Java AWT and Swing API

Dr Salim Vanak
s.vanak@dcs.shef.ac.uk

File swing.tex p. 1

GUI Widgets

Java has two GUI (Graphics User Interface) packages, the original Abstract Windows Toolkit or AWT and the newer Swing AWT used the native operating systems window routines and therefore the visual effect was dependent on the run time system platform. Swing allows three modes: a unied Java look and feel [the default], the native platform look, or a specic platforms look. Swing has quite a large overhead. Eclipse SWT tires to get the best of both worlds. We will be focusing on Swing and bit of AWT.

File swing.tex p. 2

Containers

Containers hold GUI controls or widgets. For example text elds check boxes etc. Other Widgets can be added to a Container using its add(Component) method. A Container is also a Component, this allows containers to be nested in order to create complex layouts. JPanel is one of the most commonly used containers. The is also the Box container for creating Row or Column wise layouts.
JPanel panel = new JPanel(); JTextField field1 = new JTextField(); panel.add(new JLabel("Field 1")); panel.add(field1); panel.add(new JButton("Ok"));

File swing.tex p. 3

Layout Managers

As soon as you have more than one or two widgets (ie components or controls), you need to arrange them in a logical and pleasing way. A JPanel is a Container, which means that it can contain other components. GUI design in Java relies on a layered approach where each layer uses an appropriate layout manager. Layout managers are interface classes that align components so they neither crowd each other nor overlap. Each layout manager denes methods that arrange components within a container, and each component you place within a Container can also be a container itself. The Java platform supplies layout managers that range from the very simple FlowLayout and GridLayout. to the special purpose BorderLayout and CardLayout, to the very exible BoxLayout and GridBagLayout. SpringLayout is a new layout manager that uses the concepts of springs and struts to help design well-positioned containers.

File swing.tex p. 4

FlowLayout

FlowLayout is used to arrange components in rows across the width of a container FlowLayout components automatically wrap or move to the next row when required. When you use FlowLayout, each component retains its default size (i.e. a JButton will be large enough to hold its text. A component might become partially obscured or change position or wrap due to the size of the container. You can x a minimum size for the container by calling the JComponent.setMinimumSize(int, int) method.

File swing.tex p. 5

GridLayout

uses a simple row and column grid metaphor for layout. All elements are of the same width and height and scale similarly when resized. The constructor is GridLayout(rows,columns,x-spacing, y-spacing)

BoxLayout
Places items in a single row or column. An example is:
JPanel panel = new JPanel(); BoxLayout box = new BoxLayout(panel,Boxlayout.Y_AXIS));

You may be better off using the Box class instead of BoxLayout.

Card Layout

CardLayout presents widgets one at a time as if cards in a deck. A common use is a slideshow viewer where different panes are displayed one at a time.
File swing.tex p. 6

BorderLayout

BorderLayout is used when you add components to a maximum of ve sections arranged in North, South, East, West and Center positions. BorderLayout is the default manager for all content panes. When you place exactly ve components in a container and use BorderLayout, each component lls one entire region. When the program runs, the Layout Manager determines the exact size of each component based on the components contents. North, South, East, West containers will take up their preferred sizes. the Center component will take up the rest of the space. Any empty component regions disappear from the layout.
JPanel p = new JPanel(new BorderLayout()); p.add(new JLabel("North"), BorderLayout.NORTH); p.add(new JLabel("South"), BorderLayout.SOUTH); p.add(new JLabel("East"), BorderLayout.EAST); p.add(new JLabel("West"), BorderLayout.WEST); p.add(new JLabel("Center"), BorderLayout.CENTER);
File swing.tex p. 7

Top Level Components

Swings top level contains are: JFrame, JDialog, JWindow, JApplet. The most frequently used top level container is JFrame, and contains methods such as:

setBounds(x,y,w,h) setLocation(x,y) setSize(w,h) setResizable(bool) setTitle(str) setVisible(bool) isResizable() getTitle() getContentPane()

File swing.tex p. 8

Creating a frame
All GUI processing must occur within the Event Dispatch Thread. The following code creates a frame in the main thread.
public static void main(String[] args) { JFrame app = new JFrame(); app.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); app.setVisible(true); }

Creating a frame in the EDT

public static void main(String[] args) { SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() { public void run() { JFrame app = new JFrame(); app.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); app.setVisible(true); } }); }
File swing.tex p. 9

The Content Pane

A JFrame is made up of many components. When adding components to a JFrame you must add the compoents to the Content Pane of the JFrame. In Java 1.4.x you must do frame.getContentPane().add(Component) In Java 1.5 has make JFrame.add(Component) the same as frame.getContentPane().add(Component)

File swing.tex p. 10

Basic Event Listeners

GUIs are event-based. That is they respond to buttons, keyboard input or mouse activities. Java uses event listeners to monitor activity on specied objects and react to specic conditions. The most common Listener interface for GUI component is ActionListener. An ActionEvent is generated when ever a component receives a user actions. e.g. clicking a JButton, pressing enter on a JTextField. Other listener interfaces include, Focus Listener, MouseListener, ListSelectionListener. For listener interfaces that contain more than one method, the API also has Adaptor classes for the interface. The Adaptor is simply a class that implements the Listener as empty methods.

File swing.tex p. 11

Creating listeners.

There are two methods: Have the class implement the listener, or create a new class.

class MyPanel extends JPanel implements ActionListener { JButton b = new JButton("Ok"); MyPanel() { super(); b.addActionListener(this); } public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { if (e.getSource() == b) { // Do something } } }

File swing.tex p. 12

Anonymous Listeners
class MyPanel extends JPanel { JButton b = new JButton("Ok"); MyPanel() { super(); b.addActionListener(new ActionListener() { public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { // Do something } }); } }

File swing.tex p. 13

Anonymous Adaptors
For Listener like focus listener that contain many methods, using the adaptor class is better.
class MyPanel extends JPanel { JButton b = new JButton("Ok"); MyPanel() { super(); b.addActionListener(new FocusAdaptor() { public void focusLost(FocusEvent e) { // Do something when focus is lost. } }); } }

File swing.tex p. 14

Simple Dialog Boxes

Simple dialogs appear in popup windows. Dialogs include:

Short messages or information screens conrmation boxes. input prompts for string information.

Swing uses the JOptionPane class to provide methods for each type of dialog. Each method has a rst parameter that points to a parent (ie. window that it appears in) or null (default to the current window). Dialog boxes will block until the user returns an input. Removing the need to listen for an event.

File swing.tex p. 15

Dialog Examples
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"This is just a message", "Message Dialog",JOptionPane.PLAIN_MESSAGE);

int pressed = JOptionPane.showConfirmBox(null,"Everything aok"); if (pressed == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION) { // do the action for confirmation }

String user_data = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null,"Whats your name");

File swing.tex p. 16