Swing desktop-development

Question

I have a very general question regarding java desktop-gui-applications.

My Experience: In the last years i have developed a number of desktop-applicati

Answer 1

You can reduce your pain by following popular and successful desktop patterns combined with a clean implementation style. I strongly recommend that you learn the Model-View-Presenter (MVP) pattern and Presentation Model.

A good introduction is Fowler's "Organizing Presentation Logic". For the implementation style, see "Guter Schreibstil für Swing" at http://www.jgoodies.com/downloads/articles-and-presentations/ The slides are in German, the code is English ;-)

Answer 2

I heard good feedback from users who used the validation framework from JGoodies, even in combination with their FormLayout which, as the name suggests, is a LayoutManager specifically designed to make components look like forms.

I personally have only experience with the FormLayout and an in-house developed binding framework, where the creating of a UI as you describe boils down to a one-liner for each label-editor combination. There are certainly libraries available out-there which give you just that, but I have no experience with them so no recommandations on that front.

FormLayout

• website
• demo (direct webstart link)
• Screenshot of a typical layout using the FormLayout

Validation framework

• website
• demo webstart
• Screenshot of their validation framework in action

Answer 3

May I suggest to have a look at Eclipse Scout? It is Java/Eclipse based and available under the EPL.

Scout primarily addresses building business applications. With its clean separation of the client ui model from the actual ui rendering you have the options to run your app with Eclipse SWT, Swing, or web application (based on Eclipse RAP, this will come with the Juno release).

Regarding your question to field validation i am confident that you will find the provided mechanism (overwrite method execValidate() of the desired fields) comfortable to use.

Please have a look at the available tutorials on our wiki page. In case you need a client only solution (no backed server) also consider this howto.

For questions related to Eclipse Scout please use the project forum.

Hope this helps.