IDE for Swing [closed]

Answer 1

I like Eclipse's VisualEditor (VE), and sometime ago I've tried to switch to another editor, but I found it impossible. Visual editor has this feature that it generates manageable, readable, editable, and easy-to-understand code.

Unlike both mentioned earlier NetBeans editor and WindowBuilder it uses the lazy initialization pattern to separate initialization of components. Also it does not need to lock down parts of code that you can't edit; you may edit code by hand, and VE is still able to work with your changes.

The only disadvantage of VE is that it uses Eclipse v3.2 (Callisto) (there is no official build for Eclipse v3.4 (Ganymede), or Eclipse v3.3 (Europa)), so effectively you have to use two Eclipses instances, one for VE and one for the rest of the development.

I took it from recent discussion on comp.lang.java.gui (I was the author of this post, so I could do it rightfully). Here is the link to the whole discussion.

Answer 2

For me, the best visual Swing editor is JFormDesigner, which you can run standalone or as a plugin for IntelliJ IDEA and Eclipse.

It generates proper (actually readable) source code, it's very ergonomic and intuitive and, above all, very extensible. That last point is really important, because if you want to build a decent Swing application, you'll have to extend the base components or use some third-party libraries and it must be easy to integrate those in the visual editor.

It's not free, but it's a bargain for the power you get (129 EUR / 159 USD). I've been using it for a few years and love it.

Answer 3

I recommend WindowBuilder plugin for Eclipse IDE 3.7.2 Indigo / 24 February 2012.

Here's for the step-by-step installation: Create Java GUI as Easy as Visual Basic

Answer 4

Like others have mentioned, NetBeans' visual editor is pretty good, but it's based pretty heavily on the Swing Application Framework, so you'd need to get an understanding of how it works to properly use it (although you don't need to dig in to just test things).

Other than that there are also:

• the IntelliJ IDEA visual editor (flash demo of the features)
• and Eclipse's Visual Editor

Personally I've used NetBeans' and IDEA's visual editors. Both are nice, but I thought NetBeans had a leg up, because it doesn't use any proprietary way of saving the GUI structure and instead does something similar to what Visual Studio does - auto-generating the code that you can then add to. IDEA stores the information in a separate file which means you have to use IDEA to edit the layout visually later.

I have not used Eclipse's Visual Editor.

My vote is for NetBeans' visual editor. I think it satisfies what most people are looking for in a visual editor and leaves it flexible enough to plug the holes manually through code without affecting the visual editor (so you can switch back and forth between code and design views without breaking either).

Answer 5

Eclipse Visual Editor is pretty dull in my experience. I had more luck with JBuilder, which is also based on Eclipse, simply adding a few plugins to it as many other commercial products do. It is still not able to parse any Swing code (I doubt any Swing WISIWYG editor does), but if you start with it, it gives you relatively seamless experience. You need to pay for it though.

At the end of the day, I have worked with different similar UI tools, Flash Builder, Delphi etc., but unless you do some relatively trivial UI design, not including much business logic and communication with other layers, you'll have to accept that what you are capable of creating in code once you learn to do it properly is much more powerful than what any editor is capable of providing you with.

Answer 6

JFormDesigner.

I used NetBeans extensively in the past for GUI design, but I am now using IntelliJ with the JFormDesigner plugin. I have tried several other solutions, and this is the one I am sticking with.

JFormDesigner also works with JBuilder and Eclipse, so you are not locking your projects to one particular IDE.