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Closed 11 years ago.
What is the best and powerful tool for building swing interface?
What tool do you use for swing? Why?
NetBeans Matisse (comes bundled with NetBeans) is good and powerful.
This eclipse plugin seems fresh as well, but I haven't tried it.
Eclipse is my IDE of choice. You can download Eclipse Visual Editor Project(VEP) from here. take a look at this tutorial.
The Eclipse Visual Editor project is a
vendor-neutral, open development
platform supplying frameworks for
creating GUI builders, and exemplary,
extensible tool implementations for
Swing/JFC and SWT/RCP.
if you want some compression between Eclipse's VEP and NetBeans' Matisse, take a look at this and this.
Netbeans comes with a nice GUI builder, look here: http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/tools/nb_guibuilder/
Netbeans is the best tool till date!
The Netbeans builder can be quite nice, but it does build a lot of code for some simple tasks. So over time I have gone back to coding by hand, it can save you a lot of time in the long run!
Look at these:
http://www.instantiations.com/windowbuilder/
I have written a Qt-style wrapper around GridBagLayout and I handcode my GUIs using it.
Visual GUI builders certainly provide more flexibility but that comes at the cost of reduced readability of the code. However I do use NetBeans Matisse when I have some quick and dirty job at hand. ;)
Anyway...
If you are interested in handcoding GUIs at all, then you might also like to have a look at MigLayout. I have never tried it though.
I suggest you using JBuilder ....
JFormDesigner is a nice visual designer. It supports lots of open source and built-in swing Layout, it has a plugin support for Eclipse,IntelliJ and also can be used external designer.I have used it as an IntelliJ plugin in a multi-year big swing project with no problem.
I prefer coding by hand with GridBagLayout, but if I had to use a GUI-Builder I would use NetBeans.
After using NetBeans and the Eclipse plugin, I'd go with NetBeans.
Abeille Forms is pretty good. It's based on JGoodies FormLayout. With Abeille you can layout your components visuals and access and/or replace the component with a richer component at runtime.
https://abeille.dev.java.net/
Related
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Closed 10 years ago.
I'm looking for a IDE that supports PHP/JAVA/CSS/HTML/JAVASCRIPT and possibly other languages.
Jetbrains IntelliJ and Sublime Text both seem like good choices.
However, since both require a payment for continued use, I'd like to know what the pros and cons of these two IDE's are, so as to get a better idea of which would be right for me. I'd like, not having to learn how to use both.
Thanks.
First off all, IntelliJ is an IDE, where as Sublime Text is a text editor. This difference means a lot when you want to work with languages like Java, that has a lot of syntactic bagages, but is quite productive with good IDE support.
In my experience an IDE focuses on adding support for much of the tooling involved around developing in a specific language, for instance build tools, debuggers, test runners etc. In addition an IDE is very useful when you work in statically typed languages, because the safe refactoring support you get is really productive.
A good text editor on the other hand focuses on manipulating text (although editors like Emacs is almost an OS in and of itself), and so thats where it's greatest strengths lies. Really investing to learn a good editor makes you look like a "text surgeon".
Some people claim that there is little value add with an IDE for working with dynamic languages, but after having used tools like WebStorm and RubyMine I disagree.
To generalize, an IDE provides you with a really productive environment out-of-the box, where as an editor usually needs to be customized to fit your specific work-flow. That also means that text-editors are more customizable, and can be configure to fit your specific needs more so than an IDE.
Personally I feel most productive in an IDE, but when I look at people really proficient in VIM or Emacs, I can't help wondering wether I should invest the time learning the tools.
I highly recomend watching the Play by Play and Destroy all Software screencasts for examples of developers that really have invested in learning and customizing their text editor.
I would definitely go with Jetbrains IntelliJ.
Sublime Text is pretty nice, but it doesn't have auto-completion for libraries and doesn't give a real code navigation functionality. It does have code completion based on the language and also records the typed instructions.
It doesn't support interactive debuggers.
It cannot be considered an IDE.
It's a beta product.
On the other hand, IntelliJ has the best of an full featured IDE including UML diagrams, local history/versioning (You don't need to keep saving your code, it does it automatically), GIT and SVN integration, an amazing error checking while you code, documentation support, hints for the language, and even spell checker for the docs, variables, classes and method names.
Both provides trial versions. Why not try it out and see by yourself?
You could also give a try to Netbeans and Eclipse.
Sublime Text is a text editor; only IntelliJ is an IDE, so there you go.
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Closed 11 years ago.
I have to create a desktop application in java. I have experience in working with eclipse IDE for web development. Now for Desktop development whether i have to stick with eclipse or Netbeans.
Then, they are telling Eclipse RCP and Netbeans RCP, i heard only swing, Which framework can I use for desktop development.
Thanks.
In my experience, Eclipse is a perfectly cromulent IDE for desktop applications.
Is there any feature in particular you think you'll be missing which could be worth the inconvenience of re-training yourself with a different environment?
Both Eclipse and Netbeans provide services to utilize and design Swing components. Swing is the general window toolkit for Java. Netbeans and Eclipse are IDEs. If you have experience with Eclipse, then use Eclipse as it will be easier for you.
If you need to design a user interface, which is what I think you are trying to get at, then something like Visual Swing Designer might help.
Window Builder from google is the best plugin I have ever seen for ui design.
Personally I use netbeans for swing because its just how I learned.
You can take this chance to learn something new or stay with what you are formiliar with. Only you can make that choice though.
Take into account things like deadlines etc.
Personally I believe Swing would be the best option to go when you plan to develop desktop apps with java. When It come to IDE, as since eclipse is you are used to, better stick to that, for design swing interfaces you can use, some third party plugin of your choice. Number of designers available can be found here,
Best GUI designer for eclipse?
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Closed 12 years ago.
I've been creating Java programs in a text editor for more than a year and now I want to switch to any IDE for creating Java applications. May I know which IDE should I use first? Eclipse or NetBeans? Which is more preferable for a starter?
I've also done a little work in Visual Studio for creating C# applications. Will working on any IDE gonna be helpful for me?
I've always liked NetBeans for it's simplicity, however I use Eclipse as it has an official plugin for Android, provided by Google. Eclipse is very good but also somewhat complicated - I've used it for years and probably don't know what 60% of the settings or features even do.
So stick to NetBeans, unless you're doing Android development.
Eclipse is definitely closer to the text editor environment you're used to, while NetBeans is more geared towards interface development.
A stock installation of Eclipse is extremely lightweight relative to NetBeans. NetBeans is probably closer to Visual Studio. It depends on what kind of environment you prefer to work in.
If you enjoyed and preferred text editor coding, I'd go with Eclipse. If you preferred Visual Studio-style environments, I'd go with NetBeans.
If your computer is old, I'd go with Eclipse as well.
Eclipse is heavily developed by third parties (google, adobe), netBeans by oracle, so while doing some job with java i felt netBeans to be more "native" for java. Although i do most of the programming in other languages so i use eclipse, since you can bend it to any direction you want.
So, all in all, if you're planing just program in java and have done something with visual studio - use netbeans
When I was learning Java they had us using jGRASP, then had us using Netbeans. Netbeans and Eclipse are very similar if you are just starting.
This is the IDE I use http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/download/
Netbeans is more to Visual Studio, if you are working on GUI app or Jasper reports, Netbeans is also your choice. In all other cases - Eclipse. Eclipse has much more plug-ins, integrated with server-side environment and easier customizable
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Closed 10 years ago.
I have been mucking about with Java swing lately but it's butt ugly! Are most people who write Java GUI's using swing or something else? I would really appreciate a recommendation. I don't want to use a GUI builder because I need to learn how everything works first.
Thanks!
If you don't like the default Swing look'n'feel, you can change it ; many ready-built themes exist. And it is quite possible to build beautiful and ergonomic applications with Swing : take a look at Netbeans or IntelliJ.
But if you definitely want to use another graphic toolkit, you can try SWT. Contrary to Swing that is pure Java, SWT uses native controls as much as possible (those provided by your OS), and emulates the missing ones. It was developed for, and is used by, the Eclipse platform.
Most people use Swing.
Some use SWT, but you have to dispose object after use. (no auto dispose in Garbage collecting) It give very native look UI.
Some use Qt-Jambi, but then you have to understand some C++ code. Most of them are for interoperating with Qt.
Some ancient code use AWT. Most of them are for legacy reason. I recommend avoid it.
I have been mucking about with Java swing lately but it's butt ugly!
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (Exception e) {}
Are most people who write Java GUI's using swing
For most things, yes. It's built-in, and doesn't suck that bad for a cross-platform GUI library (which all suck to some extent).
SWT
Spring-RCP (ontop of swing)
By the way, Swing's Look and Feel can be customized. There are some pretty good LaFs. See here how to change the look and feel.
Check this question for how to change the look and feel and for a list of nice look and feels
SWT is very good. It tries to use native GUI drawing functions wherever possible. An example of application written with SWT is Eclipse IDE.
http://www.eclipse.org/swt/
you can use native look and feel with swing, thus it's less ugly. Personnally, I use swing for my GUIs in java, and I find it quite straight forward and documented.
Here is a link toward swing documentation:
http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/lookandfeel/plaf.html
The only thing is ugly in Swing is standart layout manages. They are or too primitive or too complicated.
If you really want to write nice gui without gui builders take a look at alternative layout managers. For example Table layout https://tablelayout.dev.java.net/
Look to SWT http://www.eclipse.org/swt/ - Eclipse entirely built on it.
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Closed 11 years ago.
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I'm looking for a good GUI designer for swing in eclipse. My preference is for a free/open-source plugin.
Window Builder Pro is a great GUI Designer for eclipse and is now offered for free by google.
Here is a quite good but old comparison http://wiki.computerwoche.de/doku.php/programmierung/gui-builder_fuer_eclipse
Window Builder Pro is now free at Google Web Toolkit
Look at my plugin for developing swing application. It is as easy as that of netbeans':
http://code.google.com/p/visualswing4eclipse/
'Jigloo' is a very cool GUI designer. It is not free for commercial use however.
It auto-generates code and allows for custom editing of the code it creates.
http://www.cloudgarden.com/jigloo/
Another good GUI designer for Eclipse is Window Builder Pro. Like Jigloo, it's not free for commercial use.
It allows you to design user interfaces for Swing, SWT and even the Google Web Toolkit (GWT).
Visual Editor is a good choice.
It generates very clean code, with no "layout" files beside of your sourcen using a simple but convenient pattern. It's very easy to patch the generated code and directly see the result.
There are some stability problems (some times, the preview window does not refresh anymore...), but nothing that a "clean Project" can't fix...
visualswing4eclipse looks good but the eclipse update URL didn't work for me (I raised ticket 137)
I was only able to install a previous version. Here's a url in case anyone wants it:
http://visualswing4eclipse.googlecode.com/svn-history/r858/trunk/org.dyno.visual.swing.site/site.xml
The plugin actually looks very good.
Old question, but have you checked out JFormDesigner?
GWT Designer is very good and allows for rapid development of GWT websites. (http://www.instantiations.com/gwtdesigner/)
I use GWTDesigner http://www.instantiations.com/gwtdesigner/ which is not free but works well. Best of all, their customer support is top notch - very responsive.
well check out the eclipse distro easyeclipse at EasyEclipse. it has Visual editor project already added as a plugin, so no hassles of eclipse version compatibility.Plus the eclipse help section has a tutorial on VE.
It's not free or open source. But you can give Intellij Idea's SWING GUI designer a try.