Moderator (MDR): MDR-Andrea

Guest-Speaker (SPK): SPK-mca and SPK-SteveW

MDR-Andrea: Hello everyone and welcome to Java Live. Today's topic is the Java Look and Feel (which has some new names and directions that will be explained). I'd like to welcome our guests, Michael Albers (mca), a JavaSoft^TM UI designer, and UI engineer Steve Wilson. Please go ahead and send in your questions.

wongkw: Is there any plan to provide mechanism for dynamic loading of L&F in general, and dynamic query and listing of themes in each L&F?

SPK-SteveW: We're discussing a mechanism for runtime query of installed L&Fs. Also the theme mechanism is still expanding. Right now only JLF (now Organic L&F) supports Themes. We're going to be looking into how (and if) Themes should be expanded into a general feature for all L&Fs.

MaryJaneSoft: What can expect in the future of Swing and L&F?

SPK-SteveW: After Organic, we are working on a new L&F codenamed "Metal." It is a more "evolutionary" design, where JLF/Organic was "revolutionary." People familar with today's popular GUI toolkits will feel at home with Metal. BTW, Metal looks cool.

steeg: How does Swing differ from the AWT?

SPK-SteveW: Swing uses lightweight components (no peers). It also provides more components (i.e. trees and tables). It provides a mechanism that allows you to plug in custom "Look & Feels," which is what were concentrating on today.

SPK-mca: There's more info about Swing/JFC at http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/.

wongkw: Currently, the default behaviour of double clicking on the title pane of a JInternalFrame is maximizing the JInternalFrame. How do I override this behavior to something different, like say minimizing JInternalFrame instead?

SPK-SteveW: Are you talking about doing this in an application, or by writing your own L&F?

wongkw: I'm writing my own L&F.

SPK-SteveW: You'll want to look at the BasicInternalFrameTitlePane class. It is where the "title bar" of the window is created (you'll also need to look at createNorthPane() in BasicInternalFrameUI). These behaviors are provided by listeners that are created in these classes. Note that currently BasicInternalFrameTitlePane is not a public class (which means you might have to copy some code), but we're considering whether to make it public for easier subclassing.

aywong: Hi. I'm a student at Harvard University. I've just completed a project called RaptorJava using JDK^TM 1.1.5 and Swing 0.7. It's a Java standalone app that's part of a client/server course information system. I have to saw that I was really impressed by the quality and design of Swing, even at 0.7. You guys (and gals) are the bomb!!! Anyhow, I'm wondering if there will be any futher 0.x releases before 1.0 comes out. Also, is "Metal" the cool new interface that is mentioned on the Swing Connection?

SPK-mca: There are no releases currently planned between now and the final release of JFC 1.1 (effectively Swing 1.0). Yes, Metal is the new L&F that is mentioned on The Swing Connection. (Glad to see that people are using this treasure trove of Swing information). Keep watching The Swing Connection for more info about Metal.

aywong: Have the Windows on Mac and Mac on Windows L&F issues been resolved? I seem to remember reading something to the effect of, "We don't care, let them (MS) sue us and look silly." What is Apple's stance regarding the Mac L&F running on Win32? And will there be any L&F locks installed once JFC1.1 comes out?

SPK-mca: Well, I'd rather avoid these legal issues, but nothing regarding this issue has changed since Swing 0.7 was released.

wongkw: Is Metal == Rose? If not, will Rose be back?

SPK-SteveW: No, Metal is not the same as Rose, but we think that people who were fond of Rose will like Metal. We hope to have some screenshots up on the Swing Connection soon.

MaryJaneSoft: Can the use of Swing affect the performance of an application (maybe speed)?

SPK-SteveW: Performance tuning for Swing is now becoming a priority. Now that the APIs are freezing, and the bug count is dropping, the Swing team is going to be looking into performance issues. Already components like Table are much improved.

rankin: I want our users to be able to customize their own Look & Feel off of our base L&F. I assume that I can use the UIDefaults class to store anything I want customized (e.g. a different font for labels than for JTextComponents), allow users to edit that data, and then reinitialize the L&F. Is this correct?

SPK-SteveW: Yes. This is absolutely correct. You can store any object in the defaults area; and, yes, you can have differernt fonts for different components.

wongkw: Another question on themes: Will you be providing mechanism for runtime editing/creation/storing of current/new themes?

SPK-mca: Currently themes are only provided in JLF/Organic. There is some discussion about making them a more generic part of JFC/Swing. These discussions will most likely involve some talk of a mecahnism like the one you've asked for.

aywong: I have a question about propagating L&F updates to components that are not part of any containment hierarchy. My application has JPopupMenus. They are never added to any containers, however, since I only want them to display when the user right-clicks. Currently, my L&F update method calls updateComponentTreeUI not only on the root component of my application, but also makes separate calls to specifically update all the popup menus that I have. I'm assuming there's no way around this, right? I suppose that I could add all my popups to a single JPanel that is never displayed, but then I would still need to call updateComponentTreeUI on that JPanel, right?

SPK-SteveW: The current L&F is a Beans-style bound property in the UIManager class. You can listen for changes in the the current L&F, which are broadcast as PropertyChangeEvents. The next version of Swing will ship with a sample called "Showcase," which shows how to listen for UI switches to update components not in the main hierarchy.

aywong: The Swing Connection is not totally clear on the issue of the chooser dialogs (Color and File). They are going into the preview package. Does that mean they will not be frozen until after 1.0 release?

SPK-SteveW: Yes, this means that the API for ColorChooser and FileChooser will not be frozen until after the 1.0 release. We felt that we haven't had enough time to flesh them out and get feedback. Instead of freezing something substandard, we thought it would be better to wait and get more feedback.

wongkw: Will there be a PrinterChooser similar to ColorChooser and FileChooser?

SPK-SteveW: There aren't currently plans for one, but is sounds like a cool idea at first look.

rankin: There is also some mention of a FontDialog. Will that appear in Swing 1.0?

SPK-SteveW: This is still planed, but not as part of 1.0. There are a few other choosers planned for later down the road.

aywong: I have a JScrollPane that contains a single custom component I've written. The size of visible scrollpane area is typically larger than the component itself, and I want all the areas not "covered up" by my component to be a specific color (like white).

I was not able to get the scrollpane to change this color from the default using setBackground. What I did to work around this was to add a line to the component's paint method that just draws a huge white rectangle (larger than the scrollpane could ever get), and then draws the component proper over it. Is there a better way to do this?

SPK-SteveW: There have been lots of problems with colors in ScrollPanes. We've done lots of work on these types of issues (especially opaque vs. transparent components). I think your setBackground call will work properly in the next release.

wongkw: I am surprised there is no plan for a printerChooser. Imagine a Swing application with printing capability: the user will be switched to a native-looking printer setup dialog instead of their favorite Orangic L&F. Users may complain of inconsistency in L&F.

SPK-SteveW: Everything is a matter of time and priorities. If you'd really like to see a printer chooser, then get all your friends to send mail to swing-feedback@eng.sun.com and ask for one! Everyone on the Swing team reads those messages.

aywong: Has there been any consideration of slider controls that have two sliders that would let you select a range of values?

SPK-SteveW: We haven't really talked about this, but it is an interesting concept. The Sliders have gotten a lot of attention lately, and now have nice APIs for labels and ticks. Send your idea to swing-feedback@eng.sun.com.

aywong: [Somewhat in reply to wongkw] My Swing application has printing capability and switches to a native print dialog upon printing like you described. Yeah, it's a little jarring, but hey, none of my users are complaining so far...they're all overwhelmed by the quality of the Swing components and the utter and absolute coolness of dynamic L&F morphing!

MDR-Andrea: We've run out of time. Thanks to everyone for joining, especially our guests—Mike and Steve. If you have any additional feedback or questions send them to swing-feedback@eng.sun.com. Be sure to join us next week when Java Live features a forum on the Java Activator. See you next week!