Java Swing

by James Elliott, Robert Eckstein, Dave Wood, et al.

Book Overview

Swing is a fully-featured user interface development kit for Java applications. Building on the foundations of the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT), Swing enables cross-platform applications to use any of several pluggable look-and-feels. Swing developers can take advantage of its rich, flexible features and modular components, building elegant user interfaces with very little code.This second edition of Java Swing thoroughly covers all the features...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0596004087
• ISBN13: 9780596004088
• Release Date: December 2002
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Length: 1278 Pages
• Weight: 3.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.0" x 7.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Encyclopedic tome on Swing is a great reference

This extremely hefty book on Swing has just about everything in it. However, it is intended to be a reference on Swing, not a tutorial. The problem with the Java Swing API is that it is so large and unwieldy itself that it is difficult to write a complete and useful reference that does not reflect that fact. If you need a good tutorial on Java Swing, you might want to look at the Core Java books by Cornell and read the chapters that apply to Swing. Cornell manages to carve out the basics of writing a Swing application very clearly without getting wrapped around the axle in details you do not need if you are a beginner. Then, come back to this book when you need to write an application to get the details you need. Since everything in Swing is a JavaBean, much of each component's behavior is controlled by a set of properties that are manipulated by accessor methods. Thus, this book has a table for each class that presents the class properties, the data type for each property, the accessor methods, and the default values. In addition, the book has plenty of demonstration code that shows how to use just about all of the various Swing components. The book even has chapters dedicated to changing the look and feel of components and also repainting issues, which loom large in Swing. You can download all of the book's code from the book's website at O'Reilly and Associates. I highly recommend this book to anyone who already knows the bare basics of writing applications with Swing and needs a useful reference. There is no better one out there in publication of which I am aware.

Great Java Swing Resource

The Java Swing 2nd Edition O'Reilly book is a very good resource for learning and using Java Swing. The book covers the important and commonly used aspects of Swing without getting bogged down into the minute details you would find in the technical API specifications. The examples from the book are available on O'Reilly's website and can be downloaded from their site in one file or accessed individually. There are also brief errata available online for those last minute errors that didn't make it into the book.The book is clear about what material is covered so there should be no surprises when the latest language constructs aren't discussed. This book is not written for learning the Java language, but if you have a decent grasp of how Java works this book will not be over your head in most places. The book is focused entirely on Swing and not AWT or the 2D API of the JFC. The writing is easy to follow and the examples are clear to understand. For those who are converting from AWT to Swing there is a chapter that explains the differences and shows how to convert a few objects into Swing components. The book is aimed at learning Swing without any previous knowledge of AWT. I highly recommend this book for any developer that wants a good resource and teaching aid for learning and developing in Swing.

Excellent Reference

This is must have reference for anyone that wants to learn Java Swing. It covers almost every class in Swing, with detailed explanations of what its most important methods do, it members and constants and examples on how to use them. These examples demonstrate just how powerful and rich applications developed with Swing can be. While the author assumes that the reader has some Java and Object Oriented knowledge, this book serves as a solid reference to those who want to learn Swing either from scratch or to expand their programming skills.

Great for starting w/ Swing when already experienced w/java

When I started converting AWT stuff to Swing stuff I just used sun's api docs and tutorial. But when I started getting into more difficult areas like table layout, multiple document interfaces, etc., I decided to buy a book. I bought this one and have been very happy with it. I skimmed through most of it a while back and now I use it as a reference, looking up whatever topic I am having trouble with and going through the examples. For me it has been invaluable.

The most informative reference available

Pavel Vorobiev and I are currently finishing up an 'advanced' Swing book consisting mainly of examples ("Swing", Manning publications). We have referenced the Swing source code nonstop. Apart from this, we feel that Java Swing is the best Swing reference money can buy. This book is not an API docs dump. It is a high quality reference book for GUI developers who are prepared to do their job professionaly, not blindly. If you are looking for a hand-holding tutorial this book is not for you (for this I would suggest Up to Speed With Swing).Java Swing is very well organized and full of original explanation. I encourage potential readers to disregard other comments claiming that this book is API repetitive or doesn't explain enough. No book can cover every possible situation that can arise in the creation of a GUI, and no book will fully explain all of the inner workings of each Swing component and UI delegate. Swing is a very complex and extensive library with some very interesting and powerful mechanisms working behind the scenes. Without a doubt, Java Swing is the most informative and rich reference available. I recommend it highly.Matthew Robinson "Swing", Manning publications Swing "Tips and Tricks", The Swing Connection