The JavaTM Tutorial
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Trail: Creating a GUI with JFC/Swing

Also known as The Swing Tutorial

Book cover: The JFC Swing Tutorial Second Edition This trail tells you how to create graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for applications and applets, using the Swing components.

Your feedback is important to us! Please send your comments and suggestions to us using the feedback page. This trail has been updated to the 1.4 release of the Java 2 platform and is available in a new book.

Getting Started with Swing is a quick start lesson. First it gives you a bit of background about the JFC and Swing. Then it tells you how to compile and run programs that use Swing components. Next, it shows you how to run programs using Java Web Start.

Learning Swing by Example explains the concepts you need to use Swing components in building a user interface. It is built around several progressively complicated examples, so you'll learn the basics by examining code samples.

Using Swing Components tells you how to use each of the Swing components — buttons, tables, text components, and all the rest.

Using Other Swing Features tells you how to use actions, borders, icons, and timers. It also helps you to create multithreaded programs.

Laying Out Components Within a Container tells you how to choose a layout manager, how to use each of the layout manager classes the JavaTM platform provides, how to use absolute positioning instead of a layout manager, and how to create your own layout manager.

Writing Event Listeners tells you how to handle events in your programs.

Performing Custom Painting gives you information on painting your own Swing components. It discusses painting issues specific to Swing components, provides an overview of painting concepts, and has examples of custom components that paint themselves.

Other UI-Related Trails

Although this is the main trail for learning about GUIs, it isn't the only trail with UI-related information.

Note:  This trail does not tell you how to use the AWT components. Information on them is in the old UI trail, which is available for downloading as Creating a User Interface (AWT Only) (outside of the tutorial).

As of January, 2004, four lessons have been removed or totally rewritten. To find these sections, one of which includes hints on converting from AWT code to Swing code (but hasn't been updated in ages) and another of which has tips on using the original Graphics painting API, download the Swing trail as of May, 2003.



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