. 670
How to Write an Item Listener	p. 674
How to Write a Key Listener	p. 676
How to Write a List Data Listener	p. 682
How to Write a List Selection Listener	p. 685
How to Write a Mouse Listener	p. 689
How to Write a Mouse-Motion Listener	p. 695
How to Write a Mouse Wheel Listener	p. 699
How to Write a Property-Change Listener	p. 704
How to Write a Table Model Listener	p. 708
How to Write a Tree Expansion Listener	p. 710
How to Write a Tree Model Listener	p. 713
How to Write a Tree Selection Listener	p. 715
How to Write a Tree-Will-Expand Listener	p. 718
How to Write an Undoable Edit Listener	p. 721
How to Write Window Listeners	p. 723
Troubleshooting Reference	p. 733
Java Web Start Troubleshooting	p. 733
Solving Common Component Problems	p. 735
Solving Common Layout Problems	p. 738
Solving Common Event-Handling Problems	p. 739
Solving Common Painting Problems	p. 740
Solving Common Problems Using Other Swing Features	p. 743
Index	p. 745
The JFC Swing Tutorial CD Contents	p. 767
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

This edition ofThe Java Tutorialtells you how to write GUIs that use the Java Foundation Classes (JFC) "Swing" components. In this book we cover the most recent release of the Java 2 platform (v1.4.2 as of this printing). We also include information valuable to programmers using earlier releases and discuss Swing enhancements planned for the near future.The online form ofThe Java Tutorialhas covered the Swing components since their first public early-access releaseSwing 0.2, which came out in July 1997. Throughout the early releases, the Tutorial kept pace with API changes and additions. Readers and reviewers kept us on our toes, helping us improve each page tremendously. Although this book has its roots in the online version, this edition has been reorganized and rewritten.Numerous improvements have been made. First, this book uses current API (v1.4.2), has six new introductory chapters, and has an easy-to-use tabbed reference section. It reflects lessons learned by the Swing team in the years since the introduction of Swing components. Second, we cover newer features such as JFormattedTextField, JSpinner, indeterminate JProgressBar, mouse wheel support, the rearchitected focus subsystem, and improved support for drag and drop.The book and CD contain more than 150 complete, working examples. The authors have worked closely with the Swing team to ensure that the code and discussions reflect recommended usage. The Swing component set has now been out for several years now and has a mature API. That, combined with the years of experience the Swing writers and engineers have had with the API, enables us to create the definitive introduction and guide for both inexperienced and advanced programmers who use Swing components.