| Overview
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.
Editorial ReviewsProduct DescriptionThe 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. Java Swing gives you in-depth coverage of everything you need to know to take full advantage of the Swing classes, 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. Java Swing is more than documentation; it helps you develop code quickly and effectively. Covers Java 2. | Amazon.com ReviewJava Swing is an excellent introduction to the latest developments in Java-interface technology. The authors explain how (and why) to use Swing components, and meanwhile proceed to document the entire Swing API with the thoroughness and accuracy programmers have come to expect from O'Reilly & Associates. Eckstein, Loy, and Wood start with an architectural overview of Swing and its relationship to the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) and the rest of Java. They talk a little bit about converting programs from the old AWT to the Swing-enhanced AWT, and explain how Swing manages components' "look and feel" characteristics. There's also coverage of actions, which are among Swing's handiest new features. From that point, they proceed to guide readers through the Swing forest, pointing out all the important stuff along the way. Mostly, this tour takes the form of graphical user interface (GUI) component documentation, with chapters devoted to buttons, lists, tables, panes, and the other thingamajigs you can put on-screen with Swing. All the classes in each category get entries, many of which include good commentary and some examples. The authors give some attention to the Accessibility API and its associated utilities, too. A detailed chapter that walks the reader through the process of creating a custom look and feel distinguishes Java Swing from its competitors--this potentially confusing process is explained clearly and thoroughly. --David Wall |
Other Readers Also Read | Top Sellers in This Category | Browse Similar Topics | | | Top Level Categories:Sub-Categories: | | | | |
Reader Reviews From Amazon (Ranked by 'Helpfulness') Average Customer Rating: based on 76 reviews. 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. | 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 | yikes!!, 2005-05-19 Reviewer rating: I can't recall a tech book so thoroughly unreadable! Maybe if I was more well versed in Swing this might make a little more sense, but seriously....it's great that these folks know all the inheritance lines and can spit them out in eight words or less, but seriously...imagine this as a classroom lecture..anybody awake? anybody still here? well, this class inherits from that or this implemements that interface, and if you look closely, you'll see how this references what we said 47 pages ago (or better yet, what we're gonna say 36 pages down the road!)...all well and good...but we're trying to write real programs and solve real problems....c'mon guys, we're not experts here, else we wouldn't be buying the book!! how about a litle real world usage...I don't have to time to check out the API docs to try and figure out what these guys are yakking about...a major disappointment. |
Some information above was provided using data from Amazon.com. View at Amazon > |
| |
|
|
