The Eclipse platform continues to gain tremendous popularity as both a Java IDE and a Java platform for application programming. One of the core underpinnings of Eclipse is SWT, the Standard Widget Toolkit. For perfect hands-on direction using SWT, there is SWT: A Developer's Notebook. In typical Developer's Notebook style, Tim Hatton succinctly shows you how to make SWT work for you with no wasted words or time. |
This article provides a high-level overview of the MigLayout Swing/SWT layout manager and provides an example to demonstrate its power. While MigLayout is the only layout manager I know of that works across both Swing and SWT (different implementation classes but the same constraints API across both UI toolkits), this article focuses mostly on the Swing implementation. |
This article introduces (with simple examples) the important listener classes, emphasizing those that are new to SWT (not provided in Swing). It concludes a three-article series on SWT development that began with "SWT Creates Fast, Native-looking GUIs for Your Java Apps" and "You Don't Have to Swing to Make Great Java UIs". |
This article assumes that an SWT application has already been built and runs fine on the developer's machine. The sample application included in the downloadable code is a simple text editor named?what else??SimpleText (see Listing 1). This discussion follows a step-by-step procedure that generates an executable Windows installer (see Figure 1) that can install SimpleText in the client's Program Files directory, add Start Menu shortcuts, and uninstall the application. |
The specific environment used to develop the SWT Project Template was Eclipse 3.2 (which includes Ant), JDK 6.0 and Windows XP (however, the basic steps can be adapted for use on *NIX and MacOS systems). Optional, but recommended, components include Jigloo GUI Builder 3.9, Launch4j 3.0, and NSIS 2.0. |
In short, SWT widgets (UI components) let you create fast, native-looking GUIs for your Java applications. If platform independence is not a required feature for your application, SWT may be a very attractive option. Though application development with SWT involves some study, it is not a steep learning curve for Java programmers. This tutorial teaches the basic steps to get started with SWT and introduces the SWT widgets and their usages in a simple SWT application. |
SWT is an open source widget toolkit for Java designed to provide efficient, portable access to the user-interface facilities of the operating systems on which it is implemented. |
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PORTLAND, OR?September 30, 2003?Instantiations, Inc. today announced that it has acquired ownership of SWT Designer, the leading commercial product in the emerging SWT (Standard Widget Toolkit) graphical user interface (GUI) tools market. Instantiations acquired exclusive title of the product and all related technology from Eclipse Plug-Ins Lab and its author, Mr. Konstantin Scheglov. Mr. Scheglov will have an ongoing technical relationship with the company and will assist in the design and implementation of future GUI building products. |
The SWT library gives Java developers a powerful mechanism to integrate Microsoft Windows ActiveX controls into highly interactive client-side applications. With SWT's support for ActiveX controls and OLE documents, it's exciting to explore ways to create great-looking applications that integrate native widgets and components. |
SWT is different from AWT in how the peers work. In SWT, the peers are just wrappers on host controls. In AWT, peers can provide services to minimize the differences between hosts (this is where AWT ran into a lot of its behavior issues). This means that an SWT application is really a host application, with all the good and bad points that entails. It also means that SWT does not fully achieve the WORE goal; it is more a WOTE solution. That said, SWT does a remarkable job of creating a portable solution, albeit not as well as Swing. |
A gentle introduction to SWT and JFace includes basic articles on developing applications using the Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) and JFace libraries that come with the base Eclipse software development kit. This column concentrates on using SWT and JFace for stand-alone applications. However, most of what you learn will apply to using them inside the Eclipse workbench. |
Before we review the implementation details of how to deploy an SWT application using Java Web Start, let's take a look at the application we're going to deploy. The application that's included with this article is an example application provided by the Eclipse project. As shown in Figure 1, the application is a simple cross-platform file viewer that allows users to browse the files and folders on their hard drive. |
One of the reasons for the success of the Eclipse platform is the performance of its user interface compared to other Java? applications. The SWT is a key contributor to that success. SWT allows you to build cross-platform user interfaces that are as rich as Swing UIs and that perform as well as native UIs, but the toolkit does have a drawback: SWT is not compatible with AWT and Swing. Java developer and Eclipse enthusiast Yannick Saillet offers this comprehensive, hands-on guide to porting a Swing application to SWT using extensive code samples to illustrate the techniques. |
Implementing the MVC architecture differs from other types of applications. The main differences come from how you place and implement business logic or view rendering logic. Unlike typical Web applications, where a programmer would have to design and implement all the MVC parts, Eclipse provides you with an API that does most of the controlling or rendering for you. Hence, one cannot strictly compare Eclipse's MVC implementation with that of the Web or any other application type. |
If you're drawn to graphically representing data, Draw2D is a good tool. Using Draw2D to write your own Java language code to plot charts and graphs can help you concentrate on scaling and plotting code, leaving the rendering/painting related jobs to Draw2D and SWT. You can also control the appearance of your graphs by using Draw2D figures of your choice. Draw2D simplifies the basics of drawing charts and graphs, and minimizes your dependence on third-party tool kits. |
In this article, we will talk about Java J2SE graphical user interface (GUI) libraries. We will adopt a programmer's viewpoint in our discussion. We assume the reader is familiar with the basics of the Swing library and wants to explore the SWT technology. |
Learning layout managers takes time, but once you get accustomed to using them, you can create good looking user interfaces. You also can use GUI builders to create the GUI easily. I use SWT (Standard Widget Toolkit), a cross platform GUI developed by IBM and part of the Eclipse environment. If you are not familiar with this tool please see my earlier article on programming with SWT. |