I want to set web look and feel only for a JCombobox in NetBeans.
Image :
Generally speaking in Swing you can't set the look and feel for any specific component but for the whole set of them. See How to Set the Look and Feel.
On the other hand, WebLaF provides extensions for Swing components that have a custom "Look" on their own with no need to set the Look and Feel to WebLaF for the entire application. In this case, instead of using a JComboBox you can use WebComboBox which is an extension of the previous one. However this custom look is limited and some features such as font (size, weight and family), renderers, pop ups, etc. don't change and still the same of the configured look and feel. So I wouldn't suggest you to do this at all and keep consistency either by setting WebLaf as Look and Feel or by using standard Swing components.
Consider the pictures below (note WebList is broken with Nimbus):
MetalLookAndFeel
NimbusLookAndFeel
WindowsLookAndFeel
WebLookAndFeel
Just add this after you set whatever default Swing UI you want and then you will get the WebComboBoxUI for all JComboBoxes only.
UIManager.put("ComboBoxUI", "com.alee.laf.combobox.WebComboBoxUI");
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I am a beginner in Java GUI, and I want to set a good looking look and feel; but the problem is that I don't like any of the look and feel completely. Everyone has some good and some bad styles. Being specific, I am using Nimbus look and feel, but I like the table and text area of liquid look and feel. I want to use Nimbus look and feel as default, but only use JTable and JTextArea of Liquid Look and feel. Is this possible?
Please answer using easy vocabulary, as I said I am a beginner.
ps: I use Netbeans.
You may be able to use the ad hoc approach shown here for JTree icons.
Left: com.apple.laf.AquaLookAndFeel
Right: javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalLookAndFeel
Addendum: While not all combinations are compatible, you can examine the defined UIManager Defaults for keys common to both. A few JTable examples are shown here.
Tooltips in my application can be quite long, therefore I'd like them to have line breaks.
I don't want to use html as I'd prefer to set a (max) width of my tooltips instead and have the line breaks dynamically.
In the accepted answer the this similar question Multi-line tooltips in Java? I read about JMultiLineToolTip. Unfortunately the provided link doesn't work anymore and there are many different JMultiLineToolTip out there. Therefore my two questions:
Which JMultiLineToolTip is a good one to use?
How can I use such a class to represent all of the tooltips in my application?
EDIT: as everyone seems to recommend the use of html, is there a way to define the width of my tooltip in pixels (or some other unit than number of characters) using html?
If you are not afraid of extending swing tool tip, you can create your own JMultiLineToolTip:
Extend JTooltip In the extended Tool tip component implementation,
set a custom tool tip UI In customUI implementation
Implementpaint() method to write given string in multi line
Here is an example - it shows how to use it as well
However, to answer your questions:
Which JMultiLineToolTip is a good one to use?
Use <html>
How can I use such a class to represent all of the tooltips in my application?
Per compopnent, it is easy but tedious to achieve as you will have to override creatreToolTip() API. But if you want to change it globally, you may:
(i)Simple way - Register your custom tooltip UI with the UIManager at the beginning of your execution.
UIManager.put( "ToolTipUI", "SeNormToolTipUI" );
UIManager.put( "SeNormToolTipUI",Class.forName( multiLineToolTipUIClassName ) );
(ii) complex way
You will have to start implementing your own look and feel. In the look and feel implementation, you would provide defaults for ToolTipUI as your UI implementation and then set that look and feel to the application you are running. For instance take a look at the MetalLookAndFeel implementation. You may just extend that part and implement your on lnf.
So, it is better to use <html>
1) Html is easiest of ways for plain JToolTip
2) use JWindow(un_decorated JDialog) with JTextArea, better would be JTextPane (supporting stylled text),
the disadvantage is you have to manually set window to the Point, you have to manually set for setInitialDelay and setDismissDelay (Swing Timer), setVisible(true/false)
the advantage is that you using full manageable top level container with definitions for own parent
3) I use JLabel with Html formatted and stylled text added to the GlassPane, notice easiest alternative is use non_opaque JLayeredPane (Java6) or JLayer (Java7)
I have tons of jbuttons, jtextfields, jlabels, jmenus, gui items and it is extremely time consuming to set the background color and foreground color one at a time.
I want to be able to color the fonts(foreground) and backgrounds all the jmenus, jmenuitems,jtextfields,jbuttons, etc quickly/concisely in my project instead of having to set them one at a time.
Is there any technique to do this more concisely instead of doing it one at a time?
1) most eficient way would be to use Custom Look and Feel, part of them have got a nice Themes
2) set value to the UIDefault, Listing UIDefault Properties
EDIT:
best of all UIManager Defaults by #camickr
You can combine Swing with CSS or use a Swing Look & Feel in order to create a standard look for your components. The Java site says:
Before we get into a CSS implementation, let's consider the alternative: a custom look and feel. Swing Look and Feels (L&Fs) are sets of classes that implement the actual drawing of components at a very low level (think lines and bitmaps). They can be swapped out for new ones at runtime, often to implement the look of a native platform; i.e., the JDK for OSX has a set of classes that make Swing apps look like native Aqua apps, with candy buttons and blue tint. Custom L&Fs are powerful, but not trivial or quick to build. You will usually have to touch 20 or so classes and implement a whole bunch of special drawing code.
So CSS is easier to use. The same article goes on to give a tutorial about how to implement the CSS with Swing. They provide a nice walkthrough of creating the right rules and then going on to implement them in CSS. However, this is not simply "copy and paste" code.
If you'd just like to use a package (without having to code it yourself) the answers to the question Can I use CSS for Java Swing? suggest Flying Saucer and Jaxx.
They're all JComponents so you can make an ArrayList of everything:
//Adding everything to the ArrayList
ArrayList<JComponent> myComponents = new ArrayList<JComponents>();
JButton b1 = new JButton("Button 1");
myComponents.add(b1);
JMenuItem item = new JMenuItem("Menu Item 1");
myComponents.add(item);
//Coloring the foreground/background
for(JComponent j : myComponents) {
j.setForeground(new Color("BLUE"));
j.setBackground(new Color("RED"));
}
If you use a Look and Feel that honors the UI constants in javax.swing.UIManager then you can just set them. There are values for e.g. panel background. If not or if you can't control the look enough by this you can write you own UI delegate that draws a specific component (e.g. javax.swing.plaf.ButtonUI for JButtons). If even this is not enough you can write your own Look And Feel. If you just extend the Metal LnF it is not that hard, you would write own UI delegates and set properties, like above, but centralized.
Below UI is something I'd like to aim for. But I have no idea, how they have the "skin" of the app. On my end, the Java application looks like it was made in 1990s. I want to change a look to a more modern style.
What components are they using possibly here? JSplitpane for one. but I'm not sure how they created that "Dokument/Vorschau" tabs.
First using a look and feel like Nimbus, can easily change the look of your application to a have a more modern feel.
Second, you will need to customize the font, color, borders, node icons, etc. of each component type to achieve a non-standard look. Some of these can be changed with updates to the UIDefaults of the look and feel but many will be made by calling methods on the specific instance of the component you are dealing with.
Try a javax.swing.JTabbedPane.
If you really want to change the complete look-and-feel of your application from scratch, you should take a look at Synth L'n'F. You can define style and appearance of components and bind them to components which match certain criteria.
(My opinion on that matter: heavily themed apps usually look and feel out-of-the-place and only make it harder to use the app, so I'd actually try to avoid themeing)
I'm using the Flamingo ribbon and the Substance Office 2007 look and feel.
Of course now every control has this look and feel, even those on dialog boxes.
What I want is something like in Office 2007, where the ribbons have their Office 2007 look, but other controls keep their native Vista/XP look.
Is it possible to assign certain controls a different look and feel? Perhaps using some kind of chaining or a proxy look and feel?
I just discovered: Since Substance 5.0 the SKIN_PROPERTY is available.
It allows assigning different skins to different JRootPanes (i.e. JDialog, JFrame, JInternalFrame)
A little trick: I override JInternalFrame to remove the extra border and the title pane so that it looks just like a borderless panel. That way it is possible to create the impression, that different parts of a form/dialog have different looks.
Here is a library which will automaticaly change the look and feel. I am not sure it this will done for every component in a different way, but you should take a look at it. pbjar.org
This book should be useful if you want to go deep into look and feel /java-look-and-feel-design-guidelines-second-edition
I would be glad to see some code example, if someone can write it, feel free to get starting.
EDIT:
In this forum thread Thread i found the following description
Swing uses a Look & Feel (a PLAF).
PLAFs aren't attached on a per-JFrame
level. They are attached on a per-VM
level. It is almost impossible to mix
PLAFs within one application. I have
seen a few attempts, all failed.
Swing unfortunately does lots of "psuedo-global" things behind the scenes. AFAIK, the only way to do it consistently is to use the private AppContext API. Each AppContext has its own event dispatch thread and other "psuedo-globals".