GUI Basics

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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 The Java API
The Java API (Application Program
Interface, Application Programming
Interface, or Application Programmer
interface) consists of numerous classes
and interfaces grouped into more than a
dozen of packages. You have used
classes and interfaces in the java.lang,
javax.swing, and java.util packages.
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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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 Framework-Based Programming,
cont.
Once you understand the concept of Java and
object-orient programming, the most important
lesson from now on is learning how to use the
API to develop useful programs. The most
effective way to achieve it is to imitate good
examples. The book provides many carefully
designed examples to demonstrate the concept of
the framework-based programming using the
Java API.

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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.

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 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.

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 Creating GUI Objects
// Create a button with text OK
JButton jbtOK = new JButton("OK");
 
// Create a label with text "Enter your name: "
JLabel jlblName = new JLabel("Enter your name: ");
  Label Text Check Radio
field Box Button

Button

// Create a text field with text "Type Name Here" Combo

JTextField jtfName = new JTextField("Type Name Here");
Box
 
// 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"});

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 Swing vs. AWT
So why do the GUI component classes have a prefix J? Instead of JButton, why not
name it simply Button? In fact, there is a class already named Button in the
java.awt package.

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 don’t
rely on native GUI are referred to as lightweight components, and AWT
components are referred to as heavyweight components.

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GUI Class Hierarchy (Swing)

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 Container Classes

Container classes can

contain other GUI
components.

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 GUI Helper Classes

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.
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 Swing GUI Components
JCheckBoxMenuItem

JMenuItem JMenu

AbstractButton JButton JRadioButtonMenuItem

JToggleButton JCheckBox

JRadioButton
JComponent JEditorPane

JTextComponent JTextField JPasswordField

JTextArea

JLabel JList JComboBox JPanel JOptionPane JScrollBar JSlider

JTabbedPane JSplitPane JLayeredPane JSeparator JScrollPane JRootPane

JToolBar JMenuBar JPopupMenu JFileChooser JColorChooser JToolTip

JTree JTable JTableHeader JInternalFrame JProgressBar JSpinner

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Components Covered in the Brief Version
JCheckBoxMenuItem

JMenuItem JMenu

AbstractButton JButton JRadioButtonMenuItem

JToggleButton JCheckBox

JRadioButton
JComponent JEditorPane

JTextComponent JTextField JPasswordField

JTextArea

JLabel JList JComboBox JPanel JOptionPane JScrollBar JSlider

JTabbedPane JSplitPane JLayeredPane JSeparator JScrollPane JRootPane

JToolBar JMenuBar JPopupMenu JFileChooser JColorChooser JToolTip

JTree 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.
 For Swing GUI programs, use JFrame class to
create widows.

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 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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 Adding Components into a Frame
// Add a button into the frame
frame.getContentPane().add(
Title bar
new JButton("OK"));

Content pane

MyFrameWithComponents Run

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 Content Pane Delegation in JDK 1.5
// Add a button into the frame
frame.getContentPane().add(
Title bar
new JButton("OK"));

// Add a button into the frame

Content pane frame.add(
new JButton("OK"));

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 JFrame Class
javax.swing.JFrame
+JFrame() Creates a default frame with no title.
+JFrame(title: String) Creates a frame with the specified title.
+setSize(width: int, height: int): void Specifies the size of the frame.
+setLocation(x: int, y: int): void Specifies the upper-left corner location of the frame.
+setVisible(visible: boolean): void Sets true to display the frame.
+setDefaultCloseOperation(mode: int): void Specifies the operation when the frame is closed.
+setLocationRelativeTo(c: Component): Sets the location of the frame relative to the specified component.
void If the component is null, the frame is centered on the screen.
+pack(): void Automatically sets the frame size to hold the components in the
frame.

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 Layout Managers
 Java’s 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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 Kinds of Layout Managers
 FlowLayout

 GridLayout

 BorderLayout

 Several other layout managers is introduced in

textbook’s 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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 The FlowLayout Class

The get and set methods for these data fields are provided in
java.awt.FlowLayout the class, but omitted in the UML diagram for brevity.

-alignment: int The alignment of this layout manager (default: CENTER).

-hgap: int The horizontal gap of this layout manager (default: 5 pixels).
-vgap: int The vertical gap of this layout manager (default: 5 pixels).

+FlowLayout() Creates a default FlowLayout manager.

+FlowLayout(alignment: int) Creates a FlowLayout manager with a specified alignment.
+FlowLayout(alignment: int, hgap: Creates a FlowLayout manager with a specified alignment,
int, vgap: int) horizontal gap, and vertical gap.

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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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 The GridLayout Class

The get and set methods for these data fields are provided in
java.awt.GridLayout the class, but omitted in the UML diagram for brevity.

-rows: int The number of rows in this layout manager (default: 1).
-columns: int The number of columns in this layout manager (default: 1).
-hgap: int The horizontal gap of this layout manager (default: 0).
-vgap: int The vertical gap of this layout manager (default: 0).

+GridLayout() Creates a default GridLayout manager.

+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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 The BorderLayout Manager

The BorderLayout add(Component,

manager divides the constraint), where
container into five areas: constraint is
East, South, West, North, BorderLayout.EAST,
and Center. Components are BorderLayout.SOUTH,
added to a BorderLayout BorderLayout.WEST,
by using the add method. BorderLayout.NORTH, or
BorderLayout.CENTER.

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 BorderLayout Example

ShowBorderLayout Run
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 The BorderLayout Class

The get and set methods for these data fields are provided in
java.awt.BorderLayout the class, but omitted in the UML diagram for brevity.

-hgap: int The horizontal gap of this layout manager (default: 0).
-vgap: int The vertical gap of this layout manager (default: 0).

+BorderLayout() 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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 The Color Class
You can set colors for GUI components by using the
java.awt.Color class. Colors are made of red, green, and
blue components, each of which is represented by a byte
value that describes its intensity, ranging from 0 (darkest
shade) to 255 (lightest shade). This is known as the RGB
model.
Color c = new Color(r, g, b);
r, g, and b specify a color by its red, green, and blue
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
component’s background and foreground colors:
setBackground(Color c)
setForeground(Color c)

Example:
jbt.setBackground(Color.yellow);
jbt.setForeground(Color.red);

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 The Font Class
Font Names Font Style
Standard font names Font.PLAIN (0),
that are supported in Font.BOLD (1),
all platforms are: Font.ITALIC (2), and
SansSerif, Serif, Font.BOLD +
Monospaced, Dialog, Font.ITALIC (3)
or DialogInput.

Font myFont = new Font(name, style, size);

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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 Finding All Available Font
Names
GraphicsEnvironment e =
GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment();
String[] fontnames =
e.getAvailableFontFamilyNames();
for (int i = 0; i < fontnames.length; i++)
System.out.println(fontnames[i]);

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 Using Panels as Sub-Containers
 Panels act as sub-containers for grouping user interface
components.
 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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 Testing Panels Example
This example uses panels to organize components.
The program creates a user interface for a
Microwave oven.
frame
A textfield
p2
A button 12
buttons p1

TestPanels Run
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Common Features of Swing Components
The get and set methods for these data fields are provided in
the class, but omitted in the UML diagram for brevity.
java.awt.Component
-font: java.awt.Font The font of this component.
-background: java.awt.Color The background color of this component.
-foreground: java.awt.Color The foreground color of this component.
-preferredSize: Dimension The preferred size of this component.
-visible: boolean Indicates whether this component is visible.
+getWidth(): int Returns the width of this component.
+getHeight(): int Returns the height of this component.
+getX(): int getX() and getY() return the coordinate of the component’s
+getY(): int upper-left corner within its parent component.

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.
+remove(comp: Component): void Removes the component from the container.
+getLayout(): LayoutManager Returns the layout manager for this container.
+setLayout(l: LayoutManager): void Sets the layout manager for this container.
+paintComponents(g: Graphics): void 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 The tool tip text for this component. Tool tip text is displayed when
the mouse points on the component without clicking.
-border: javax.swing.border.Border 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).
To create a line border, use
new LineBorder(Color color, int width),
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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 Test Swing Common Features
Component Properties JComponent Properties
 font  toolTipText
 background  border
 foreground
 preferredSize
 minimumSize
 maximumSize

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:

java –splash:image/us.gf TestImageIcon

displays an image while the program TestImageIcon is

being loaded.

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