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| 173 |
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| 174 | <body bgcolor=cornsilk lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
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| 175 |
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| 176 | <div class=Section1>
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| 177 |
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| 178 | <p class=MsoNormal><b><span
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| 179 | style='font-size:18.0pt;'>Java GUI Builders</span></b></p>
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| 180 |
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| 181 | <p class=MsoNormal>By Mitch Stuart</p>
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| 182 |
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| 183 | <p class=MsoNormal>Copyright 2005 <a
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| 184 | href="http://www.fullspan.com/">FullSpan Software</a> - Usage subject to <a
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| 185 | href="http://www.fullspan.com/shared/license.html">license</a></span></p>
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| 186 |
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| 187 | <p class=MsoNormal>Document Version:
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| 188 | 1.4, 06-Apr-2005</p>
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| 189 |
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| 190 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
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| 191 |
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| 192 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
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| 193 |
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| 194 | <p class=MsoNormal><b><span
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| 195 | style='font-size:16.0pt;'>Contents</span></b></p>
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| 196 |
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| 197 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
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| 198 |
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| 199 | <p class=MsoToc1><span
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| 200 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514583">1<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 201 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Introduction<span
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| 202 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'> </span><span
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| 203 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>1</span></a></span></p>
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| 204 |
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| 205 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 206 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514584">1.1<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 207 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Discussion
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| 208 | Thread<span style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:
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| 209 | none;'> </span><span
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| 210 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>1</span></a></span></p>
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| 211 |
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| 212 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 213 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514585">1.2<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 214 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Evaluation Scope
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| 215 | and Methodology<span style='color:windowtext;display:none;
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| 216 | text-decoration:none;'> </span><span
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| 217 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>1</span></a></span></p>
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| 218 |
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| 219 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 220 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514586">1.3<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 221 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Evaluation
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| 222 | Criteria<span style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:
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| 223 | none;'> </span><span
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| 224 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>2</span></a></span></p>
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| 225 |
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| 226 | <p class=MsoToc1><span
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| 227 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514587">2<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 228 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>GUI Builder Background<span
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| 229 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>. </span><span
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| 230 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>2</span></a></span></p>
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| 231 |
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| 232 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 233 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514588">2.1<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 234 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>GUI Components: Swing
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| 235 | vs. SWT<span style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:
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| 236 | none;'> </span><span
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| 237 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>2</span></a></span></p>
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| 238 |
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| 239 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 240 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514589">2.2<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 241 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Layout Managers<span
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| 242 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>3</span></a></span></p>
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| 243 |
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| 244 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 245 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514590">2.3<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 246 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Tool Types<span
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| 247 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>4</span></a></span></p>
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| 248 |
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| 249 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 250 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514591">2.4<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 251 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>GUI Definition
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| 252 | Storage<span style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:
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| 253 | none;'> </span><span
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| 254 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>5</span></a></span></p>
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| 255 |
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| 256 | <p class=MsoToc1><span
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| 257 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514592">3<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 258 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Recommended Products<span
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| 259 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>5</span></a></span></p>
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| 260 |
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| 261 | <p class=MsoToc1><span
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| 262 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514593">4<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 263 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Product Summary<span
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| 264 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>. </span><span
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| 265 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>6</span></a></span></p>
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| 266 |
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| 267 | <p class=MsoToc1><span
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| 268 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514594">5<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 269 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Product Details<span
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| 270 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>9</span></a></span></p>
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| 271 |
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| 272 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 273 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514595">5.1<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 274 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Swing Designer<span
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| 275 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>9</span></a></span></p>
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| 276 |
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| 277 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 278 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514596">5.2<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 279 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>NetBeans<span
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| 280 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>11</span></a></span></p>
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| 281 |
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| 282 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 283 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514597">5.3<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 284 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>JFormDesigner<span
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| 285 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>13</span></a></span></p>
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| 286 |
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| 287 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 288 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514598">5.4<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 289 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>FormLayoutMaker<span
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| 290 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>14</span></a></span></p>
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| 291 |
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| 292 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 293 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514599">5.5<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 294 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Foam<span
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| 295 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'> </span><span
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| 296 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>15</span></a></span></p>
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| 297 |
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| 298 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 299 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514600">5.6<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 300 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Jigloo<span
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| 301 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'> </span><span
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| 302 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>16</span></a></span></p>
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| 303 |
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| 304 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 305 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514601">5.7<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 306 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>JBuilder<span
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| 307 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>16</span></a></span></p>
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| 308 |
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| 309 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 310 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514602">5.8<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 311 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Eclipse Visual
|
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| 312 | Editor<span
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| 313 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>17</span></a></span></p>
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| 314 |
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| 315 | <p class=MsoToc2><span
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| 316 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514603">5.9<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 317 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Jvider<span
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| 318 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>17</span></a></span></p>
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| 319 |
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| 320 | <p class=MsoToc1><span
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| 321 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514604">6<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 322 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Wish List<span
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| 323 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>18</span></a></span></p>
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| 324 |
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| 325 | <p class=MsoToc1><span
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| 326 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514605">7<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 327 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Example Code<span
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| 328 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'> </span><span
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| 329 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>18</span></a></span></p>
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| 330 |
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| 331 | <p class=MsoToc1><span
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| 332 | class=MsoHyperlink><a href="#_Toc100514606">8<span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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| 333 | font-family:"Times New Roman";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;'> </span>Revision History<span
|
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| 334 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>. </span><span
|
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| 335 | style='color:windowtext;display:none;text-decoration:none;'>18</span></a></span></p>
|
|---|
| 336 |
|
|---|
| 337 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 338 |
|
|---|
| 339 | <h1><a name="_Toc100514583">1<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 340 | </span>Introduction</a></h1>
|
|---|
| 341 |
|
|---|
| 342 | <p class=MsoNormal>This article
|
|---|
| 343 | discusses and compares tools for building Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) in
|
|---|
| 344 | Java. It describes my experiences and
|
|---|
| 345 | results in trying to find tools for rapid development of Java GUIs.</p>
|
|---|
| 346 |
|
|---|
| 347 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 348 |
|
|---|
| 349 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514584">1.1<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 350 | </span>Discussion Thread</a></h2>
|
|---|
| 351 |
|
|---|
| 352 | <p class=MsoNormal>There is a <a
|
|---|
| 353 | href="http://www.javalobby.org/java/forums/t17948">JavaLobby discussion thread</a>
|
|---|
| 354 | for this article, where you can view and post comments and questions.</span></p>
|
|---|
| 355 |
|
|---|
| 356 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 357 |
|
|---|
| 358 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514585">1.2<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 359 | </span>Evaluation Scope and Methodology</a></h2>
|
|---|
| 360 |
|
|---|
| 361 | <p class=MsoNormal>Using web searches,
|
|---|
| 362 | I identified more than 20 Java GUI builders to investigate. I read each product web site to determine
|
|---|
| 363 | the feature set, licensing, and pricing.
|
|---|
| 364 | I did other web searches to find existing reviews or opinions of the
|
|---|
| 365 | products, and also to discern vendor/community robustness. In this step, I eliminated some of the
|
|---|
| 366 | products from further consideration (see the <a href="#_Product_Summary">Product
|
|---|
| 367 | Summary</a> for information on why some of the products were not selected).</span></p>
|
|---|
| 368 |
|
|---|
| 369 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 370 |
|
|---|
| 371 | <p class=MsoNormal>With the remaining
|
|---|
| 372 | set of finalist products, I downloaded and installed each one. Then I tested them by creating panels with
|
|---|
| 373 | various sets of components.</p>
|
|---|
| 374 |
|
|---|
| 375 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 376 |
|
|---|
| 377 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514586">1.3<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 378 | </span>Evaluation Criteria</a></h2>
|
|---|
| 379 |
|
|---|
| 380 | <p class=MsoNormal>I did not use a formal evaluation matrix or checklist. However, the following items were considered
|
|---|
| 381 | when evaluating each tool:</p>
|
|---|
| 382 |
|
|---|
| 383 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 384 |
|
|---|
| 385 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 386 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 387 | </span></span>Quality of resulting GUI. Does it look professional and organized? For example, do all the fields line up
|
|---|
| 388 | properly? Does the form behave properly
|
|---|
| 389 | when resized (for example, expanding any growable fields as appropriate).</p>
|
|---|
| 390 |
|
|---|
| 391 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 392 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 393 | </span></span>Development productivity for application development. How quickly can you go from a "blank
|
|---|
| 394 | slate" to a working application?</p>
|
|---|
| 395 |
|
|---|
| 396 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 397 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 398 | </span></span>Development productivity for maintenance. For example, let's say you have created an
|
|---|
| 399 | application with a form. Now you need
|
|---|
| 400 | to modify the form to add a couple of new components (labels, text boxes,
|
|---|
| 401 | etc.). Is the mechanism for maintenance
|
|---|
| 402 | / editing of the form consistent with the original development? Or do you have to use different techniques
|
|---|
| 403 | when modifying existing forms?</p>
|
|---|
| 404 |
|
|---|
| 405 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 406 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 407 | </span></span>Cost and other business considerations. Is the product commercial, free, open
|
|---|
| 408 | source? Is it being actively developed
|
|---|
| 409 | / maintained? Is the vendor and/or
|
|---|
| 410 | community robust?</p>
|
|---|
| 411 |
|
|---|
| 412 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 413 |
|
|---|
| 414 | <h1><a name="_Toc100514587">2<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 415 | </span>GUI Builder Background</a></h1>
|
|---|
| 416 |
|
|---|
| 417 | <p class=MsoNormal>Before jumping into the product discussion, in this section
|
|---|
| 418 | I will present some technical background that will be useful in understanding
|
|---|
| 419 | the similarities and differences between the GUI builder products.</p>
|
|---|
| 420 |
|
|---|
| 421 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 422 |
|
|---|
| 423 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514588">2.1<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 424 | </span>GUI Components: Swing vs. SWT</a></h2>
|
|---|
| 425 |
|
|---|
| 426 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/">Swing</a> is the
|
|---|
| 427 | "built-in" GUI component technology of the Java platform. Swing is the successor to the <a
|
|---|
| 428 | href="http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/awt/">AWT</a> technology that was
|
|---|
| 429 | provided with the early releases of the Java platform. In one sense, Swing replaces AWT. For example, in a Swing program you would
|
|---|
| 430 | use <a
|
|---|
| 431 | href="http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/javax/swing/JTextField.html">javax.swing.JTextField</a></span>
|
|---|
| 432 | instead of <a
|
|---|
| 433 | href="http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/awt/TextField.html">java.awt.TextField</a></span>. In another sense, Swing builds on AWT:
|
|---|
| 434 | JTextField is a descendant of <a
|
|---|
| 435 | href="http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/awt/Container.html">java.awt.Container</a></span>,
|
|---|
| 436 | and many non-component AWT classes (such as layout managers) are used in Swing
|
|---|
| 437 | programming.</p>
|
|---|
| 438 |
|
|---|
| 439 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 440 |
|
|---|
| 441 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.eclipse.org/swt/">SWT</a> (the Standard
|
|---|
| 442 | Widget Toolkit) is an alternative (competing) GUI component technology that is
|
|---|
| 443 | part of the <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/">Eclipse</a> project. There is a large and growing community that
|
|---|
| 444 | advocates SWT over Swing for Java GUI programming.</p>
|
|---|
| 445 |
|
|---|
| 446 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 447 |
|
|---|
| 448 | <p class=MsoNormal>In my own programming, I prefer using Swing, so this article
|
|---|
| 449 | focuses on tools that work with Swing.
|
|---|
| 450 | If a tool happens to support SWT also, I will mention that fact (if I'm
|
|---|
| 451 | aware of it), but I have not tested the SWT capabilities of any of these tools.</p>
|
|---|
| 452 |
|
|---|
| 453 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 454 |
|
|---|
| 455 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514589">2.2<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 456 | </span>Layout Managers</a></h2>
|
|---|
| 457 |
|
|---|
| 458 | <p class=MsoNormal>One of the key decisions in determining how your forms will
|
|---|
| 459 | look, and how easy it will be to create and maintain them, is what layout
|
|---|
| 460 | manager you use. It is quite common to
|
|---|
| 461 | have multiple panels and nested panels within a single form and certainly
|
|---|
| 462 | within a full application. So you may
|
|---|
| 463 | use several different layout managers.
|
|---|
| 464 | But for your "mainstream" forms with labels, data entry
|
|---|
| 465 | fields, etc. that you need to layout and line up, you will likely use a complex
|
|---|
| 466 | layout manager that allows you to layout many components cleanly in relation to
|
|---|
| 467 | each other.</p>
|
|---|
| 468 |
|
|---|
| 469 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 470 |
|
|---|
| 471 | <p class=MsoNormal>Here is an overview of some common layout managers:</p>
|
|---|
| 472 |
|
|---|
| 473 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 474 |
|
|---|
| 475 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 476 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 477 | </span></span><b>Simple layouts</b>. BorderLayout, BoxLayout, CardLayout,
|
|---|
| 478 | FlowLayout, and other similar layouts are simple layout managers that are
|
|---|
| 479 | suitable for laying out a small number of components or nested panels. These are very simple to use and tend to
|
|---|
| 480 | have only a small number of properties to set.
|
|---|
| 481 | For example, for FlowLayout you can set the alignment, horizontal gap,
|
|---|
| 482 | and vertical gap.</p>
|
|---|
| 483 |
|
|---|
| 484 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 485 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 486 | </span></span><b>GridBagLayout</b>. A complex layout manager that is part of the
|
|---|
| 487 | standard Java distribution. If you are
|
|---|
| 488 | building a complex Java GUI, and not using a third-party layout manager, you
|
|---|
| 489 | will tend to end up using this layout.
|
|---|
| 490 | It is very flexible but difficult to work with (there is an amusing
|
|---|
| 491 | animation called <a href="http://madbean.com/blog/2004/17/totallygridbag.html">Totally
|
|---|
| 492 | GridBag</a> illustrating this). One of
|
|---|
| 493 | the key criteria for evaluating a GUI builder is determining how much it
|
|---|
| 494 | simplifies the process of working with GridBagLayout.</p>
|
|---|
| 495 |
|
|---|
| 496 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 497 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 498 | </span></span><b>SpringLayout</b>. A simple but powerful layout manager that is
|
|---|
| 499 | part of the standard Java distribution (as of Java 1.4.x). Sun's <a
|
|---|
| 500 | href="http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/layout/spring.html">Java
|
|---|
| 501 | tutorial</a> says: "The SpringLayout class was added in v 1.4 to support
|
|---|
| 502 | layout in GUI builders." However,
|
|---|
| 503 | of the GUI builders that I looked at, only Swing Designer currently supports
|
|---|
| 504 | SpringLayout, as far as I can tell.<br>
|
|---|
| 505 | <br>
|
|---|
| 506 | In <a href="http://www.softwarereality.com/soapbox/boudreau_interview.jsp">an
|
|---|
| 507 | interview</a>, NetBeans team member Tim Boudreau seemed to indicate that there
|
|---|
| 508 | would be SpringLayout support in NetBeans 4.1.
|
|---|
| 509 | However, in a <a
|
|---|
| 510 | href="http://java.sun.com/developer/community/chat/JavaLive/2004/jl1116.html">chat
|
|---|
| 511 | session</a>, NetBeans team member Larry Baron stated "The Form editor from
|
|---|
| 512 | 4.0 will migrate unchanged to 4.1. We are looking at improvements in releases
|
|---|
| 513 | past NB 4.1".<br>
|
|---|
| 514 | <br>
|
|---|
| 515 | So although SpringLayout looks intriguing, it does not yet seem to have
|
|---|
| 516 | sufficient support among GUI builders to have a major impact on the evaluation
|
|---|
| 517 | here.</p>
|
|---|
| 518 |
|
|---|
| 519 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 520 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 521 | </span></span><b>FormLayout</b>. A third-party open source layout manager
|
|---|
| 522 | from <a href="http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/forms/">JGoodies</a>. FormLayout has capabilities similar to
|
|---|
| 523 | GridBagLayout, but is much simpler to use.
|
|---|
| 524 | The JGoodies Forms package includes not only the FormLayout layout
|
|---|
| 525 | manager itself, but also a set of "builders" (non-visual helper
|
|---|
| 526 | classes) to assist in building panels.
|
|---|
| 527 | FormLayout seems to have the broadest support among GUI builders of any
|
|---|
| 528 | of the third-party layout managers.</p>
|
|---|
| 529 |
|
|---|
| 530 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 531 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 532 | </span></span><b>Other layouts</b>. There are other layout managers capable of
|
|---|
| 533 | laying out complex forms, like <a
|
|---|
| 534 | href="http://www.clearthought.info/software/TableLayout/">TableLayout</a>, <a
|
|---|
| 535 | href="http://www.zookitec.com/explicitlayout.html">ExplicitLayout</a>, <a
|
|---|
| 536 | href="http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2002/09/18/relativelayout.html">RelativeLayout</a>,
|
|---|
| 537 | <a href="http://easylayout.sohlman.com/index.html">EasyLayout</a>, and <a
|
|---|
| 538 | href="http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/javatips/jw-javatip129.html">SGLayout</a>. However, these do not have broad support
|
|---|
| 539 | among the tools evaluated here, so these layout managers are not considered in
|
|---|
| 540 | detail.</p>
|
|---|
| 541 |
|
|---|
| 542 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 543 |
|
|---|
| 544 | <p class=MsoNormal>For me, the choice of the "main" layout manager
|
|---|
| 545 | for my applications comes down to FormLayout vs. GridBagLayout. If I am building forms using pure code with
|
|---|
| 546 | no GUI builder, there is no contest: FormLayout wins hands down. It gives the best results and the highest
|
|---|
| 547 | productivity. If I am using a GUI
|
|---|
| 548 | builder, then the choice is not as clear.
|
|---|
| 549 | I would still prefer to use FormLayout, but there are excellent GUI
|
|---|
| 550 | builders for both FormLayout and GridBagLayout.</p>
|
|---|
| 551 |
|
|---|
| 552 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 553 |
|
|---|
| 554 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514590">2.3<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 555 | </span>Tool Types</a></h2>
|
|---|
| 556 |
|
|---|
| 557 | <p class=MsoNormal>There are different types of GUI builders:</p>
|
|---|
| 558 |
|
|---|
| 559 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 560 |
|
|---|
| 561 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 562 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 563 | </span></span>Full IDE. A
|
|---|
| 564 | full integrated development environment for building the GUI, developing the
|
|---|
| 565 | supporting code, and "wiring together" the GUI with event handling
|
|---|
| 566 | and other related tasks. Examples
|
|---|
| 567 | include the Eclipse Visual Editor, NetBeans, JBuilder, and JDeveloper.</p>
|
|---|
| 568 |
|
|---|
| 569 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 570 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 571 | </span></span>IDE plug-in. A
|
|---|
| 572 | GUI editor designed specifically to work within an IDE. Examples include Swing Designer, Jigloo, and
|
|---|
| 573 | Jvider.<br>
|
|---|
| 574 | <br>
|
|---|
| 575 | Strictly speaking, the Eclipse Visual Editor is also an IDE plug-in, since it
|
|---|
| 576 | is not provided with the base Eclipse download, but must be downloaded
|
|---|
| 577 | separately. However, I put it in the
|
|---|
| 578 | Full IDE category because it is provided by the same "vendor"
|
|---|
| 579 | (eclipse.org) as the IDE itself.</p>
|
|---|
| 580 |
|
|---|
| 581 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 582 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 583 | </span></span>WYSIWYG editor.
|
|---|
| 584 | A panel builder that gives a "what you see is what you get"
|
|---|
| 585 | editing view. Generally you drop
|
|---|
| 586 | components onto a panel and move them around.
|
|---|
| 587 | After the panel looks right, you go through some code generation or
|
|---|
| 588 | other integration step to make the panel available to your Java code. Examples include JFormDesigner and Foam.</p>
|
|---|
| 589 |
|
|---|
| 590 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 591 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 592 | </span></span>Non-WYSIWYG editor.
|
|---|
| 593 | A panel builder that helps you build panels by grouping components and
|
|---|
| 594 | setting properties, but without the immediate visual feedback you get with a
|
|---|
| 595 | WYSIWYG editor. These tools usually
|
|---|
| 596 | have a "preview" button so that as you are building your panel, you
|
|---|
| 597 | can view the result without having to integrate the panel into a complete
|
|---|
| 598 | program. Examples include
|
|---|
| 599 | FormLayoutMaker and SpeedJG.</p>
|
|---|
| 600 |
|
|---|
| 601 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 602 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 603 | </span></span>Pure code. A library intended to ease or improve GUI
|
|---|
| 604 | development, without providing a visual tool.
|
|---|
| 605 | The focus of this article is to find a visual tool, so such libraries
|
|---|
| 606 | are not covered in detail here.
|
|---|
| 607 | Although the pure code approach sounds more primitive than using a
|
|---|
| 608 | visual designer, some programmers feel that it is better than visual
|
|---|
| 609 | development, because the common code can be factored out more easily, and you
|
|---|
| 610 | do not get the code "bloat" that is typical with GUI code generators. An example of a pure code approach is the
|
|---|
| 611 | PanelBuilder class provided with the JGoodies Forms package.</p>
|
|---|
| 612 |
|
|---|
| 613 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 614 |
|
|---|
| 615 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514591">2.4<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 616 | </span>GUI Definition Storage</a></h2>
|
|---|
| 617 |
|
|---|
| 618 | <p class=MsoNormal>Once you have defined your GUI, in what format does the GUI
|
|---|
| 619 | builder save it?</p>
|
|---|
| 620 |
|
|---|
| 621 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 622 |
|
|---|
| 623 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 624 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 625 | </span></span>Pure code. The
|
|---|
| 626 | tool generates Java code to create the GUI, and parses Java code to read it
|
|---|
| 627 | into the visual editor. It does not
|
|---|
| 628 | save any files other than the Java code.
|
|---|
| 629 | Examples are the Swing Designer, the Eclipse Visual Editor, and
|
|---|
| 630 | Jigloo. Sometimes a tool will include
|
|---|
| 631 | special comments in the generated Java code to help it read back the code and
|
|---|
| 632 | display it in the visual editor.</p>
|
|---|
| 633 |
|
|---|
| 634 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 635 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 636 | </span></span>Code and metadata.
|
|---|
| 637 | The tool generates metadata describing the forms, as well as Java code
|
|---|
| 638 | to display the forms. An example is
|
|---|
| 639 | NetBeans, which saves the form definition in .form files and generates code in
|
|---|
| 640 | .java files. The .form files live in
|
|---|
| 641 | the same directory as the corresponding .java file.<br>
|
|---|
| 642 | <br>
|
|---|
| 643 | Tools that use metadata differ on whether they depend on the metadata at design
|
|---|
| 644 | time only, or at design time and run time.
|
|---|
| 645 | For example, NetBeans uses its .form files only at design time; the
|
|---|
| 646 | runtime is pure Java code. In contrast,
|
|---|
| 647 | Foam uses its .gui_xml files at design time and runtime. As another example, JFormDesigner gives you
|
|---|
| 648 | a choice. It creates .jfd files with
|
|---|
| 649 | the form design. You have a choice of
|
|---|
| 650 | whether to deploy the .jfd files and a (royalty-free) runtime library to load
|
|---|
| 651 | the files, or you can choose to generate runtime code that has no dependency on
|
|---|
| 652 | the .jfd files.</p>
|
|---|
| 653 |
|
|---|
| 654 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 655 |
|
|---|
| 656 | <h1><a name="_Toc100514592">3<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 657 | </span>Recommended Products</a></h1>
|
|---|
| 658 |
|
|---|
| 659 | <p class=MsoNormal>My evaluation resulted in me selecting one overall
|
|---|
| 660 | "best" tool for most of my Java GUI work: Swing Designer. I also identified several other excellent
|
|---|
| 661 | tools that I would be happy to use, depending on the requirements of the
|
|---|
| 662 | project in question.</p>
|
|---|
| 663 |
|
|---|
| 664 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 665 |
|
|---|
| 666 | <p class=MsoNormal>I can summarize these recommended products as follows:</p>
|
|---|
| 667 |
|
|---|
| 668 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 669 |
|
|---|
| 670 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 671 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 672 | </span></span><b>Swing Designer</b>: Best overall and best integrated
|
|---|
| 673 | solution.</p>
|
|---|
| 674 |
|
|---|
| 675 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 676 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 677 | </span></span><b>NetBeans</b>:
|
|---|
| 678 | Very good overall and best free/open source integrated solution.</p>
|
|---|
| 679 |
|
|---|
| 680 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 681 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 682 | </span></span><b>JFormDesigner</b>:
|
|---|
| 683 | Best pure panel layout tool.</p>
|
|---|
| 684 |
|
|---|
| 685 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 686 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 687 | </span></span><b>FormLayoutMaker</b>:
|
|---|
| 688 | Best free/open source pure panel layout tool.</p>
|
|---|
| 689 |
|
|---|
| 690 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 691 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 692 | </span></span><b>Foam</b>: Most
|
|---|
| 693 | innovative tool.</p>
|
|---|
| 694 |
|
|---|
| 695 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 696 |
|
|---|
| 697 | <p class=MsoNormal>Detailed information and pros/cons of these and the other
|
|---|
| 698 | tested products are given in the <a href="#_Product_Details">Product Details</a>
|
|---|
| 699 | section.</p>
|
|---|
| 700 |
|
|---|
| 701 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 702 |
|
|---|
| 703 | <p class=MsoNormal>One common theme that emerged from my evaluation is:
|
|---|
| 704 | "integration is good". I went
|
|---|
| 705 | into the project not particularly caring whether I used an IDE's native GUI
|
|---|
| 706 | builder, an IDE plug-in, or a standalone product. As I spent time with the products, I came to believe that tight
|
|---|
| 707 | IDE integration is essential to attain the highest productivity. GUI application building is more than just
|
|---|
| 708 | panel building: it involves integrating the panels into the application, and
|
|---|
| 709 | dealing with component properties, event handlers, and the "glue"
|
|---|
| 710 | between application logic and the GUI.</p>
|
|---|
| 711 |
|
|---|
| 712 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 713 |
|
|---|
| 714 | <h1><a name="_Toc100514593"></a><a name="_Product_Summary"></a>4<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 715 | </span>Product
|
|---|
| 716 | Summary</h1>
|
|---|
| 717 |
|
|---|
| 718 | <p class=MsoNormal>This table lists all of the products that I
|
|---|
| 719 | investigated. They are divided into 3
|
|---|
| 720 | categories:</p>
|
|---|
| 721 |
|
|---|
| 722 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 723 |
|
|---|
| 724 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 725 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 726 | </span></span>Category A.
|
|---|
| 727 | Products that were tested hands-on, and are recommended as my favorites
|
|---|
| 728 | among those tested.</p>
|
|---|
| 729 |
|
|---|
| 730 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 731 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 732 | </span></span>Category B.
|
|---|
| 733 | Products that were tested hands-on, but during testing were found to be
|
|---|
| 734 | less suitable than those in Category A.</p>
|
|---|
| 735 |
|
|---|
| 736 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 737 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 738 | </span></span>Category C.
|
|---|
| 739 | Products that were briefly investigated but were not tested hands-on,
|
|---|
| 740 | due to technical or business reasons.</p>
|
|---|
| 741 |
|
|---|
| 742 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 743 |
|
|---|
| 744 | <p class=MsoNormal>Within each category, products are listed in estimated order
|
|---|
| 745 | of suitability to my requirements.
|
|---|
| 746 | Please don't put too much weight on the "ranking" or ordering
|
|---|
| 747 | of the products in the table. Instead,
|
|---|
| 748 | I suggest that you use my comments as a guide to help you figure out which
|
|---|
| 749 | products are worth investigating, based on your own requirements and
|
|---|
| 750 | preferences.</p>
|
|---|
| 751 |
|
|---|
| 752 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 753 |
|
|---|
| 754 | <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=619 style='width:6.45in;
|
|---|
| 755 | border-collapse:collapse;border:none;'>
|
|---|
| 756 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 757 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 758 | background:#D98A06;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 759 | <p class=MsoNormal><b><span
|
|---|
| 760 | style='font-size:12.0pt'>#</span></b></p>
|
|---|
| 761 | </td>
|
|---|
| 762 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 763 | border-left:none;background:#D98A06;
|
|---|
| 764 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 765 | <p class=MsoNormal><b><span
|
|---|
| 766 | style='font-size:12.0pt'>Product</span></b></p>
|
|---|
| 767 | </td>
|
|---|
| 768 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 769 | border-left:none;background:#D98A06;
|
|---|
| 770 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 771 | <p class=MsoNormal><b><span
|
|---|
| 772 | style='font-size:12.0pt'>Comments</span></b></p>
|
|---|
| 773 | </td>
|
|---|
| 774 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 775 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 776 | <td width=619 colspan=3 valign=top style='width:6.45in;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 777 | border-top:none;background:#FBC364;
|
|---|
| 778 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 779 | <p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Category
|
|---|
| 780 | A: Tested hands-on and recommended</span></b></p>
|
|---|
| 781 | </td>
|
|---|
| 782 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 783 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 784 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 785 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 786 | <p class=MsoNormal>1</p>
|
|---|
| 787 | </td>
|
|---|
| 788 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 789 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 790 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 791 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.swing-designer.com/">Instantiations
|
|---|
| 792 | Swing Designer</a></p>
|
|---|
| 793 | <p class=MsoNormal>$199 per developer</p>
|
|---|
| 794 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 795 | <p class=MsoNormal>Related products: <a href="http://www.swt-designer.com/">SWT
|
|---|
| 796 | Designer</a> ($199), <a href="http://www.windowbuilderpro.com/">WindowBuilder
|
|---|
| 797 | Pro</a> ($299)</p>
|
|---|
| 798 | </td>
|
|---|
| 799 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 800 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 801 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 802 | <p class=MsoNormal>Best overall and best integrated solution. See <a href="#_Swing_Designer">Product
|
|---|
| 803 | Details</a>.</p>
|
|---|
| 804 | </td>
|
|---|
| 805 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 806 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 807 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 808 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 809 | <p class=MsoNormal>2</p>
|
|---|
| 810 | </td>
|
|---|
| 811 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 812 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 813 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 814 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.netbeans.org/">NetBeans</a> 4.0</p>
|
|---|
| 815 | <p class=MsoNormal>Free, Open Source (Sun Public License)</p>
|
|---|
| 816 | </td>
|
|---|
| 817 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 818 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 819 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 820 | <p class=MsoNormal>Very good overall and best free/open source integrated
|
|---|
| 821 | solution. See <a href="#_NetBeans_1">Product
|
|---|
| 822 | Details</a>.</p>
|
|---|
| 823 | </td>
|
|---|
| 824 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 825 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 826 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 827 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 828 | <p class=MsoNormal>3</p>
|
|---|
| 829 | </td>
|
|---|
| 830 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 831 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 832 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 833 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.jformdesigner.com/">JFormDesigner</a>
|
|---|
| 834 | 1.0.2</p>
|
|---|
| 835 | <p class=MsoNormal>$159 per developer for commercial use</p>
|
|---|
| 836 | </td>
|
|---|
| 837 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 838 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 839 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 840 | <p class=MsoNormal>Best pure panel layout tool. See <a href="#_JFormDesigner">Product Details</a>.</p>
|
|---|
| 841 | </td>
|
|---|
| 842 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 843 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 844 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 845 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 846 | <p class=MsoNormal>4</p>
|
|---|
| 847 | </td>
|
|---|
| 848 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 849 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 850 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 851 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://formlayoutmaker.sourceforge.net/">FormLayoutMaker</a>
|
|---|
| 852 | rc7</p>
|
|---|
| 853 | <p class=MsoNormal>Free, Open Source (BSD license)</p>
|
|---|
| 854 | </td>
|
|---|
| 855 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 856 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 857 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 858 | <p class=MsoNormal>Best free/open source pure panel layout tool. See <a href="#_FormLayoutMaker">Product
|
|---|
| 859 | Details</a>.</p>
|
|---|
| 860 | </td>
|
|---|
| 861 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 862 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 863 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 864 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 865 | <p class=MsoNormal>5</p>
|
|---|
| 866 | </td>
|
|---|
| 867 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 868 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 869 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 870 | <p class=MsoNormal><a
|
|---|
| 871 | href="http://www.computersinmotion.com/products_foam.htm">Foam</a> 1.2</p>
|
|---|
| 872 | <p class=MsoNormal>$150 per developer</p>
|
|---|
| 873 | </td>
|
|---|
| 874 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 875 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 876 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 877 | <p class=MsoNormal>Most innovative tool.
|
|---|
| 878 | See <a href="#_Foam">Product Details</a>.</p>
|
|---|
| 879 | </td>
|
|---|
| 880 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 881 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 882 | <td width=619 colspan=3 valign=top style='width:6.45in;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 883 | border-top:none;background:#FBC364;
|
|---|
| 884 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 885 | <p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Category
|
|---|
| 886 | B: Tested hands-on</span></b></p>
|
|---|
| 887 | </td>
|
|---|
| 888 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 889 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 890 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 891 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 892 | <p class=MsoNormal>6</p>
|
|---|
| 893 | </td>
|
|---|
| 894 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 895 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 896 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 897 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://cloudgarden.com/jigloo/">Jigloo</a> 3.1.0
|
|---|
| 898 | (pre-release)</p>
|
|---|
| 899 | <p class=MsoNormal>Free for non-commercial use; $75 per developer for
|
|---|
| 900 | commercial use</p>
|
|---|
| 901 | </td>
|
|---|
| 902 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 903 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 904 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 905 | <p class=MsoNormal>Not as polished as the leading products. See <a href="#_Jigloo">Product Details</a>.</p>
|
|---|
| 906 | </td>
|
|---|
| 907 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 908 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 909 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 910 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 911 | <p class=MsoNormal>7</p>
|
|---|
| 912 | </td>
|
|---|
| 913 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 914 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 915 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 916 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.borland.com/jbuilder/">JBuilder</a>
|
|---|
| 917 | 2005 Foundation</p>
|
|---|
| 918 | <p class=MsoNormal>Foundation edition is free (including for commercial
|
|---|
| 919 | use). Developer edition is $500 and
|
|---|
| 920 | Enterprise edition is $3,500.</p>
|
|---|
| 921 | </td>
|
|---|
| 922 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 923 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 924 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 925 | <p class=MsoNormal>No compelling benefit over NetBeans. See <a href="#_JBuilder">Product Details</a>.</p>
|
|---|
| 926 | </td>
|
|---|
| 927 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 928 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 929 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 930 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 931 | <p class=MsoNormal>8</p>
|
|---|
| 932 | </td>
|
|---|
| 933 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 934 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 935 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 936 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.eclipse.org/vep/">Eclipse Visual
|
|---|
| 937 | Editor</a> 1.0.2</p>
|
|---|
| 938 | <p class=MsoNormal>Free, Open Source (Eclipse License)</p>
|
|---|
| 939 | </td>
|
|---|
| 940 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 941 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 942 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 943 | <p class=MsoNormal>Not ready for prime time.
|
|---|
| 944 | See <a href="#_Eclipse_Visual_Editor">Product Details</a>.</p>
|
|---|
| 945 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 946 | </td>
|
|---|
| 947 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 948 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 949 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 950 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 951 | <p class=MsoNormal>9</p>
|
|---|
| 952 | </td>
|
|---|
| 953 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 954 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 955 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 956 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.jvider.com/">Jvider</a> 1.7</p>
|
|---|
| 957 | <p class=MsoNormal>$69 per developer</p>
|
|---|
| 958 | </td>
|
|---|
| 959 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 960 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 961 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 962 | <p class=MsoNormal>Integration is not rich enough. See <a href="#_Jvider">Product Details</a>.</p>
|
|---|
| 963 | </td>
|
|---|
| 964 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 965 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 966 | <td width=619 colspan=3 valign=top style='width:6.45in;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 967 | border-top:none;background:#FBC364;
|
|---|
| 968 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 969 | <p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Category
|
|---|
| 970 | C: Not tested hands-on</span></b></p>
|
|---|
| 971 | </td>
|
|---|
| 972 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 973 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 974 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 975 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 976 | <p class=MsoNormal>10</p>
|
|---|
| 977 | </td>
|
|---|
| 978 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 979 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 980 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 981 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/">IntelliJ IDEA</a></p>
|
|---|
| 982 | <p class=MsoNormal>$499 </p>
|
|---|
| 983 | </td>
|
|---|
| 984 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 985 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 986 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 987 | <p class=MsoNormal>A full IDE with an integrated GUI builder. At design time, uses XY and Grid-based
|
|---|
| 988 | layouts for component positioning.
|
|---|
| 989 | Stores form definitions in XML .form files. Gives the option of generating compiled Java classes for the
|
|---|
| 990 | GUI, or Java source code.</p>
|
|---|
| 991 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 992 | <p class=MsoNormal>The website states "The GUI Designer does not create
|
|---|
| 993 | a main frame for an application, nor does it create menus". It seems strange that you would have to
|
|---|
| 994 | manually create menus and a top-level container such as a JFrame in an
|
|---|
| 995 | integrated product.</p>
|
|---|
| 996 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 997 | <p class=MsoNormal>Appears to use its own layout manager(s) as opposed to
|
|---|
| 998 | standard ones like GridBagLayout.
|
|---|
| 999 | This is probably a good thing for development productivity, but it may
|
|---|
| 1000 | cause some concern about code portability (for example, if you decided to
|
|---|
| 1001 | change IDEs, or if IntelliJ maintenance became unavailable).</p>
|
|---|
| 1002 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1003 | <p class=MsoNormal>On the other hand, I have <a
|
|---|
| 1004 | href="http://www.javalobby.org/java/forums/m91829214">been informed</a> that
|
|---|
| 1005 | the IDEA layout manager is open source (I have not personally verified
|
|---|
| 1006 | this). This would certainly ease the
|
|---|
| 1007 | concern about vendor "lock in".
|
|---|
| 1008 | Also, there is a third-party <a
|
|---|
| 1009 | href="http://plugins.intellij.net/plugins/view/?id=GuiSource">plug-in</a>
|
|---|
| 1010 | that can convert the .form files to Java source code, including the option to
|
|---|
| 1011 | use GridBagLayout (again, I have not verified this capability).</p>
|
|---|
| 1012 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1013 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1014 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 1015 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1016 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1017 | <p class=MsoNormal>11</p>
|
|---|
| 1018 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1019 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 1020 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1021 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1022 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://abeille.dev.java.net/">Abeille Forms
|
|---|
| 1023 | Designer</a></p>
|
|---|
| 1024 | <p class=MsoNormal>Free, Open Source (LGPL license for Designer, BSD license
|
|---|
| 1025 | for Runtime)</p>
|
|---|
| 1026 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1027 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 1028 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1029 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1030 | <p class=MsoNormal>One of the better open source choices. Supports JGoodies FormLayout. Comparing Abeille and FormLayoutMaker, I
|
|---|
| 1031 | gave a slight edge to FormLayoutMaker, but I think Abeille would still be
|
|---|
| 1032 | worth investigating.</p>
|
|---|
| 1033 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1034 | <p class=MsoNormal>I got some <a
|
|---|
| 1035 | href="http://www.javalobby.org/java/forums/m91829430.html">feedback</a>
|
|---|
| 1036 | stating that Abeille is actually superior to FormLayoutMaker, but
|
|---|
| 1037 | unfortunately I do not currently have time to do a hands-on test of Abeille.</p>
|
|---|
| 1038 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1039 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1040 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 1041 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1042 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1043 | <p class=MsoNormal>12</p>
|
|---|
| 1044 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1045 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 1046 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1047 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1048 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.swingempire.de/palace/FormBuilder/">SwingEmpire
|
|---|
| 1049 | FormBuilder</a></p>
|
|---|
| 1050 | <p class=MsoNormal>Seems to be free, license not clear; site states that
|
|---|
| 1051 | there will eventually be a commercial version</p>
|
|---|
| 1052 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1053 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 1054 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1055 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1056 | <p class=MsoNormal>GUI builder for JGoodies FormLayout. Not a WYSIWYG editor, but a form builder
|
|---|
| 1057 | with preview.</p>
|
|---|
| 1058 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1059 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1060 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 1061 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1062 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1063 | <p class=MsoNormal>13</p>
|
|---|
| 1064 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1065 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 1066 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1067 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1068 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://radical.sourceforge.net/">Radical</a></p>
|
|---|
| 1069 | <p class=MsoNormal>Free, Open Source (Apache license for standalone version;
|
|---|
| 1070 | GPL for jEdit plugin)</p>
|
|---|
| 1071 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1072 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 1073 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1074 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1075 | <p class=MsoNormal>An open source WYSIWYG GUI builder that uses the
|
|---|
| 1076 | TableLayout layout engine. Has a
|
|---|
| 1077 | dialog that appears to provide full coverage for setting component
|
|---|
| 1078 | properties. Generates code.</p>
|
|---|
| 1079 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1080 | <p class=MsoNormal>Runs as either a standalone tool or a jEdit plugin.</p>
|
|---|
| 1081 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1082 | <p class=MsoNormal>I prefer to use FormLayout instead of TableLayout, so I
|
|---|
| 1083 | would tend to select FormLayoutMaker or Abeille over Radical. Other than that, Radical looks like it's
|
|---|
| 1084 | worth investigating.</p>
|
|---|
| 1085 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1086 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1087 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 1088 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1089 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1090 | <p class=MsoNormal>14</p>
|
|---|
| 1091 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1092 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 1093 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1094 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1095 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.wsoftware.de/SpeedJG/">SpeedJG</a></p>
|
|---|
| 1096 | <p class=MsoNormal>$69 per developer</p>
|
|---|
| 1097 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1098 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 1099 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1100 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1101 | <p class=MsoNormal>The approach is to build a GUI using XML as the representation. It is not a WYSIWYG editor, you create the
|
|---|
| 1102 | XML using their easy-to-use IDE, then click "Test" to see the
|
|---|
| 1103 | generated GUI.</p>
|
|---|
| 1104 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1105 | <p class=MsoNormal>Looks intriguing and well done, but I did not test because
|
|---|
| 1106 | I am more interested in a visual editor.</p>
|
|---|
| 1107 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1108 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1109 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 1110 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1111 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1112 | <p class=MsoNormal>15</p>
|
|---|
| 1113 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1114 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 1115 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1116 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1117 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/jdev/">Oracle
|
|---|
| 1118 | JDeveloper</a></p>
|
|---|
| 1119 | <p class=MsoNormal>It is a bit confusing to find pricing information. At the <a
|
|---|
| 1120 | href="http://oraclestore.oracle.com/">Oracle Store</a>, there is a product
|
|---|
| 1121 | called "JDeveloper - Named User Plus Perpetual" listed at $995.</p>
|
|---|
| 1122 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1123 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 1124 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1125 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1126 | <p class=MsoNormal>Originally based (circa 1997) on Borland's JBuilder,
|
|---|
| 1127 | similarities between the two products can still be clearly seen in the GUI
|
|---|
| 1128 | builder (e.g., support for XYLayout).</p>
|
|---|
| 1129 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1130 | <p class=MsoNormal>There are many features that make JDeveloper stand out,
|
|---|
| 1131 | but from a pure GUI builder standpoint, there is no compelling benefit over
|
|---|
| 1132 | NetBeans. Since the JDeveloper GUI
|
|---|
| 1133 | builder was originally based on JBuilder, see the comments about JBuilder in <a
|
|---|
| 1134 | href="#_JBuilder">Product Details</a>.</p>
|
|---|
| 1135 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1136 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1137 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 1138 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1139 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1140 | <p class=MsoNormal>16</p>
|
|---|
| 1141 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1142 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 1143 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1144 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1145 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.reportmill.com/ribs/">Ribs</a></p>
|
|---|
| 1146 | <p class=MsoNormal>Could not find pricing</p>
|
|---|
| 1147 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1148 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 1149 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1150 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1151 | <p class=MsoNormal>Looks like it was never officially released (still in
|
|---|
| 1152 | preview). Uses absolute positioning
|
|---|
| 1153 | and sizes.</p>
|
|---|
| 1154 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1155 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1156 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 1157 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1158 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1159 | <p class=MsoNormal>17</p>
|
|---|
| 1160 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1161 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 1162 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1163 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1164 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.openabacus.org/">AbaGuiBuilder</a></p>
|
|---|
| 1165 | <p class=MsoNormal>Free, Open Source (GPL)</p>
|
|---|
| 1166 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1167 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 1168 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1169 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1170 | <p class=MsoNormal>Claims to be "Under Development" but seems to be
|
|---|
| 1171 | actively worked on. Both design time
|
|---|
| 1172 | and runtime are GPL licensed. Design
|
|---|
| 1173 | time GPL is OK, but runtime GPL is a showstopper for me, so I did not test.</p>
|
|---|
| 1174 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1175 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1176 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 1177 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1178 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1179 | <p class=MsoNormal>18</p>
|
|---|
| 1180 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1181 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 1182 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1183 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1184 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.jdc-software.com/products.php">LayoutBuilder</a></p>
|
|---|
| 1185 | <p class=MsoNormal>$99 per developer</p>
|
|---|
| 1186 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1187 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1188 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 1189 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1190 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1191 | <p class=MsoNormal>Appears to support only "standard" layout
|
|---|
| 1192 | managers (GridBagLayout, FlowLayout, etc.).
|
|---|
| 1193 | Thus it is less interesting than standalone layout tools like
|
|---|
| 1194 | JFormDesigner that support JGoodies FormLayout.</p>
|
|---|
| 1195 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1196 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1197 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 1198 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1199 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1200 | <p class=MsoNormal>19</p>
|
|---|
| 1201 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1202 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 1203 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1204 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1205 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.mars3000.com/">JFrameBuilder</a></p>
|
|---|
| 1206 | <p class=MsoNormal>$67 per developer</p>
|
|---|
| 1207 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1208 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 1209 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1210 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1211 | <p class=MsoNormal>Generates code, seems to be one-way.</p>
|
|---|
| 1212 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1213 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1214 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 1215 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1216 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1217 | <p class=MsoNormal>20</p>
|
|---|
| 1218 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1219 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 1220 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1221 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1222 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://www.ratundtat.com/produkte_eng/main.htm">JBeaver</a></p>
|
|---|
| 1223 | <p class=MsoNormal>49 Euros</p>
|
|---|
| 1224 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1225 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 1226 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1227 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1228 | <p class=MsoNormal>The site says "A free trial version of JBeaver is
|
|---|
| 1229 | downloadable from this website" but I could not find the download
|
|---|
| 1230 | link. The screenshot of the Design
|
|---|
| 1231 | view looks very nice. Supports
|
|---|
| 1232 | JGoodies FormLayout.</p>
|
|---|
| 1233 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1234 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1235 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 1236 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1237 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1238 | <p class=MsoNormal>21</p>
|
|---|
| 1239 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1240 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 1241 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1242 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1243 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://uic.sourceforge.net/">User Interface
|
|---|
| 1244 | Compiler</a></p>
|
|---|
| 1245 | <p class=MsoNormal>Seems to be free, license not clear</p>
|
|---|
| 1246 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1247 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 1248 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1249 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1250 | <p class=MsoNormal>Uses <a
|
|---|
| 1251 | href="http://doc.trolltech.com/3.3/designer-manual.html">Qt Designer</a> as
|
|---|
| 1252 | the designer, then compiles it into (?) XML.</p>
|
|---|
| 1253 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1254 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1255 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 1256 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1257 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1258 | <p class=MsoNormal>22</p>
|
|---|
| 1259 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1260 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 1261 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1262 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1263 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.ics.com/getbxjava/">BX for Java</a></p>
|
|---|
| 1264 | <p class=MsoNormal>Pricing not clear, perhaps $998 per developer</p>
|
|---|
| 1265 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1266 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 1267 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1268 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1269 | <p class=MsoNormal>Too expensive for me.</p>
|
|---|
| 1270 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1271 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1272 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 1273 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1274 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1275 | <p class=MsoNormal>23</p>
|
|---|
| 1276 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1277 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 1278 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1279 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1280 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.ist-inc.com/visaj/">Visaj</a></p>
|
|---|
| 1281 | <p class=MsoNormal>$995 per developer</p>
|
|---|
| 1282 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1283 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 1284 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1285 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1286 | <p class=MsoNormal>Too expensive for me.</p>
|
|---|
| 1287 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1288 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1289 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 1290 | <td width=55 valign=top style='width:41.4pt;border:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1291 | border-top:none;padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1292 | <p class=MsoNormal>24</p>
|
|---|
| 1293 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1294 | <td width=192 valign=top style='width:2.0in;border-top:none;border-left:none;
|
|---|
| 1295 | border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1296 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1297 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.jeasy.de/">JEasy</a></p>
|
|---|
| 1298 | <p class=MsoNormal>780 Euros for distributable Pro version</p>
|
|---|
| 1299 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1300 | <td width=372 valign=top style='width:279.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:
|
|---|
| 1301 | none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .5pt;border-right:solid windowtext .5pt;
|
|---|
| 1302 | padding:.05in 5.75pt .05in 5.75pt'>
|
|---|
| 1303 | <p class=MsoNormal>Too expensive for me.</p>
|
|---|
| 1304 | </td>
|
|---|
| 1305 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 1306 | </table>
|
|---|
| 1307 |
|
|---|
| 1308 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1309 |
|
|---|
| 1310 | <h1><a name="_Toc100514594"></a><a name="_Product_Details"></a>5<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1311 | </span>Product
|
|---|
| 1312 | Details</h1>
|
|---|
| 1313 |
|
|---|
| 1314 | <p class=MsoNormal>This section contains detailed information on all the
|
|---|
| 1315 | products that I tested hands-on.</p>
|
|---|
| 1316 |
|
|---|
| 1317 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514595"></a><a name="_NetBeans"></a><a
|
|---|
| 1318 | name="_Swing_Designer"></a>5.1<span
|
|---|
| 1319 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span>Swing Designer</h2>
|
|---|
| 1320 |
|
|---|
| 1321 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.swing-designer.com/">Instantiations
|
|---|
| 1322 | Swing Designer</a> 4.0</p>
|
|---|
| 1323 |
|
|---|
| 1324 | <p class=MsoNormal>Price/License: $199 per developer</p>
|
|---|
| 1325 |
|
|---|
| 1326 | <p class=MsoNormal>Related products: <a href="http://www.swt-designer.com/">SWT
|
|---|
| 1327 | Designer</a> for SWT developers ($199) and <a
|
|---|
| 1328 | href="http://www.windowbuilderpro.com/">WindowBuilder Pro</a> with both Swing
|
|---|
| 1329 | and SWT support ($299).</p>
|
|---|
| 1330 |
|
|---|
| 1331 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1332 |
|
|---|
| 1333 | <p class=MsoNormal>Swing Designer is an Eclipse plug-in. It operates by generating and parsing Java
|
|---|
| 1334 | code; there are no separate form definition files. Swing Designer supports standard Java layouts including
|
|---|
| 1335 | GridBagLayout and SpringLayout, and has recently introduced support for
|
|---|
| 1336 | JGoodies FormLayout.</p>
|
|---|
| 1337 |
|
|---|
| 1338 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1339 |
|
|---|
| 1340 | <p class=MsoNormal>There are some nice <a
|
|---|
| 1341 | href="http://www.instantiations.com/swt-designer/demos.html">demos</a> on the
|
|---|
| 1342 | website.</p>
|
|---|
| 1343 |
|
|---|
| 1344 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1345 |
|
|---|
| 1346 | <p class=MsoNormal>When building a form in Swing Designer, the workflow is as
|
|---|
| 1347 | follows:</p>
|
|---|
| 1348 |
|
|---|
| 1349 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1350 |
|
|---|
| 1351 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1352 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1353 | </span></span>Create a class based on one of the supported visual
|
|---|
| 1354 | classes (JPanel, JFrame, etc.)</p>
|
|---|
| 1355 |
|
|---|
| 1356 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1357 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1358 | </span></span>Set the layout manager for the panel</p>
|
|---|
| 1359 |
|
|---|
| 1360 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1361 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1362 | </span></span>Drop components from the palette onto the panel; drag
|
|---|
| 1363 | them around on the panel to position them</p>
|
|---|
| 1364 |
|
|---|
| 1365 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1366 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1367 | </span></span>Use the Layout Assistant or other provided tools
|
|---|
| 1368 | (described below), set layout properties for the components</p>
|
|---|
| 1369 |
|
|---|
| 1370 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1371 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1372 | </span></span>Use the component properties editor to set the visual
|
|---|
| 1373 | (e.g., font, color) and code generation (e.g., variable name) properties</p>
|
|---|
| 1374 |
|
|---|
| 1375 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1376 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1377 | </span></span>Add event handlers (for example, handling button
|
|---|
| 1378 | clicks)</p>
|
|---|
| 1379 |
|
|---|
| 1380 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1381 |
|
|---|
| 1382 | <p class=MsoNormal>The design view is WYSIWYG, and there is also a preview
|
|---|
| 1383 | button to show the designed panel in an example JFrame container.</p>
|
|---|
| 1384 |
|
|---|
| 1385 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1386 |
|
|---|
| 1387 | <p class=MsoNormal>Swing Designer has excellent support for JGoodies
|
|---|
| 1388 | FormLayout. With FormLayout, dropping
|
|---|
| 1389 | and moving components is easy and precise.
|
|---|
| 1390 | The row/column grid gives you the overall context of the container. As you mouse over the cells in the grid,
|
|---|
| 1391 | they are highlighted to show which one you are over, and whether it is valid to
|
|---|
| 1392 | drop the component there.</p>
|
|---|
| 1393 |
|
|---|
| 1394 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1395 |
|
|---|
| 1396 | <p class=MsoNormal>Pasting components is especially nice: when you execute the
|
|---|
| 1397 | Paste command, the mouse cursor becomes an arrow with a + sign, and you can
|
|---|
| 1398 | click on any valid cell to paste the component. Imagine the common case where you have a new panel and you need
|
|---|
| 1399 | to quickly add 10 field labels. Just
|
|---|
| 1400 | create one label, copy it, then paste it 9 times, edit the text and you're
|
|---|
| 1401 | done. Swing Designer supports in-place
|
|---|
| 1402 | editing of the component text (e.g., the labels in this example).</p>
|
|---|
| 1403 |
|
|---|
| 1404 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1405 |
|
|---|
| 1406 | <p class=MsoNormal>All of the FormLayout constraints/layout properties are
|
|---|
| 1407 | supported for rows, columns, and cells.
|
|---|
| 1408 | You can edit these properties in several ways, depending on which is
|
|---|
| 1409 | most convenient for any given situation:</p>
|
|---|
| 1410 |
|
|---|
| 1411 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1412 |
|
|---|
| 1413 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1414 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1415 | </span></span>Use the Layout Assistant, a popup window that lets you
|
|---|
| 1416 | set the row, column, and cell properties for the currently selected
|
|---|
| 1417 | component. Because the Assistant is
|
|---|
| 1418 | non-modal, you can set the properties for a component, then click on another
|
|---|
| 1419 | one and set its properties, and so on.
|
|---|
| 1420 | You can also select multiple components to set properties for all of
|
|---|
| 1421 | them at the same time.</p>
|
|---|
| 1422 |
|
|---|
| 1423 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1424 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1425 | </span></span>Use the Alignment Figures, small buttons that alllow
|
|---|
| 1426 | you to quickly set the vertical and horizontal alignment or fill.</p>
|
|---|
| 1427 |
|
|---|
| 1428 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1429 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1430 | </span></span>Use the Row/Column Editor, a dialog that shows all the
|
|---|
| 1431 | rows or columns in the layout so you can quickly edit them in a tabular
|
|---|
| 1432 | fashion.</p>
|
|---|
| 1433 |
|
|---|
| 1434 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1435 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1436 | </span></span>Use the context (right-click) menu on row or column
|
|---|
| 1437 | headers to insert rows or columns, quickly adjust their properties, or invoke
|
|---|
| 1438 | the Row/Column editor.</p>
|
|---|
| 1439 |
|
|---|
| 1440 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1441 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1442 | </span></span>Use the component properties editor to set the layout
|
|---|
| 1443 | constraints.</p>
|
|---|
| 1444 |
|
|---|
| 1445 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1446 |
|
|---|
| 1447 | <p class=MsoNormal>Swing Designer also has good support for GridBagLayout,
|
|---|
| 1448 | although I did not spend as much time testing it because I prefer to use
|
|---|
| 1449 | FormLayout. When you drop or move a
|
|---|
| 1450 | component, the designer shows you the existing GridBag cells, plus new cells
|
|---|
| 1451 | where the component can be dropped. The
|
|---|
| 1452 | new cells are not only along the edges of the layout, but in between every
|
|---|
| 1453 | existing row and column. This makes
|
|---|
| 1454 | layout very productive because you can add new rows and columns on the fly,
|
|---|
| 1455 | without having to manually "make room" by moving existing components.</p>
|
|---|
| 1456 |
|
|---|
| 1457 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1458 |
|
|---|
| 1459 | <p class=MsoNormal>Components are created as local variables by default. You can tell Swing Designer to create a
|
|---|
| 1460 | member variable for a given component by using the "Expose component"
|
|---|
| 1461 | context menu option. Or you can set a
|
|---|
| 1462 | preference to automatically create every component as a field.</p>
|
|---|
| 1463 |
|
|---|
| 1464 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1465 |
|
|---|
| 1466 | <p class=MsoNormal>Creating event handlers is simple: for example, just
|
|---|
| 1467 | double-click on a button to create its event handler and view/edit the
|
|---|
| 1468 | source. More generally, you can
|
|---|
| 1469 | right-click any component, select the Implement context menu, and then choose
|
|---|
| 1470 | any event supported by that component to implement its handler. You can set a preference to specify the
|
|---|
| 1471 | naming convention for generated event handler methods.</p>
|
|---|
| 1472 |
|
|---|
| 1473 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1474 |
|
|---|
| 1475 | <p class=MsoNormal>Swing Designer has good support for menus and toolbars. I was able to quickly add these elements to
|
|---|
| 1476 | the main JFrame of my test application, and automatically create stubs for
|
|---|
| 1477 | their actionPerformed handlers.</p>
|
|---|
| 1478 |
|
|---|
| 1479 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1480 |
|
|---|
| 1481 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>When to use Swing
|
|---|
| 1482 | Designer</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1483 |
|
|---|
| 1484 | <p class=MsoNormal>Swing Designer hits the mark perfectly for me: it is an
|
|---|
| 1485 | Eclipse plug-in with tight IDE integration; it has a fantastic visual designer;
|
|---|
| 1486 | it has excellent support for JGoodies FormLayout; and it is reasonably
|
|---|
| 1487 | priced. Therefore, Swing Designer is my
|
|---|
| 1488 | first choice for my GUI work.</p>
|
|---|
| 1489 |
|
|---|
| 1490 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1491 |
|
|---|
| 1492 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>Pros</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1493 |
|
|---|
| 1494 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1495 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1496 | </span></span>The best visual designer (fast, flexible, and
|
|---|
| 1497 | full-featured) of any IDE or IDE plug-in that I tested.</p>
|
|---|
| 1498 |
|
|---|
| 1499 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1500 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1501 | </span></span>Excellent JGoodies FormLayout support, which leads to
|
|---|
| 1502 | higher development productivity and better user interfaces.</p>
|
|---|
| 1503 |
|
|---|
| 1504 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1505 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1506 | </span></span>Very broad and deep support for many different layouts
|
|---|
| 1507 | and components.</p>
|
|---|
| 1508 |
|
|---|
| 1509 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1510 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1511 | </span></span>Seamless Eclipse integration: component properties,
|
|---|
| 1512 | code generation, etc.</p>
|
|---|
| 1513 |
|
|---|
| 1514 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1515 |
|
|---|
| 1516 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>Cons</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1517 |
|
|---|
| 1518 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1519 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1520 | </span></span>The first time you launch the designer in a given
|
|---|
| 1521 | Eclipse session, it is rather slow to start (10 or 15 seconds on my
|
|---|
| 1522 | machine). This is not much of an issue
|
|---|
| 1523 | because once the designer is started, it is very fast - I never felt that it
|
|---|
| 1524 | lagged behind during visual editing.</p>
|
|---|
| 1525 |
|
|---|
| 1526 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1527 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1528 | </span></span>I did encounter some rough edges (bugs and other
|
|---|
| 1529 | issues). However, the vendor provided
|
|---|
| 1530 | excellent support, often with a same-day or next-day patch or workaround.</p>
|
|---|
| 1531 |
|
|---|
| 1532 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1533 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1534 | </span></span>The documentation and website could use some polishing
|
|---|
| 1535 | up - they don't reflect the completeness and quality of the product.</p>
|
|---|
| 1536 |
|
|---|
| 1537 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1538 |
|
|---|
| 1539 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514596"></a><a name="_NetBeans_1"></a>5.2<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1540 | </span>NetBeans</h2>
|
|---|
| 1541 |
|
|---|
| 1542 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.netbeans.org/">NetBeans</a> 4.0</p>
|
|---|
| 1543 |
|
|---|
| 1544 | <p class=MsoNormal>Price/License: Free, Open Source (Sun Public License)</p>
|
|---|
| 1545 |
|
|---|
| 1546 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1547 |
|
|---|
| 1548 | <p class=MsoNormal>NetBeans is a competitor to Eclipse as a full featured open
|
|---|
| 1549 | source IDE. I am an avid Eclipse user,
|
|---|
| 1550 | and I never considered trying NetBeans before this project. People have strong feelings about which IDE
|
|---|
| 1551 | is best, but this article is not a general IDE discussion.</p>
|
|---|
| 1552 |
|
|---|
| 1553 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1554 |
|
|---|
| 1555 | <p class=MsoNormal>In this article we are focusing on the GUI-building
|
|---|
| 1556 | capability of the tools, and in this respect, NetBeans is clearly superior to
|
|---|
| 1557 | Eclipse. My comments (as with all the
|
|---|
| 1558 | product details in this section) apply to the specific versions that I tested:
|
|---|
| 1559 | NetBeans 4.0 vs. Eclipse Visual Editor 1.0.2 running in Eclipse 3.0.1. These were the latest production releases
|
|---|
| 1560 | available at the time I tested.</p>
|
|---|
| 1561 |
|
|---|
| 1562 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1563 |
|
|---|
| 1564 | <p class=MsoNormal>When building a form in NetBeans, the workflow is very
|
|---|
| 1565 | similar to the workflow described above for Swing Designer. The main difference is how the components
|
|---|
| 1566 | are positioned on the panel (described in detail below). Also, what Swing Designer calls the Layout
|
|---|
| 1567 | Assistant is known as the Layout Customizer in NetBeans.</p>
|
|---|
| 1568 |
|
|---|
| 1569 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1570 |
|
|---|
| 1571 | <p class=MsoNormal>The design view is WYSIWYG, and there is also a preview
|
|---|
| 1572 | button to show the designed panel in a mock JFrame.</p>
|
|---|
| 1573 |
|
|---|
| 1574 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1575 |
|
|---|
| 1576 | <p class=MsoNormal>In NetBeans, when you drop a component on the form, you
|
|---|
| 1577 | cannot control the original placement of the component - no matter where you
|
|---|
| 1578 | drop it, it will go into a new cell.
|
|---|
| 1579 | This is not as friendly as (for example) Swing Designer or Eclipse
|
|---|
| 1580 | Visual Editor, which allow you to place the component in any cell. There is a similar issue when you copy and
|
|---|
| 1581 | paste a component: the pasted component sits in the same cell as the copied
|
|---|
| 1582 | component. So, after dropping or
|
|---|
| 1583 | pasting, you then need to use the GridBag customizer to place the component
|
|---|
| 1584 | where you want it. This is a major
|
|---|
| 1585 | hindrance to productivity because you need to switch between the design view
|
|---|
| 1586 | and the customizer view for each component you need to position. It is true
|
|---|
| 1587 | that you can drop or paste multiple components (say 5 of them) in design view,
|
|---|
| 1588 | and then go to the customizer and move those components. But this is still not ideal because it would
|
|---|
| 1589 | be better to drag-and-position or paste-and-position in the same view.</p>
|
|---|
| 1590 |
|
|---|
| 1591 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1592 |
|
|---|
| 1593 | <p class=MsoNormal>On the other hand, the NetBeans GridBag customizer is much
|
|---|
| 1594 | better than the one in the Eclipse Visual Editor. It has more properties that you can set and is easier to use.</p>
|
|---|
| 1595 |
|
|---|
| 1596 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1597 |
|
|---|
| 1598 | <p class=MsoNormal>At one point, I had a problem when moving components in the
|
|---|
| 1599 | customizer and going back to the design view - the layout was garbled with
|
|---|
| 1600 | overlapping components. But then I just
|
|---|
| 1601 | needed to expand the size of the container (a JPanel) so that everything fit,
|
|---|
| 1602 | then the layout looked correct again.
|
|---|
| 1603 | This seems to be a common issue (not specific to NetBeans) with the GridBagLayout
|
|---|
| 1604 | at both design and run time: you need to make sure your container is big
|
|---|
| 1605 | enough. The way that I deal with this
|
|---|
| 1606 | at runtime is to calculate the minimum size needed to properly display each
|
|---|
| 1607 | panel, and then restrict the main JFrame so that the user cannot resize it
|
|---|
| 1608 | smaller than this minimum.</p>
|
|---|
| 1609 |
|
|---|
| 1610 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1611 |
|
|---|
| 1612 | <p class=MsoNormal>A technique described in the NetBeans documentation is to
|
|---|
| 1613 | start building a form using the AbsoluteLayout, which allows positioning of
|
|---|
| 1614 | each component. Then convert to
|
|---|
| 1615 | GridBagLayout for proper resizing behavior.
|
|---|
| 1616 | I found this approach more frustrating than just building with
|
|---|
| 1617 | GridBagLayout from the start.</p>
|
|---|
| 1618 |
|
|---|
| 1619 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1620 |
|
|---|
| 1621 | <p class=MsoNormal>The NetBeans GUI builder is not as powerful as some of the
|
|---|
| 1622 | other products, but its tight integration with the overall IDE makes it
|
|---|
| 1623 | convenient and productive to use.</p>
|
|---|
| 1624 |
|
|---|
| 1625 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1626 |
|
|---|
| 1627 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>When to use NetBeans</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1628 |
|
|---|
| 1629 | <p class=MsoNormal>If I wanted to build a full application (panels, menus,
|
|---|
| 1630 | toolbars) with an integrated open source IDE, without adding any external
|
|---|
| 1631 | plug-ins, NetBeans would be the best choice.</p>
|
|---|
| 1632 |
|
|---|
| 1633 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1634 |
|
|---|
| 1635 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>Pros</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1636 |
|
|---|
| 1637 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1638 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1639 | </span></span>Excellent integration betwen the form designer and the
|
|---|
| 1640 | overall code development process. In
|
|---|
| 1641 | particular, setting properties, code generation options, and event handling are
|
|---|
| 1642 | very fast, easy, and complete.</p>
|
|---|
| 1643 |
|
|---|
| 1644 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1645 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1646 | </span></span>Good designer for GridBagLayout, although not as good
|
|---|
| 1647 | as Swing Designer or Eclipse Visual Editor.</p>
|
|---|
| 1648 |
|
|---|
| 1649 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1650 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1651 | </span></span>The best layout customizer for GridBagLayout.</p>
|
|---|
| 1652 |
|
|---|
| 1653 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1654 |
|
|---|
| 1655 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>Cons</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1656 |
|
|---|
| 1657 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1658 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1659 | </span></span>My perception is that NetBeans has been losing the open
|
|---|
| 1660 | source market share / mind share IDE battle with Eclipse (on the other hand,
|
|---|
| 1661 | there is <a href="http://cld.blog-city.com/read/1126337.htm">some evidence</a>
|
|---|
| 1662 | of a <a href="http://www.javalobby.org/java/forums/m91828413">NetBeans
|
|---|
| 1663 | resurgence</a>). My guess is that
|
|---|
| 1664 | future releases of the Eclipse Visual Editor may provide much stronger
|
|---|
| 1665 | competition. Still, I'm not worried
|
|---|
| 1666 | about getting "locked in" with NetBeans, because it is open source,
|
|---|
| 1667 | and the generated code is standard Java.</p>
|
|---|
| 1668 |
|
|---|
| 1669 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1670 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1671 | </span></span>Does not support FormLayout or other replacement for
|
|---|
| 1672 | GridBagLayout (i.e., you are pretty much forced to use GridBagLayout for
|
|---|
| 1673 | complex forms if you want to use NetBeans' integration).</p>
|
|---|
| 1674 |
|
|---|
| 1675 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1676 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1677 | </span></span>Cannot move components in design view using drag and
|
|---|
| 1678 | drop, need to go into customizer to move.</p>
|
|---|
| 1679 |
|
|---|
| 1680 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1681 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1682 | </span></span>No "undo" or "cancel" in
|
|---|
| 1683 | GridBagLayout customizer.</p>
|
|---|
| 1684 |
|
|---|
| 1685 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1686 |
|
|---|
| 1687 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514597"></a><a name="_JFormDesigner"></a>5.3<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1688 | </span>JFormDesigner</h2>
|
|---|
| 1689 |
|
|---|
| 1690 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.jformdesigner.com/">JFormDesigner</a>
|
|---|
| 1691 | 1.0.2</p>
|
|---|
| 1692 |
|
|---|
| 1693 | <p class=MsoNormal>Price/License: $159 per developer for commercial use</p>
|
|---|
| 1694 |
|
|---|
| 1695 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1696 |
|
|---|
| 1697 | <p class=MsoNormal>JFormDesigner is a very polished and professional tool. It does an absolutely outstanding job of
|
|---|
| 1698 | helping you layout panels. With the
|
|---|
| 1699 | excellent FormLayout support, it is almost trivial to drag your components into
|
|---|
| 1700 | place and get your layout looking good.
|
|---|
| 1701 | However, once you save your files (.jfd form files and .java code files)
|
|---|
| 1702 | from JFormDesigner, you are "on your own" - there is no integration
|
|---|
| 1703 | with development environments like Eclipse or NetBeans.</p>
|
|---|
| 1704 |
|
|---|
| 1705 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1706 |
|
|---|
| 1707 | <p class=MsoNormal>There is a nice <a href="http://www.jformdesigner.com/demos/">Flash
|
|---|
| 1708 | demo</a> available on the website.</p>
|
|---|
| 1709 |
|
|---|
| 1710 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1711 |
|
|---|
| 1712 | <p class=MsoNormal>JFormDesigner supports standard Swing layout managers plus
|
|---|
| 1713 | the third-party FormLayout and TableLayout.
|
|---|
| 1714 | The support for JGoodies FormLayout (layout manager) and JGoodies Looks
|
|---|
| 1715 | (look and feels) is extensive. JGoodies
|
|---|
| 1716 | FormLayout is my favorite layout manager, and JGoodies Looks is my favorite
|
|---|
| 1717 | look and feel, so support for these is a big plus. You can build a really professional looking application with
|
|---|
| 1718 | JFormDesigner, JGoodies FormLayout, and JGoodies Looks.</p>
|
|---|
| 1719 |
|
|---|
| 1720 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1721 |
|
|---|
| 1722 | <p class=MsoNormal>In JFormDesigner, you create your form by dragging
|
|---|
| 1723 | components in the design view. The tool
|
|---|
| 1724 | saves the form definition in .jfd files which live alongside Java code. Then there is a generate code step that can
|
|---|
| 1725 | translate the .jfd files to Java code.
|
|---|
| 1726 | You have a choice of whether to deploy your forms as .jfd files, which
|
|---|
| 1727 | are parsed at runtime, or as .java code.
|
|---|
| 1728 | If you use .jfd files, you also need to deploy the JFD parser JAR file
|
|---|
| 1729 | with your product, however this is royalty-free.</p>
|
|---|
| 1730 |
|
|---|
| 1731 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1732 |
|
|---|
| 1733 | <p class=MsoNormal>Because the form editor (JFormDesigner) and code editor
|
|---|
| 1734 | (Eclipse or vi or whatever editor you use) are separate, you have to be careful
|
|---|
| 1735 | about collisions when saving files. The
|
|---|
| 1736 | documentation says: "As long as you follow the following rule, you will
|
|---|
| 1737 | never have a problem: Save the Java
|
|---|
| 1738 | file in the IDE before saving the form in JFormDesigner."</p>
|
|---|
| 1739 |
|
|---|
| 1740 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1741 |
|
|---|
| 1742 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>When to use
|
|---|
| 1743 | JFormDesigner</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1744 |
|
|---|
| 1745 | <p class=MsoNormal>If I had to create a large number of panels quickly and
|
|---|
| 1746 | productively, and I was not concerned with IDE integration, I would use
|
|---|
| 1747 | JFormDesigner with FormLayout.</p>
|
|---|
| 1748 |
|
|---|
| 1749 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1750 |
|
|---|
| 1751 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>Pros</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1752 |
|
|---|
| 1753 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1754 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1755 | </span></span>Supports standard layout managers (including
|
|---|
| 1756 | GridBagLayout), plus FormLayout and TableLayout.</p>
|
|---|
| 1757 |
|
|---|
| 1758 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1759 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1760 | </span></span>Has extensive additional support for JGoodies Forms
|
|---|
| 1761 | (FormLayout and related classes) and Looks (look and feels).</p>
|
|---|
| 1762 |
|
|---|
| 1763 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1764 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1765 | </span></span>The best visual designer for FormLayout.</p>
|
|---|
| 1766 |
|
|---|
| 1767 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1768 |
|
|---|
| 1769 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>Cons</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1770 |
|
|---|
| 1771 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1772 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1773 | </span></span>No IDE integration.</p>
|
|---|
| 1774 |
|
|---|
| 1775 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1776 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1777 | </span></span>No event handling code generation.</p>
|
|---|
| 1778 |
|
|---|
| 1779 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1780 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1781 | </span></span>No support for externalizing strings (e.g., label or
|
|---|
| 1782 | button text).</p>
|
|---|
| 1783 |
|
|---|
| 1784 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1785 |
|
|---|
| 1786 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514598"></a><a name="_FormLayoutMaker"></a>5.4<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1787 | </span>FormLayoutMaker</h2>
|
|---|
| 1788 |
|
|---|
| 1789 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://formlayoutmaker.sourceforge.net/">FormLayoutMaker</a>
|
|---|
| 1790 | rc7</p>
|
|---|
| 1791 |
|
|---|
| 1792 | <p class=MsoNormal>Price/License: Free, Open Source (BSD license)</p>
|
|---|
| 1793 |
|
|---|
| 1794 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1795 |
|
|---|
| 1796 | <p class=MsoNormal>FormLayoutMaker is a non-WYSIWYG designer specifically for
|
|---|
| 1797 | the <a href="http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/forms/">FormLayout</a> layout
|
|---|
| 1798 | manager. You add components to a grid,
|
|---|
| 1799 | which does not look like your final panel - it is just a visual representation
|
|---|
| 1800 | of the position of the components within the grid. After you drop your components, you can hit the preview button to
|
|---|
| 1801 | see what the actual panel will look like.
|
|---|
| 1802 | Once your panel is looking good, you can save the XML layout file and
|
|---|
| 1803 | the Java code.</p>
|
|---|
| 1804 |
|
|---|
| 1805 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1806 |
|
|---|
| 1807 | <p class=MsoNormal>Another open source panel builder worth looking at is <a
|
|---|
| 1808 | href="https://abeille.dev.java.net/">Abeille Forms Designer</a>; please see the
|
|---|
| 1809 | comments about Abeille in the <a href="#_Product_Summary">Product Summary</a>.</p>
|
|---|
| 1810 |
|
|---|
| 1811 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1812 |
|
|---|
| 1813 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>When to use
|
|---|
| 1814 | FormLayoutMaker</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1815 |
|
|---|
| 1816 | <p class=MsoNormal>If I wanted an open source tool to help me build panels
|
|---|
| 1817 | using FormLayout. FormLayoutMaker is
|
|---|
| 1818 | not as polished as JFormDesigner, but it will probably hit the sweet spot for a
|
|---|
| 1819 | lot of open source developers.</p>
|
|---|
| 1820 |
|
|---|
| 1821 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1822 |
|
|---|
| 1823 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>Pros</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1824 |
|
|---|
| 1825 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1826 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1827 | </span></span>Good visualization of the structure of the layout with
|
|---|
| 1828 | the grid view.</p>
|
|---|
| 1829 |
|
|---|
| 1830 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1831 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1832 | </span></span>Easy preview for visualization of the actual layout.</p>
|
|---|
| 1833 |
|
|---|
| 1834 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1835 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1836 | </span></span>Good support for FormLayout (although the support is
|
|---|
| 1837 | not as advanced as in JFormDesigner).</p>
|
|---|
| 1838 |
|
|---|
| 1839 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1840 |
|
|---|
| 1841 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>Cons</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1842 |
|
|---|
| 1843 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1844 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1845 | </span></span>No IDE integration.</p>
|
|---|
| 1846 |
|
|---|
| 1847 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1848 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1849 | </span></span>No support for setting properties, event handling, etc.</p>
|
|---|
| 1850 |
|
|---|
| 1851 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1852 |
|
|---|
| 1853 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514599"></a><a name="_Foam"></a>5.5<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1854 | </span>Foam</h2>
|
|---|
| 1855 |
|
|---|
| 1856 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.computersinmotion.com/products_foam.htm">Foam</a>
|
|---|
| 1857 | 1.2</p>
|
|---|
| 1858 |
|
|---|
| 1859 | <p class=MsoNormal>Price/License: $150 per developer</p>
|
|---|
| 1860 |
|
|---|
| 1861 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1862 |
|
|---|
| 1863 | <p class=MsoNormal>Foam is a delight to use - it feels different than every
|
|---|
| 1864 | other tool I evaluated. As I was using
|
|---|
| 1865 | it, I was thinking "this is easy!" and "this is fun!". It is probably the fastest for laying out a
|
|---|
| 1866 | panel of any tool that I tested. You
|
|---|
| 1867 | drag a component from the palette onto the design view, and it shows you
|
|---|
| 1868 | crosshairs and anchor points so you can align it and "snap" it to certain
|
|---|
| 1869 | predefined points, like the edge or center of other components. This was the most natural feeling designer I
|
|---|
| 1870 | tried.</p>
|
|---|
| 1871 |
|
|---|
| 1872 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1873 |
|
|---|
| 1874 | <p class=MsoNormal>There are some excellent <a
|
|---|
| 1875 | href="http://www.computersinmotion.com/cgi-bin/homeframeload.pl?formname=foamdemos">Flash
|
|---|
| 1876 | demos</a> available on the website.</p>
|
|---|
| 1877 |
|
|---|
| 1878 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1879 |
|
|---|
| 1880 | <p class=MsoNormal>The form design is saved in an XML file. A runtime JAR (royalty-free) parses the file
|
|---|
| 1881 | and renders the form.</p>
|
|---|
| 1882 |
|
|---|
| 1883 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1884 |
|
|---|
| 1885 | <p class=MsoNormal>My concern with Foam is the proprietary nature of the
|
|---|
| 1886 | runtime engine: if the vendor decides to no longer maintain the product, you
|
|---|
| 1887 | are stuck with the latest release. This
|
|---|
| 1888 | is troublesome when compared to other products:</p>
|
|---|
| 1889 |
|
|---|
| 1890 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1891 |
|
|---|
| 1892 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1893 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1894 | </span></span>For open source products, this is not a concern,
|
|---|
| 1895 | because you can (in theory at least) fix the bug yourself, or try to organize
|
|---|
| 1896 | community support with other users.</p>
|
|---|
| 1897 |
|
|---|
| 1898 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1899 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1900 | </span></span>For other commercial products, like JFormDesigner, it
|
|---|
| 1901 | is true that the designer is proprietary.
|
|---|
| 1902 | But the runtime is "open" in the sense that JFormDesigner can
|
|---|
| 1903 | generate standard Java code that does not refer to the form design metadata at
|
|---|
| 1904 | runtime. Therefore, in the worst case,
|
|---|
| 1905 | you could hand-edit the generated code if support for the tool was no longer
|
|---|
| 1906 | available.</p>
|
|---|
| 1907 |
|
|---|
| 1908 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1909 |
|
|---|
| 1910 | <p class=MsoNormal>These options are not available with a proprietary runtime
|
|---|
| 1911 | engine.</p>
|
|---|
| 1912 |
|
|---|
| 1913 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1914 |
|
|---|
| 1915 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>When to use Foam</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1916 |
|
|---|
| 1917 | <p class=MsoNormal>If I had to quickly prototype a set of panels, for example
|
|---|
| 1918 | for an application design proposal, Foam would be the quickest way to do so.</p>
|
|---|
| 1919 |
|
|---|
| 1920 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1921 |
|
|---|
| 1922 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>Pros</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1923 |
|
|---|
| 1924 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1925 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1926 | </span></span>Probably the quickest for prototyping. Absolutely slick environment.</p>
|
|---|
| 1927 |
|
|---|
| 1928 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1929 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1930 | </span></span>Makes it simple to develop very structured and elegant
|
|---|
| 1931 | panels without knowing details of layout management.</p>
|
|---|
| 1932 |
|
|---|
| 1933 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1934 |
|
|---|
| 1935 | <p class=MsoNormal><b>Cons</b></p>
|
|---|
| 1936 |
|
|---|
| 1937 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1938 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1939 | </span></span>Proprietary runtime.</p>
|
|---|
| 1940 |
|
|---|
| 1941 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1942 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1943 | </span></span>No IDE integration.</p>
|
|---|
| 1944 |
|
|---|
| 1945 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 1946 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1947 | </span></span>No copy and paste of components in the design view.</p>
|
|---|
| 1948 |
|
|---|
| 1949 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1950 |
|
|---|
| 1951 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514600"></a><a name="_Jigloo"></a>5.6<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1952 | </span>Jigloo</h2>
|
|---|
| 1953 |
|
|---|
| 1954 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://cloudgarden.com/jigloo/">Jigloo</a> 3.1.0
|
|---|
| 1955 | (pre-release)</p>
|
|---|
| 1956 |
|
|---|
| 1957 | <p class=MsoNormal>Price/License: Free for non-commercial use; $75 per
|
|---|
| 1958 | developer for commercial use</p>
|
|---|
| 1959 |
|
|---|
| 1960 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1961 |
|
|---|
| 1962 | <p class=MsoNormal>Jigloo works by generating and parsing Java code
|
|---|
| 1963 | ("round trip code generation").
|
|---|
| 1964 | It is an Eclipse plug-in, not a standalone product.</p>
|
|---|
| 1965 |
|
|---|
| 1966 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1967 |
|
|---|
| 1968 | <p class=MsoNormal>Jigloo supports both Swing and SWT. For Swing, it supports standard layout
|
|---|
| 1969 | managers, plus Jigloo AnchorLayout and JGoodies FormLayout. For SWT, it supports standard SWT layouts
|
|---|
| 1970 | including FormLayout (the SWT FormLayout is not related to the JGoodies
|
|---|
| 1971 | FormLayout, except that they unfortunately have the same name).</p>
|
|---|
| 1972 |
|
|---|
| 1973 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1974 |
|
|---|
| 1975 | <p class=MsoNormal>Visual editing was OK, but not as smooth and polished as
|
|---|
| 1976 | Swing Designer or JFormDesigner. It was
|
|---|
| 1977 | hard to lay things out properly. The
|
|---|
| 1978 | grid only appears when mousing over the panel, and I found this grid harder to
|
|---|
| 1979 | work with than (for example) Swing Designer or the NetBeans GridBag
|
|---|
| 1980 | customizer. JGoodies FormLayout support
|
|---|
| 1981 | is not as advanced as Swing Designer or JFormDesigner; for example, Jigloo does
|
|---|
| 1982 | not automatically insert spacer rows and columns.</p>
|
|---|
| 1983 |
|
|---|
| 1984 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1985 |
|
|---|
| 1986 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514601"></a><a name="_JBuilder"></a>5.7<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 1987 | </span>JBuilder</h2>
|
|---|
| 1988 |
|
|---|
| 1989 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.borland.com/jbuilder/">JBuilder</a> 2005
|
|---|
| 1990 | Foundation</p>
|
|---|
| 1991 |
|
|---|
| 1992 | <p class=MsoNormal>Price/License: Foundation: free (including for commercial
|
|---|
| 1993 | use); Developer: $500; Enterprise: $3,500</p>
|
|---|
| 1994 |
|
|---|
| 1995 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 1996 |
|
|---|
| 1997 | <p class=MsoNormal>The JBuilder GUI building support is roughly on a par with
|
|---|
| 1998 | NetBeans and Eclipse. Since it does not
|
|---|
| 1999 | offer any compelling advantage over the open source alternatives, I did not
|
|---|
| 2000 | spend a lot of time with it.</p>
|
|---|
| 2001 |
|
|---|
| 2002 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2003 |
|
|---|
| 2004 | <p class=MsoNormal>The JBuilder docs suggest starting your layout with the
|
|---|
| 2005 | included XYLayout, and then after you get it looking right, convert it to
|
|---|
| 2006 | GridBagLayout. Just as with NetBeans'
|
|---|
| 2007 | AbsoluteLayout, I found it simpler to just start with GridBagLayout from the
|
|---|
| 2008 | beginning.</p>
|
|---|
| 2009 |
|
|---|
| 2010 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2011 |
|
|---|
| 2012 | <p class=MsoNormal>Borland offers extensive <a
|
|---|
| 2013 | href="http://info.borland.com/techpubs/jbuilder/jbuilder2005/designui/contents.html">documentation</a>
|
|---|
| 2014 | on GUI building in JBuilder. Even if
|
|---|
| 2015 | you don't use JBuilder, it is worth reading this documentation, especially if
|
|---|
| 2016 | you are using GridBagLayout. Here are
|
|---|
| 2017 | some recommended links:</p>
|
|---|
| 2018 |
|
|---|
| 2019 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2020 |
|
|---|
| 2021 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2022 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2023 | </span></span><a
|
|---|
| 2024 | href="http://info.borland.com/techpubs/jbuilder/jbuilder2005/designui/i1_layouts.html">Using
|
|---|
| 2025 | layout managers</a></p>
|
|---|
| 2026 |
|
|---|
| 2027 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2028 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2029 | </span></span><a
|
|---|
| 2030 | href="http://info.borland.com/techpubs/jbuilder/jbuilder2005/designui/i7_gridbaglayout.html">GridBagLayout</a></p>
|
|---|
| 2031 |
|
|---|
| 2032 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2033 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2034 | </span></span><a
|
|---|
| 2035 | href="http://info.borland.com/techpubs/jbuilder/jbuilder2005/designui/k_nestedlayouts.html">Using
|
|---|
| 2036 | nested panels and layouts</a></p>
|
|---|
| 2037 |
|
|---|
| 2038 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2039 |
|
|---|
| 2040 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514602"></a><a name="_Eclipse_Visual_Editor"></a>5.8<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2041 | </span>Eclipse Visual
|
|---|
| 2042 | Editor</h2>
|
|---|
| 2043 |
|
|---|
| 2044 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.eclipse.org/vep/">Eclipse Visual Editor</a>
|
|---|
| 2045 | 1.0.2</p>
|
|---|
| 2046 |
|
|---|
| 2047 | <p class=MsoNormal>Price/License: Free, Open Source (Eclipse License)</p>
|
|---|
| 2048 |
|
|---|
| 2049 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2050 |
|
|---|
| 2051 | <p class=MsoNormal>On the Eclipse website, the overall Eclipse project is
|
|---|
| 2052 | described as: "a kind of universal tool platform - an open extensible IDE
|
|---|
| 2053 | for anything and nothing in particular".
|
|---|
| 2054 | In that spirit, the Eclipse Visual Editor is described on the website
|
|---|
| 2055 | not as a GUI builder, but rather as "a framework for creating GUI
|
|---|
| 2056 | builders". However, the Visual
|
|---|
| 2057 | Editor does come with "reference implementations" of Swing and SWT
|
|---|
| 2058 | GUI builders.</p>
|
|---|
| 2059 |
|
|---|
| 2060 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2061 |
|
|---|
| 2062 | <p class=MsoNormal>Eclipse VE uses Java code generation/parsing. It is slow to start up. Sometimes it seems reasonably fast when
|
|---|
| 2063 | editing. But other times, a simple task
|
|---|
| 2064 | (like clicking on a component in design view) could take 5 or 15 seconds. This can be very frustrating.</p>
|
|---|
| 2065 |
|
|---|
| 2066 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2067 |
|
|---|
| 2068 | <p class=MsoNormal>In Eclipse VE, the process of dropping components is very
|
|---|
| 2069 | nice. You have a grid in the design
|
|---|
| 2070 | view and you can drop the component into an existing cell, or into a new cell
|
|---|
| 2071 | between any existing cells or on any edge of the grid. The VE nicely highlights the existing or new
|
|---|
| 2072 | cell where the component will be dropped.
|
|---|
| 2073 | However, once you have components in the cells, it is not easy to tell
|
|---|
| 2074 | which cell you are working with.</p>
|
|---|
| 2075 |
|
|---|
| 2076 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2077 |
|
|---|
| 2078 | <p class=MsoNormal>Property and constraint editing is not as smooth as with
|
|---|
| 2079 | some other products. For example, I
|
|---|
| 2080 | found it hard to set minimum widths and spacing. The GridBagLayout customizer is not as advanced as the one in
|
|---|
| 2081 | NetBeans.</p>
|
|---|
| 2082 |
|
|---|
| 2083 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2084 |
|
|---|
| 2085 | <p class=MsoNormal>JSeparator is not on the control palette. I added one using the generic add JavaBean
|
|---|
| 2086 | feature. The designer accepted it, but
|
|---|
| 2087 | I could not see it in the visual editor or the running application.</p>
|
|---|
| 2088 |
|
|---|
| 2089 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2090 |
|
|---|
| 2091 | <p class=MsoNormal>I had a couple of situations where the layout in the design
|
|---|
| 2092 | view did not match the runtime. Also,
|
|---|
| 2093 | somehow the layout got garbled, with components overlapping each other (and I
|
|---|
| 2094 | could not find a simple fix like I did in NetBeans).</p>
|
|---|
| 2095 |
|
|---|
| 2096 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2097 |
|
|---|
| 2098 | <p class=MsoNormal>The bottom line is, I found Eclipse VE to be not acceptable
|
|---|
| 2099 | for these reasons:</p>
|
|---|
| 2100 |
|
|---|
| 2101 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2102 |
|
|---|
| 2103 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2104 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2105 | </span></span>Response time inconsistent, sometimes frustratingly
|
|---|
| 2106 | slow</p>
|
|---|
| 2107 |
|
|---|
| 2108 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2109 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2110 | </span></span>Visual design process not as clear as with other
|
|---|
| 2111 | products tested</p>
|
|---|
| 2112 |
|
|---|
| 2113 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2114 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2115 | </span></span>Layout not reliable (design time not matching runtime,
|
|---|
| 2116 | or layout garbled)</p>
|
|---|
| 2117 |
|
|---|
| 2118 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2119 |
|
|---|
| 2120 | <p class=MsoNormal>In fairness, Eclipse VE is a relatively new product, and I
|
|---|
| 2121 | look forward to future versions being much improved.</p>
|
|---|
| 2122 |
|
|---|
| 2123 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2124 |
|
|---|
| 2125 | <h2><a name="_Toc100514603"></a><a name="_Jvider"></a>5.9<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2126 | </span>Jvider</h2>
|
|---|
| 2127 |
|
|---|
| 2128 | <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.jvider.com/">Jvider</a> 1.7</p>
|
|---|
| 2129 |
|
|---|
| 2130 | <p class=MsoNormal>Price/License: $69 per developer</p>
|
|---|
| 2131 |
|
|---|
| 2132 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2133 |
|
|---|
| 2134 | <p class=MsoNormal>Jvider offers both standalone and Eclipse plugin
|
|---|
| 2135 | versions. The same license can be used
|
|---|
| 2136 | for both. Jvider focuses on being a
|
|---|
| 2137 | lightweight, flexible solution instead of a total solution. For example, not all properties can be set through
|
|---|
| 2138 | a property editor, you need to edit code.
|
|---|
| 2139 | It focuses more on the layout of components than the details of each
|
|---|
| 2140 | component. Jvider uses GridBagLayout.</p>
|
|---|
| 2141 |
|
|---|
| 2142 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2143 |
|
|---|
| 2144 | <p class=MsoNormal>I found that Jvider was too lightweight for me, it did not
|
|---|
| 2145 | provide enough properties access. Since
|
|---|
| 2146 | it is using GridBagLayout, I would prefer to use NetBeans which offers a richer
|
|---|
| 2147 | and more integrated experience.</p>
|
|---|
| 2148 |
|
|---|
| 2149 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2150 |
|
|---|
| 2151 | <h1><a name="_Toc100514604">6<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2152 | </span>Wish List</a></h1>
|
|---|
| 2153 |
|
|---|
| 2154 | <p class=MsoNormal>As I mentioned earlier, Swing Designer has the best
|
|---|
| 2155 | combination of features for my needs.
|
|---|
| 2156 | Many of the other products have great features but are lacking in
|
|---|
| 2157 | various ways. Hopefully over time these
|
|---|
| 2158 | products will continue to evolve and improve.
|
|---|
| 2159 | For example:</p>
|
|---|
| 2160 |
|
|---|
| 2161 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2162 |
|
|---|
| 2163 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2164 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2165 | </span></span>Add design view component positioning (and ideally,
|
|---|
| 2166 | FormLayout support too!) to NetBeans.</p>
|
|---|
| 2167 |
|
|---|
| 2168 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2169 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2170 | </span></span>Add IDE integration to JFormDesigner.</p>
|
|---|
| 2171 |
|
|---|
| 2172 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2173 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2174 | </span></span>Supply more open licensing for Foam runtime.</p>
|
|---|
| 2175 |
|
|---|
| 2176 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2177 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2178 | </span></span>Improve Eclipse Visual Editor robustness.</p>
|
|---|
| 2179 |
|
|---|
| 2180 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2181 |
|
|---|
| 2182 | <h1><a name="_Toc100514605">7<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2183 | </span>Example Code</a></h1>
|
|---|
| 2184 |
|
|---|
| 2185 | <p class=MsoNormal>For an example of a GUI built with Eclipse, Swing Designer,
|
|---|
| 2186 | and JGoodies FormLayout, see my <a
|
|---|
| 2187 | href="http://www.fullspan.com/proj/jmailsend/">JMailSend</a> project.</p>
|
|---|
| 2188 |
|
|---|
| 2189 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2190 |
|
|---|
| 2191 | <p class=MsoNormal>For an example of a GUI built with NetBeans and
|
|---|
| 2192 | GridBagLayout, see my <a href="http://www.fullspan.com/proj/hashgui/">HashGUI</a>
|
|---|
| 2193 | project.</p>
|
|---|
| 2194 |
|
|---|
| 2195 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2196 |
|
|---|
| 2197 | <p class=MsoNormal>For an example of a GUI built with hand coding (no GUI
|
|---|
| 2198 | builder) using FormLayout, see my <a href="http://www.fullspan.com/proj/pwkeep/">PWKeep</a>
|
|---|
| 2199 | project. I wish that I had thought to
|
|---|
| 2200 | look for a GUI builder when I was writing PWKeep - it would have made the form
|
|---|
| 2201 | creation process much smoother.</p>
|
|---|
| 2202 |
|
|---|
| 2203 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2204 |
|
|---|
| 2205 | <h1><a name="_Toc100514606">8<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2206 | </span>Revision History</a></h1>
|
|---|
| 2207 |
|
|---|
| 2208 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2209 |
|
|---|
| 2210 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2211 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2212 | </span></span>1.4 (06-Apr-2005): Minor copy edits.</p>
|
|---|
| 2213 |
|
|---|
| 2214 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2215 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2216 | </span></span>1.3 (06-Apr-2005): Added hands-on review of Swing
|
|---|
| 2217 | Designer. Adjusted comments on some
|
|---|
| 2218 | other products based on the features of Swing Designer. Updated IntelliJ IDEA listing with new
|
|---|
| 2219 | information about layout manager portability.
|
|---|
| 2220 | Added some comments about how to interpret the "rankings" of
|
|---|
| 2221 | products in the table. Added link to
|
|---|
| 2222 | JMailSend project.</p>
|
|---|
| 2223 |
|
|---|
| 2224 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2225 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2226 | </span></span>1.2 (26-Mar-2005): Added link to JavaLobby discussion
|
|---|
| 2227 | thread. Moved Swing Designer up in the
|
|---|
| 2228 | rankings and added a few comments due to new release that supports JGoodies
|
|---|
| 2229 | FormLayout. Added IntelliJ IDEA to
|
|---|
| 2230 | Product Listing. Added link to
|
|---|
| 2231 | SGLayout. General copy editing.</p>
|
|---|
| 2232 |
|
|---|
| 2233 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2234 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2235 | </span></span>1.1 (24-Mar-2005): Added some layout managers to
|
|---|
| 2236 | listing. General copy editing.</p>
|
|---|
| 2237 |
|
|---|
| 2238 | <p class=Bullet101><span style='font-family:Symbol'>·<span
|
|---|
| 2239 | style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
|
|---|
| 2240 | </span></span>1.0 (19-Mar-2005): Initial revision.</p>
|
|---|
| 2241 |
|
|---|
| 2242 | <p class=MsoNormal> </p>
|
|---|
| 2243 |
|
|---|
| 2244 | </div>
|
|---|
| 2245 |
|
|---|
| 2246 | </body>
|
|---|
| 2247 |
|
|---|
| 2248 | </html>
|
|---|
