Chapter 9. User Interface Components with Swing

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• The Model-View-Controller Design Pattern

• Introduction to Layout Management

• Text Input

• Choice Components

• Menus

• Sophisticated Layout Management

• Dialog Boxes

The last chapter was primarily designed to show you how to use the event model in Java. In the process you took the first steps toward learning how to build a graphical user interface. This chapter shows you the most important tools you'll need to build more full-featured GUIs.

We start out with a tour of the architectural underpinnings of Swing. Knowing what goes on "under the hood" is important in understanding how to use some of the more advanced components effectively. We then show you how to use the most common user interface components in Swing such as text fields, radio buttons, and menus. Next, you will learn how to use the nifty layout manager features of Java to arrange these components in a window, regardless of the look and feel of a particular user interface. Finally, you'll see how to implement dialog boxes in Swing.

This chapter covers basic Swing components such as text components, buttons, and sliders. These are the essential user interface components that you will need most frequently. We cover advanced Swing components in Volume 2. For an even more comprehensive look into all details of the Swing framework, we recommend the books Core JFC and Core Swing: Advanced Topics by Kim Topley (both published by Prentice Hall PTR).

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