GUI plays a important role in every application you develop. The application could be developed through different programming languages but the presentation has only one language that is GUI – it symbolizes ‘Look n Feel’ as far as programmers are concerned.
Being a professional JAVA many developer fail to present their application as desired, am I right? Don’t worry, we have many toolkits to develop an excellent GUI which really sells your application in no time. Among the many, here are the four (Pivot, Thinlet, Swing, SWT) GUI toolkits, which are quick and easy to develop the best GUI for your applications.
Table of Contents
1. Pivot, a new GUI toolkit for Java.
Pivot is an open-source framework for building high-quality, cross-platform applications that are easily deployable both via the web and to the desktop. It began as an R&D effort at VMware and is now being made available to the community as an option for developers who want to build rich client applications in Java.
Pivot GUI Toolkit for JAVA References:
Pivot GUI Toolkit
Demo: Run the Pivot Demo application. This is a basic “kitchen sink”-style demo that showcases many of Pivot’s available features.
Stock Tracker Example Application
Tutorials Pivot.Java Version 1.2
2. Thinlet – GUI toolkit for J2SE and Personal Profile
Thinlet is free and open-source and a complete GUI toolkit for J2SE and Personal Profile. The original Thinlet GUI toolkit is a single Java class, thus it is extremely small (only 39KB) and the hierarchy and properties of the GUI is described by an XML file instead of the usual JavaBean components.
Thinlet GUI Toolkit for J2SE References:
Official Thinlet Site
A very simple Thinlet demo including most of widgets and events.
Thinlet Overview
Building Easy Java GUIs with Thinlet, Part 1
Skinlet project – skin support for Thinlets!
3. Swing GUI Toolkit
Swing is a widget toolkit for Java. It is part of Sun Microsystems’ Java Foundation Classes (JFC) — an API for providing a graphical user interface (GUI) for Java programs.
Project Swing is implemented entirely in the Java programming language, and is based on the JDK Lightweight UI Framework. The pluggable look and feel lets you design a single set of GUI components that can automatically have the look and feel of any OS platform (Microsoft Windows, Solaris, Macintosh). Project Swing components include both 100% Pure Java certified versions of the existing AWT component set (Button, Scrollbar, Label, etc.), plus a rich set of higher-level components (such as tree view, list box, and tabbed panes).
Swing GUI Toolkit References:
Official: Swing is the Dominant GUI Toolkit
Tutorials – Creating a GUI with JFC/Swing
The Swing Connection
The Swing API documentation
The Swing architecture
The Java Swing Website
Another Swing Tutorial Site
Swing Explorer – tool for debugging and researching Swing applications
Swing Testing and debugging
4. SWT – Standard Widget Toolkit
The Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) is a graphical widget toolkit for use with the Java platform. It was originally developed by IBM and is now maintained by the Eclipse Foundation in tandem with the Eclipse IDE. It is an alternative to the AWT and Swing Java GUI toolkits provided by Sun Microsystems as part of the Java Platform, Standard Edition. More from Wikipedia – Standard Widget Toolkit
SWT – Standard Widget Toolkit References:
Common, QtJambi (http://trolltech.com/products/qt/features/language-support/java) is many times better then swing and swt and won’t look like garbage on my linux box..
I hate having to use Netbeans on kde4 because of it awful looks and unresponsive ui
Paulo,
Swing not looking its best was due to most applications using the default Look and Feel Metal. For many years, there have been LaFs that can look more native and/or more polished than the default. You can override a couple files in your Java installation to override the LaF choice.
Here are a couple links to make Swing apps look better:
http://www.javootoo.com/
http://javabyexample.wisdomplug.com/component/content/article/37-core-java/65-20-free-look-and-feel-libraries-for-java-swings.html
I’d use SWT but Eclipse GUI builder (VEP) doesn’t work with newer Eclipse versions…
good one…
Hi,
Thanks for the nod. Just wanted to point out that the last Pivot link doesn’t actually have anything to do with our Pivot UI project! :-)
-Greg
Site for Pivot has moved to http://pivot.apache.org/
A Java GUI application uses the standard Java components GUI basic set, Swing, and is deployed to the desktop. This version uses the Java Foundation Classes including Swing.
To be honest I didn’t know that this kind of tools even exist but now they will really much help in learning to create great looking GUI
I’m no interface expert, but I create applications that blow people’s minds, in very short periods.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hkzbV0D0Iw