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Java question

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  • 02-01-2007 9:46am
    #1
    Khannie
    Registered Users Posts: 37,485 ✭✭✭✭


    I used to be pretty handy at java, but I haven't used it in around 4 years now. I need to make a client / server program (for work) that has a nice GUI on the server side.

    What's the most popular way to make a nice GUI? Are there any cheap / free wysiwyg editors out there that make reasonable code? Or should I just do it by hand?


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    #2
    Hobbes
    Registered Users Posts: 21,264 ✭✭✭✭Hobbes


    http://www.swt-designer.com/

    The free version works ok. You would probably need to learn some SWT though. I think they have a Swing version as well.

    There is also ..

    http://www.cloudgarden.com/jigloo/

    Which I have never used so can't comment on.

    If your going for GUI design you have a toss up with Swing (built in) or SWT (looks more like OS program). There are many others but think they are the two most popular.


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    #3
    OMcGovern
    Closed Accounts Posts: 503 ✭✭✭OMcGovern


    I used to like JBuilder for drag 'n' drop creation of GUI's.
    I could drag and drop components on to the forms, and play with the layout managers interactively.
    I haven't used Swing in a while, but it was a nice wysiwyg Swing based editor.

    I'd only used it for GUI creation.

    regards,
    Owen


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    #4
    ressem
    Registered Users Posts: 2,426 ✭✭✭ressem


    Sun's free Netbeans 5.5, with the swing editor is pretty decent.
    http://www.netbeans.org/

    Create a new Java app. Add a JFrame. Add a JPanel. Drag, drop and resize components.

    See http://www.netbeans.org/kb/55/quickstart-gui.html

    Though you'd do well to glance through the MS usability and design guidelines, if you need it to look sellably good.
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwue/html/ch14a.asp
    And updated bits in
    http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511258.aspx

    Suggests standard sizes and positioning to fit in with windows.


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    #5
    Khannie
    Registered Users Posts: 37,485 ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    Thanks for the replies lads. I'll give a few of them a bash and report back.


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    #6
    Khannie
    Registered Users Posts: 37,485 ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    Went with netbeans 5.5 in the end. I tried eclipse with vfe (I think) and that was a bit unusable as a plugin.

    Netbeans has JUnit integration (nice!) and automatic Javadoc generation. I haven't actually done that much with it yet (only doing Java work one day a week) but it seems pretty good.


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