The Swing classes eliminate Java's biggest weakness: its relatively primitive user interface toolkit. Swing provides many new components and containers that allow you to build sophisticated user interfaces, far beyond what was possible with AWT. The old components have been greatly improved, and there are many new components, like trees, tables, and even text editors. It also adds several completely new features to Java's user interface capabilities: drag-and-drop, undo, and the ability to develop your own "look and feel," or the ability to choose between several standard looks. The Swing components are all "lightweight," and therefore provide more uniform behavior across platforms, making it easier to test your software. All these new features mean that there's a lot to learn. Swing is undoubtedly way ahead of AWT -- or, for that matter, any widely available user interface toolkit -- but it's also a lot more complicated. It's still easy to do simple things. But once you've seen what's possible, you won't want to do the simple things. Java Swing gives you in-depth coverage of everything you need to know to take full advantage of Swing, providing detailed descriptions of every class and interface in the key Swing packages. It shows you how to use all of the new components, allowing you to build state-of-the-art user interfaces. It also discusses how the components implement the MVC (Model View Controller) architecture, so you can understand how the components are designed and subclass them intelligently. Finally, it shows how to create your own "look and feel." Throughout, Java Swing focuses on giving you the context you need to understand what you're doing. It's more than documentation; Java Swing helps you develop code quickly and effectively. Whether you're a serious Java developer, or just trying to find out what Java can do, you'll find Java Swing an indispensable guide.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 77 Ratings

Encyclopedic tome on Swing is a great reference - 2006-01-21
Reviewer Rating:
This extremely hefty book on Swing has just about everything in it. However, it is intended to be a reference on Swing, not a tutorial. The problem with the Java Swing API is that it is so large and unwieldy itself that it is difficult to write a complete and useful reference that does not reflect that fact. If you need a good tutorial on Java Swing, you might want to look at the Core Java books by Cornell and read the chapters that apply to Swing. Cornell manages to carve out the basics of writing a Swing application very clearly without getting wrapped around the axle in details you do not need if you are a beginner. Then, come back to this book when you need to write an application to get the details you need. Since everything in Swing is a JavaBean, much of each component's behavior is controlled by a set of properties that are manipulated by accessor methods. Thus, this book has a table for each class that presents the class properties, the data type for each property, the accessor methods, and the default values. In addition, the book has plenty of demonstration code that shows how to use just about all of the various Swing components. The book even has chapters dedicated to changing the look and feel of components and also repainting issues, which loom large in Swing. You can download all of the book's code from the book's website at O'Reilly and Associates. I highly recommend this book to anyone who already knows the bare basics of writing applications with Swing and needs a useful reference. There is no better one out there in publication of which I am aware.

Good Book With a Bad Title - 2005-06-04
Reviewer Rating:
This is for people who have a working knowledge of Swing and who want a comprehensive reference on their desks. I am preparing for the java Developer exam and thought this would help me get up to speed with Swing. But this is an over kill. Trying to learn Swing with this book is like trying to open a can of Coke with a bulldozer. It would have been more helpful if the Title was something like 'Swing Reference'. If you want to learn some Swing to get some work done very quickly stay away. If you are in the Guru class then go for it. 4 stars because it is indeed a well written reference (Juding from Chapter 1 and 3 and some skimming) But not 5 stars because the Title is misleading

not bad! - 2009-11-16
Reviewer Rating:
Some more damage than described, but still a great deal for $5. Would buy again.

not what i paid for - 2009-04-10
Reviewer Rating:
A purchased a brand new book. When I got it the cover was creased in half.
The book is amazing but the shipping care was poor. I should have just got a used book. bad job amazon

Very Informative -- A desktop quick reference - 2008-02-05
Reviewer Rating:
This book does a very good job of consolidating all of the information regarding Swing that can be found on the internet and putting it into one book. Just be sure to note that it is HUGE.

It contains many interesting code examples and pictures. It takes every JObject (such as JLabel, JFrame, JTable) and compares what they would look like among different look and feels.

I highly reccomend it for any Java desktop programmer.

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