Java™ Application Development on Linux - Dator

Chapter 16Getting in the Swing of Things:Designing a GUI for BudgetProSometimes you gotta have a GUI; even we will admit that command lines onlygo so far. When it comes to simple interactions with casual users, a GraphicalUser Interface is a great step forward . . . if it’s done well. The toolkit forbuilding such an interface with Java is called Swing. The original Java toolkitis AWT (A Windowing Toolkit), and is still in use, but much less attractive.We’ll take a quick look at some major pieces of Swing, and show a completeexample—a GUI for our budget application. After this example, you will havethe tools you need to construct some real GUIs on your own.16.1WHAT YOU WILL LEARN• The Swing GUI paradigm.• A simple standalone Swing application.• Some basic Swing objects—buttons and labels.• A bit about layout managers.• A more complex object—the JTable.341