GUI Basics: Key Terms
GUI Basics: Key Terms
First three slides are repeated from previous lecture notes! You will probably (in fact should) never write Java codes like the program examples given in these notes. You will use IDEs (integrated development environment / integrated design environment / integrated debugging environment) like Netbeans, Eclipse JDT, Kdeveloper etc. to design / develope / test GUIs. Java codes given in these notes are for reference, understanding the underlying workings and design of Java GUI API, introducing key concepts, naming convensions and key terms , which you must know for sure to learn and practice in Java GUI API. Key Terms: GUI, API, Swing, Component, Container, JFrame, JPanel, LayoutManager, GUI Helper Classes, Swing GUI Components (JButton, JTextField, JLabel, JComboBox, J...) , Common Features
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Framework-Based Programming
To create comprehensive projects, you have to use more classes and interfaces in the Java API. The classes and interfaces in the Java API establish a framework for programmers to develop applications using Java. For example, the classes and interfaces in the Java GUI API establish a framework for developing GUI programs. You have to use these classes and interfaces and follow their conventions and rules to create applications. This is referred to as framework-based programming.
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Motivations
The design of the API for Java GUI programming is an excellent example of how the object-oriented principle is applied. In the chapters that follow, you will learn the framework of Java GUI API and use the GUI components to develop user-friendly interfaces for applications and applets.
Objectives
To distinguish between Swing and AWT. To describe the Java GUI API hierarchy. To create user interfaces using frames, panels, and simple GUI components. To understand the role of layout managers. To use the FlowLayout, GridLayout, and BorderLayout managers to layout components in a container. To use JPanel as subcontainers. To specify colors and fonts using the Color and Font classes. To apply common features such as borders, tool tips, fonts, and colors on Swing components. To use borders to visually group user-interface components. To create image icons using the ImageIcon class.
Label
Text field
Check Box
Radio Button
Button
// Create a text field with text "Type Name Here" JTextField jtfName = new JTextField("Type Name Here"); // Create a check box with text bold JCheckBox jchkBold = new JCheckBox("Bold"); // Create a radio button with text red JRadioButton jrbRed = new JRadioButton("Red"); // Create a combo box with choices red, green, and blue JComboBox jcboColor = new JComboBox(new String[]{"Red", "Green", "Blue"});
Combo Box
When Java was introduced, the GUI classes were bundled in a library known as the Abstract Windows Toolkit (AWT). For every platform on which Java runs, the AWT components are automatically mapped to the platform-specific components through their respective agents, known as peers. AWT is fine for developing simple graphical user interfaces, but not for developing comprehensive GUI projects. Besides, AWT is prone to platform-specific bugs because its peer-based approach relies heavily on the underlying platform. With the release of Java 2, the AWT user-interface components were replaced by a more robust, versatile, and flexible library known as Swing components. Swing components are painted directly on canvases using Java code, except for components that are subclasses of java.awt.Window or java.awt.Panel, which must be drawn using native GUI on a specific platform. Swing components are less dependent on the target platform and use less of the native GUI resource. For this reason, Swing components that dont rely on native GUI are referred to as lightweight components, and AWT components are referred to as heavyweight components.
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Panel
Applet
JApplet
Container
Window
Frame Dialog
JFrame JDialog
JComponent
Lightweight
Container Classes
Dimension Font FontMetrics Object Color Graphics Component
* LayoutManager 1 Classes in the java.awt package Heavyweight
Panel
Applet
JApplet
Container
Window
Frame Dialog
JFrame JDialog
JComponent
JPanel
Lightweight
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Panel
Applet
JApplet
Container
Window
Frame Dialog
JFrame JDialog
The helper classes are not subclasses of Component. They are used to describe the properties of GUI components such as graphics context, colors, fonts, and dimension.
JComponent
JPanel
Lightweight
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AbstractButton
JButton JToggleButton
JComponent
JTextComponent
JPasswordField
JLabel
JList
JComboBox JSplitPane
JPanel
JLayeredPane JPopupMenu
JMenuBar JTable
JTableHeader
JInternalFrame
JProgressBar
JSpinner
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AbstractButton
JButton JToggleButton
JComponent
JTextComponent
JPasswordField
JLabel
JList
JComboBox JSplitPane
JPanel
JLayeredPane JPopupMenu
JMenuBar JTable
JTableHeader
JInternalFrame
JProgressBar
JSpinner
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Frames
Frame
is a window that is not contained inside another window. Frame is the basis to contain other user interface components in Java GUI applications.
The
JFrame class can be used to create windows. Swing GUI programs, use JFrame class to create widows.
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For
Creating Frames
import javax.swing.*; public class MyFrame { public static void main(String[] args) { JFrame frame = new JFrame("Test Frame"); frame.setSize(400, 300); frame.setVisible(true); frame.setDefaultCloseOperation( JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); } } MyFrame Run
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Content pane
MyFrameWithComponents
Run
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Content pane
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JFrame Class
javax.swing.JFrame +JFrame() +JFrame(title: String) +setSize(width: int, height: int): void +setLocation(x: int, y: int): void +setVisible(visible: boolean): void +setDefaultCloseOperation(mode: int): void +setLocationRelativeTo(c: Component): void +pack(): void Creates a default frame with no title. Creates a frame with the specified title. Specifies the size of the frame. Specifies the upper-left corner location of the frame. Sets true to display the frame. Specifies the operation when the frame is closed. Sets the location of the frame relative to the specified component. If the component is null, the frame is centered on the screen. Automatically sets the frame size to hold the components in the frame.
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Layout Managers
Javas layout managers provide a level of abstraction to automatically map your user interface on all window systems. The UI components are placed in containers. Each container has a layout manager to arrange the UI components within the container.
Layout managers are set in containers using the setLayout(LayoutManager) method in a container.
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FlowLayout
GridLayout
BorderLayout Several other layout managers is introduced in textbooks chapter Containers, Layout Managers, and Borders
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FlowLayout Example
Write a program that adds three labels and text fields into the content pane of a frame with a FlowLayout manager.
ShowFlowLayout
Run
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java.awt.FlowLayout -alignment: int -hgap: int -vgap: int +FlowLayout() +FlowLayout(alignment: int) +FlowLayout(alignment: int, hgap: int, vgap: int)
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GridLayout Example
Rewrite the program in the preceding example using a GridLayout manager instead of a FlowLayout manager to display the labels and text fields.
ShowGridLayout Run
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+GridLayout(rows: int, columns: int) Creates a GridLayout with a specified number of rows and columns. +GridLayout(rows: int, columns: int, Creates a GridLayout manager with a specified number of rows and hgap: int, vgap: int) columns, horizontal gap, and vertical gap.
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BorderLayout Example
ShowBorderLayout
Run
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The get and set methods for these data fields are provided in the class, but omitted in the UML diagram for brevity. The horizontal gap of this layout manager (default: 0). The vertical gap of this layout manager (default: 0). Creates a default BorderLayout manager.
+BorderLayout(hgap: int, vgap: int) Creates a BorderLayout manager with a specified number of horizontal gap, and vertical gap.
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components.
Example:
Color c = new Color(228, 100, 255);
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Standard Colors
Thirteen standard colors (black, blue, cyan, darkGray, gray, green, lightGray, magenta, orange, pink, red, white, yellow) are defined as constants in java.awt.Color. The standard color names are constants, but they are named as variables with lowercase for the first word and uppercase for the first letters of subsequent words. Thus the color names violate the Java naming convention. Since JDK 1.4, you can also use the new constants: BLACK, BLUE, CYAN, DARK_GRAY, GRAY, GREEN, LIGHT_GRAY, MAGENTA, ORANGE, PINK, RED, WHITE, and YELLOW.
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Setting Colors
You can use the following methods to set the components background and foreground colors:
setBackground(Color c) setForeground(Color c)
Example:
jbt.setBackground(Color.yellow); jbt.setForeground(Color.red);
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Font Style
Font.PLAIN (0), Font.BOLD (1), Font.ITALIC (2), and Font.BOLD + Font.ITALIC (3)
Example:
Font myFont = new Font("SansSerif ", Font.BOLD, 16); Font myFont = new Font("Serif", Font.BOLD+Font.ITALIC, 12); JButton jbtOK = new JButton("OK); jbtOK.setFont(myFont);
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It is recommended that you place the user interface components in panels and place the panels in a frame. You can also place panels in a panel. To add a component to JFrame, you actually add it to the content pane of JFrame. To add a component to a panel, you add it directly to the panel using the add method.
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Creating a JPanel
You can use new JPanel() to create a panel with a default FlowLayout manager or new JPanel(LayoutManager) to create a panel with the specified layout manager. Use the add(Component) method to add a component to the panel. For example, JPanel p = new JPanel(); p.add(new JButton("OK"));
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12 buttons
p1
TestPanels
Run
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java.awt.Container
+add(comp: Component): Component Adds a component to the container. +add(comp: Component, index: int): Component Adds a component to the container with the specified index. Removes the component from the container. +remove(comp: Component): void +getLayout(): LayoutManager +setLayout(l: LayoutManager): void +paintComponents(g: Graphics): void Returns the layout manager for this container. Sets the layout manager for this container. Paints each of the components in this container. The get and set methods for these data fields are provided in the class, but omitted in the UML diagram for brevity.
javax.swing.JComponent
-toolTipText: String -border: javax.swing.border.Border The tool tip text for this component. Tool tip text is displayed when the mouse points on the component without clicking. The border for this component.
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Borders
You can set a border on any object of the JComponent class. Swing has several types of borders. To create a titled border, use
new TitledBorder(String title).
where width specifies the thickness of the line. For example, the following code displays a titled border on a panel:
JPanel panel = new JPanel(); panel.setBorder(new TitleBorder(My Panel));
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JComponent Properties
toolTipText border
TestSwingCommonFeatures
Run
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Image Icons
Java uses the javax.swing.ImageIcon class to represent an icon. An icon is a fixed-size picture; typically it is small and used to decorate components. Images are normally stored in image files. You can use new ImageIcon(filename) to construct an image icon. For example, the following statement creates an icon from an image file us.gif in the image directory under the current class path:
ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon("image/us.gif");
TestImageIcon Run
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Splash Screen
A splash screen is an image that is displayed while the application is starting up. If your program takes a long time to load, you may display a splash screen to alert the user. For example, the following command:
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