A Note About Java GUI (Thick Client) Applications


We did not look at building thick client applications at all in this book because our application had a web user interface. Currently, there is an implicit war going on between Java's Swing and IBM's SWT (Standard Widget Toolkit). Swing is the reference GUI toolkit for JSE, and SWT is a graphics library available with the Eclipse platform. Both of these technologies are cross-platform technologies.

SWT is a thin wrapper around the native operating system's GUI widgets, and it has a higher-level interface named JFace. In contrast, Swing renders its own look-and-feel and tries to closely match it with the native operating system's look-and-feel.

Both of these technologies have their pros and cons. For example, if you read online articles on this subject or browse through messages in various online discussion forums, you will get the sense Swing is over-engineered and slower than SWT. On the other hand, by choosing SWT, you are committing to the Eclipse platformsomething certainly worth considering. My personal general impression tends to be that if you are developing a GUI application only for Microsoft Windows, SWT appears to be a better choice. However, if you sell or distribute your application to external customers, Swing might be a better choice. Again, this is my personal opinion. You should investigate these technologies further if you have a need for this type of functionality.

Another factor to consider for GUI applications is the Java Web Start technology from Sun, which allows applications to be launched with a single click, independently of a web browser. The application can also be launched through desktop shortcuts, making launching the web-deployed application similar to launching a native application. The application itself is cached locally, so if there are no updates to the application, it is run instantly. Otherwise, an updated version can be downloaded from the network (this is made possible by Java's Network Launching Protocol specificationJNLP for short).

For details on SWT, visit the eclipse.org website. For Java Swing and Web Start technologies, visit the java.sun.com website.



Agile Java Development with Spring, Hibernate and Eclipse
Agile Java Development with Spring, Hibernate and Eclipse
ISBN: 0672328968
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 219

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