There has been a lot of news about generics, metadata, autoboxing, etc., but I can't say that I have seen what changes are being made for Swing/AWT in Tiger. Can anyone point me to any links about this?

I look at the .NET GUI components available out of the box (and those available from www.componentone.com) and I can't help but wish that Java had GUI components like that.

TIA,
Andy

 

 

What is it you think you're missing?

componentone.com is apparently a third party site, so you apparently aren't limiting yourself. I took a quick look and saw nothing that's not available thru third parties for Java, and I saw some stuff already built in.

Charts, reporting, date/time/numeric fields are all available.

 

 

I should have said that I would like to easily be able to create a modern looking GUI without all the work. Creating a Java app that looks as good as CleverCactus, http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/sightings/S17.html, is a lot of work. It is not that hard to create a GUI like that in .NET.

As for controls, I would love to have a ListBar (like Outlook's), Button ListBar (like Windows Add/Remove Programs), Explorer Bar (like Windows XP Explorer), ListView (like the grouping feature of Windows XP Explorer) controls. It would also be nice to have a pinnable tab control, a dockable MDITab control, a StatusBar control, newer looking Toolbar and Menu controls, etc..

Yes, I can purchase 3rd party controls, but I am yet to see any that look as good as those available on the .NET side. I look at what a company such as Infragistics offers on the .NET side and what they offer on the Java side and I don't think they compare. The .NET controls simply look better. ;) I know Java is cross platform... but that shouldn't mean that the apps shouldn't look good!

HTH,
Andy

 

 

Andy,
is it possible to get some reference and picture regarding the :
"
ListBar (like Outlook's), Button ListBar (like Windows Add/Remove Programs), Explorer Bar (like Windows XP Explorer), ListView (like the grouping feature of Windows XP Explorer) controls. It would also be nice to have a pinnable tab control, a dockable MDITab control, a StatusBar control, newer looking Toolbar and Menu controls, etc..
" ?

thank you.

 

 

ListBar ?
http://www.vbaccelerator.com/home/NET/Code/Controls/ListBar/VSNet_Style_List_Bar/article.asp
-- So, throw a JLabel renderer in a JList - no biggie.

Button ListBar ?
http://www.vbaccelerator.com/home/NET/Code/Controls/ListBar/Button_List_Bar/article.asp
-- So throw JButton renderers in a JList -- simple.

Explorer Bar ?
http://maxxdelphisite.free.fr/exbar.htm
...sorry, I've heard of one before, took a quick look and couldn't find it.

All appear to be simple combinations of existing Java Swing components and layout managers.

If you want a really easy way to make the entire look and feel easily updateable (as opposed to just using Metal or Windows look and feel), take a look at:
www.l2fprod.com

In most cases it's just a couple of lines of code, and your done.
http://servlet.java.sun.com/javaone/resources/content/sf2003/conf/sessions/pdfs/1493.pdf

 

 

The vbAccelerator site is a very good place for seeing what the various controls look like. Here is the link for the explorer bar:
http://www.vbaccelerator.com/home/VB/Code/Controls/Explorer_Bar_Control/article.asp

I understand what you are saying about it being relatively easy to create those type of controls. My point is that developers should not have to create everything from scratch. Why reinvent the wheel on every project? We take the concept of a textbox for granted. It is part of Swing. Why shouldn't some of these other modern controls be part of Swing as well?

I am sure that the controls on the vbAccelerator sit took people a LOT of time to build the controls and their related events. I know I don't have the time (nor am I paid) to spend building controls like that. It is cheaper for me to go out to a 3rd party and buy them. I just haven't found any on the Java side that come even close to the level of richness that is available on the .NET side.


Slight change of topics? The Visual Studio .NET is pretty to look at, but I don't enjoy using the tool that much because it doesn't do much more than act as a smart editor. I am simply not as productive when I develop in C# or VB.NET as I am with Java IDEs like Eclipse or IDEA. However, the available .NET controls are a joy to work with because you can very, VERY quickly build a great looking app. That evens out that productivity factor. On the Java side, all I have are the building blocks to build new controls.

So, with all my blabbering, if Swing won't have any new controls built in, I would be very happy if Java had a site like vbAccelerator where there were lots of feature rich controls available. Perhaps the http://community.java.net/javadesktop/ site will change this...

So back to my original question... What new things are happening on the GUI side of Tiger? ;)

thanks,
Andy