Table of Contents

PART I Getting started 1

1 A Java refresher 3

1.1 What is Java? 4

1.2 What is AWT? 5

1.3 The Java event models 6

Java 1.0 7

Java 1.1 and beyond 8

1.4 JavaBeans 11

1.5 A review of components, listeners, and events 13

1.6 Layout manager refresher 16

BorderLayout 16

CardLayout 17

FlowLayout 18

GridLayout 19

GridBagLayout 20

Combining multiple layouts 22

1.7 Minimum software requirements 23

1.8 Delivering a final product 25

1.9 Just-In-Time compilers 27

1.10 Chapter summary 28

2 Swing basics 29

2.1 What is JFC? 30

2.2 What is Swing? 30

Swing package overview 31

2.3 Why use Swing? 33

JavaBeans compliance 34

Lightweight framework 34

Interaction with external resources 36

2.4 Model-View-Controller architecture 36

How MVC works 37

What can MVC accomplish? 37

Custom rendering 38

Custom data models 38

2.5 Delegates 40

What are delegates? 40

The ComponentUI class 40

2.6 Pluggable LookAndFeel 41

2.7 Creating UI objects 43

Creating a simple component 43

2.8 JComponent, the mother of Swing 45

Pluggable look and feel 46

Keystroke handling 46

Action objects 46

Borders 46

Accessibility 47

Other features of JComponent 47

Controlling component size 47

JComponent hierarchy 48

JComponent constants 48

JComponent fields 49

JComponent constructors 49

JComponent significant method groupings 49

2.9 Chapter summary 53

PART II Using Swing components 55

3 Frames and panels 57

3.1 JFrame 58

A JFrame application 58

JFrame hierarchy 61

JFrame variables 61

JFrame constructors 62

JFrame significant method groupings 62

3.2 JApplet 62

A JApplet sample applet 63

JApplet hierarchy 64

JApplet variables 64

JApplet constructors 64

JApplet significant method groupings 64

3.3 Creating simple panels 65

JPanel hierarchy 66

JPanel constructors 66

3.4 Simple border types 66

Creating a custom border class 68

3.5 Compound border creation 70

3.6 Swing layout managers 72

3.7 JRootPane in detail 76

JRootPane hierarchy 77

JRootPane variables 77

JRootPane constructors 78

JRootPane significant method groupings 78

3.8 Layered panes 78

Layered pane basics 79

A layered pane example 80

JLayeredPane hierarchy 83

JLayeredPane constants 83

JLayeredPane variables 84

JLayeredPane constructors 84

JLayeredPane significant method groupings 84

3.9 Chapter summary 84

4 Tabbed panes, scroll panes, and split panes 87

4.1 Tabbed panes 88

Creating a tabbed pane 90

Adding and inserting pages 90

Removing pages 92

Selecting pages 92

Adding images to tabs 93

Enabling and disabling tabs 93

A complete JTabbedPane example 94

JTabbedPane hierarchy 98

JTabbedPane variables 98

JTabbedPane constructors 98

JTabbedPane significant method groupings 99

4.2 Scrolling panes 100

An example using JScrollPane 102

Controlling the scroll bars 104

Controlling the scrolling programmatically 105

Controlling the size of scroll bars 105

Creating scrollable components 106

JScrollPane hierarchy 108

JScrollPane constructors 108

JScrollPane significant method groupings 109

4.3 Split panes 109

Setting the divider size 113

Controlling the divider position 113

Intercepting JSplitPane events 114

JSplitPane hierarchy 115

JSplitPane constants 115

JSplitPane variables 116

JSplitPane constructors 117

JSplitPane significant method groupings 117

4.4 Advanced scrolling 118

4.5 Chapter summary 123

5 Labels and buttons 125

5.1 Basic user interface components 126

5.2 Labels 126

A JLabel sample program 127

Setting fonts and colors 129

Text alignment 129

Adding an image to a label 130

JLabel hierarchy 132

JLabel variables 132

JLabel constructors 132

JLabel significant method groupings 133

5.3 AbstractButton 134

Listening for button events 134

Adding icons to buttons 137

Enabling and disabling buttons 139

Adding a keyboard mnemonic 139

AbstractButton variables 141

AbstractButton significant method groupings 141

5.4 Push buttons 143

Default buttons 143

JButton constructors 144

The JButton API 144

5.5 Toggle buttons 144

JToggleButton hierarchy 147

JToggleButton constructors 147

5.6 Check boxes 148

Special layout considerations 148

JCheckBox hierarchy 151

JCheckBox constructors 151

5.7 Radio buttons 152

JRadioButton hierarchy 152

JRadioButton constructors 152

5.8 Chapter summary 153

6 Text management 155

6.1 JTextComponent 156

Clipboard operations 158

Saving and loading 158

JTextComponent hierarchy 159

JTextComponent constants 159

JTextComponent constructors 159

JTextComponent significant method groupings 159

6.2 Document handling 161

Document constants 162

Document significant method groupings 163

6.3 Text fields and password fields 165

Associating keyboard mnemonics 166

Special event handling 167

JTextField hierarchy 171

JTextField constructors 171

JPasswordField hierarchy 172

JPasswordField Features 172

JPasswordField constructors 173

JPasswordField significant method groupings 173

6.4 Text areas 173

JTextArea hierarchy 176

JTextArea constructors 176

JTextArea significant method groupings 177

6.5 Combo boxes 177

Adding and removing list items 180

Selecting items 181

Allowing field editing 182

Other combo box tricks 182

JComboBox hierarchy 182

JComboBox constructors 182

JComboBox significant method groupings 183

6.6 Viewing HTML and other content types 184

Listening for hyperlink changes 187

JEditorPane hierarchy 189

JEditorPane constructors 189

JEditorPane significant method groupings 189

6.7 Viewing RTF format 190

6.8 Simple document processing 193

6.9 Chapter summary 197

7 Progress bars, scroll bars, and sliders 199

7.1 Progress bars 200

JProgressBar hierarchy 205

JProgressBar variables 205

JProgressBar constructors 206

JProgressBar significant method groupings 206

7.2 Scroll bars 207

JScrollBar hierarchy 211

JScrollBar variables 211

JScrollBar constructors 211

JScrollBar significant method groupings 212

7.3 Sliders 212

Listening for slider activity 216

JSlider hierarchy 217

JSlider variables 217

JSlider constructors 218

JSlider significant method groupings 218

7.4 Chapter summary 219

8 Menus, toolbars, and actions 221

8.1 Menu bars 224

Creating application menus 224

JMenuBar hierarchy 226

JMenuBar constructors 227

JMenuBar significant method groupings 227

8.2 Menus 227

Creating cascading menus 228

JMenu hierarchy 231

JMenu variables 231

JMenu constructors 231

JMenu significant method groupings 232

8.3 Menu items 233

Adding graphics to menu items 239

Adding ToolTips 239

Menu item keyboard mnemonics 240

Responding to a menu selection 241

JMenuItem hierarchy 241

JMenuItem constructors 241

JMenuItem significant method groupings 242

8.4 Check box menu items 242

Managing check box state 244

JCheckBoxMenuItem hierarchy 245

JCheckBoxMenuItem variables 245

JCheckBoxMenuItem constructors 245

JCheckBoxMenuItem significant method groupings 246

8.5 Radio button menu items 246

JRadioButtonMenuItem hierarchy 248

JRadioButtonMenuItem variables 248

JRadioButtonMenuItem constructors 248

8.6 Pop-up menus 249

JPopupMenu hierarchy 253

JPopupMenu constructors 253

JPopupMenu significant method groupings 253

8.7 Toolbars 254

Toolbar basics 255

A toolbar with many faces 258

Docking and undocking toolbars 259

Adding other components to a toolbar 260

JToolBar hierarchy 261

JToolBar constructors 261

JToolBar significant method groupings 261

8.8 Actions 261

Action basics 262

Common actions for menus and toolbars 263

8.9 Chapter summary 266

9 Dialogs and internal frames 267

9.1 Simple dialogs 269

Handling the close operation 272

Modal vs. nonmodal dialogs 273

A more advanced JDialog example 275

JDialog hierarchy 280

JDialog variables 280

JDialog constructors 280

JDialog significant method groupings 281

9.2 Option dialogs 282

JOptionPane hierarchy 286

JOptionPane constants 286

JOptionPane variables 287

JOptionPane constructors 289

JOptionPane significant method groupings 290

9.3 The color chooser 293

The JColorChooser dialog 293

JColorChooser as a component 296

JColorChooser hierarchy 299

JColorChooser constants 299

JColorChooser constructors 299

JColorChooser significant method groupings 300

9.4 The file chooser 300

JFileChooser hierarchy 305

JFileChooser variables 305

JFileChooser constructors 306

JFileChooser significant method groupings 306

9.5 Internal frames 307

JInternalFrame hierarchy 312

JInternalFrame constants 312

JInternalFrame variables 313

JInternalFrame constructors 314

JInternalFrame significant method groupings 314

9.6 Chapter summary 316

10 List boxes 317

10.1 A simple JList example 318

10.2 A more advanced JList example 320

10.3 Listening for list activity 325

10.4 Custom data model 325

10.5 Basic custom list rendering 328

10.6 Advanced custom list rendering 332

10.7 JList class information 335

JList hierarchy 335

JList constructors 335

JList significant method groupings 336

10.8 Chapter summary 338

11 Trees 341

11.1 Basic tree implementation 342

A basic JTree example 343

Adding new tree items 345

Custom data models 348

Custom rendering 351

Editing tree nodes 357

11.2 Listening for tree actions 360

Listening for tree selections 360

Listening for tree expansions 362

11.3 Tips and tricks for enhancing trees 364

Hiding the root node 365

Expanding and collapsing the tree 365

Selecting and deselecting nodes 365

11.4 JTree class information 366

JTree hierarchy 366

JTree constants 366

JTree variables 367

JTree constructors 368

JTree significant method groupings 369

11.5 Chapter summary 372

12 Tables 375

12.1 Basic table use 376

The simplest of table examples 377

A more complex table example 379

12.2 Adding a custom data model 382

A simple data model example 383

12.3 Adding custom rendering 386

Simple table cell rendering 386

12.4 Rendering column headers 392

Simple header rendering 392

12.5 Listening for table actions 397

Detecting table selections 397

Detecting column property changes 399

12.6 Other tips and tricks 402

Eliminating the annoying gray background 403

Intercepting mouse and keyboard events 403

12.7 Putting it all together 405

12.8 JTable class information 421

JTable hierarchy 421

JTable constants 422

JTable variables 422

JTable constructors 423

JTable significant method groups 424

12.9 Chapter summary 427

PART III Advanced topics 429

13 Creating custom look and feel 431

13.1 Model-view-controller architecture revisited 432

13.2 Why create a look and feel? 433

Corporate standard user interface 433

Ease of portability 433

New component creation 434

13.3 UIManager and JFC look and feel 434

Listing available look-and-feel libraries 435

Changing the current look and feel 437

13.4 Creating a look 440

Building a new button 440

Building chrome menus 454

Supporting themes 462

13.5 Chapter summary 468

14 Optimizing JFC applications 469

14.1 Why optimize? 470

14.2 Using optimization tools 470

A poorly performing test case 470

Sun?s JDK profiler 471

Profiling with Java WorkShop 474

Profiling with OptimizeIt 475

A custom profiler class 477

Native compilation?the easy way out 479

14.3 General rules for Java optimization 481

Loop optimization 481

String handling 483

Numerical data handling 485

Native code 487

Other tips for optimizing Java code 487

14.4 Optimizing JFC applications 488

Adding threads to a JFC application 488

Using JFC timers to reduce CPU usage 490

Other tips for optimizing JFC applications 491

14.5 Chapter summary 492
 
Appendix A Visual development tools 495
Appendix B Other tools 505
Appendix C Sources of information 515
Appendix D References 519
Index 523