Java Swing (Paperback)

~ (Author), Dave Wood (Author), Marc Loy (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Java Swing is an excellent introduction to the latest developments in Java-interface technology. The authors explain how (and why) to use Swing components, and meanwhile proceed to document the entire Swing API with the thoroughness and accuracy programmers have come to expect from O'Reilly & Associates.

Eckstein, Loy, and Wood start with an architectural overview of Swing and its relationship to the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) and the rest of Java. They talk a little bit about converting programs from the old AWT to the Swing-enhanced AWT, and explain how Swing manages components' "look and feel" characteristics. There's also coverage of actions, which are among Swing's handiest new features.

From that point, they proceed to guide readers through the Swing forest, pointing out all the important stuff along the way. Mostly, this tour takes the form of graphical user interface (GUI) component documentation, with chapters devoted to buttons, lists, tables, panes, and the other thingamajigs you can put on-screen with Swing. All the classes in each category get entries, many of which include good commentary and some examples. The authors give some attention to the Accessibility API and its associated utilities, too.

A detailed chapter that walks the reader through the process of creating a custom look and feel distinguishes Java Swing from its competitors--this potentially confusing process is explained clearly and thoroughly. --David Wall

Product Description

The Swing classes eliminate Java's biggest weakness: its relatively primitive user interface toolkit. Swing provides many new components and containers that allow you to build sophisticated user interfaces, far beyond what was possible with AWT. The old components have been greatly improved, and there are many new components, like trees, tables, and even text editors. Java Swing gives you in-depth coverage of everything you need to know to take full advantage of the Swing classes, providing detailed descriptions of every class and interface in the key Swing packages. It shows you how to use all of the new components, allowing you to build state-of-the-art user interfaces. It also discusses how the components implement the MVC (Model View Controller) architecture, so you can understand how the components are designed and subclass them intelligently. Java Swing is more than documentation; it helps you develop code quickly and effectively. Covers Java 2.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 1255 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156592455X
• ISBN-13: 978-1565924550
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,151,833 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most informative reference available, February 20, 1999

By	Matthew Robinson ([e-mail]) (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews

Pavel Vorobiev and I are currently finishing up an 'advanced' Swing book consisting mainly of examples ("Swing", Manning publications). We have referenced the Swing source code nonstop. Apart from this, we feel that Java Swing is the best Swing reference money can buy. This book is not an API docs dump. It is a high quality reference book for GUI developers who are prepared to do their job professionaly, not blindly. If you are looking for a hand-holding tutorial this book is not for you (for this I would suggest Up to Speed With Swing).

Java Swing is very well organized and full of original explanation. I encourage potential readers to disregard other comments claiming that this book is API repetitive or doesn't explain enough. No book can cover every possible situation that can arise in the creation of a GUI, and no book will fully explain all of the inner workings of each Swing component and UI delegate. Swing is a very complex and extensive library with some very interesting and powerful mechanisms working behind the scenes. Without a doubt, Java Swing is the most informative and rich reference available. I recommend it highly.

Matthew Robinson
"Swing", Manning publications
Swing "Tips and Tricks", The Swing Connection

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good resource, April 26, 2003

By	Jason Menard - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Java Swing, Second Edition (Paperback)

"Java Swing" is an in-depth look at the features and components of Java's popular Swing API. The much-anticipated second edition of O'Reilly's classic brings the book up-to-date with the changes made in SDKs 1.3 and 1.4. Each Swing component is covered in detail, providing information on constructors, methods, and properties. There is of course a plethora of example code clearly demonstrating how to use the various components and features.

While "Java Swing" is quite a hefty book, it does not cover the Java event model introduced in JDK 1.1, the AWT layout managers, or relevant AWT components such as Component that are subclassed by Swing components. Instead references are given to pdf files containing chapters of O'Reilly's out-of-print AWT book. While this may have been an acceptable omission for the first edition in 1998, where it might be assumed that developers had some experience with AWT, I do not feel this is a valid assumption today.

If you can look past the book's omissions, or if you have a companion reference covering those features, "Java Swing" has much to offer and will serve as a treasured reference. If you are unfamiliar with AWT and looking to learn how to develop user interfaces in Java, you may wish to look elsewhere first.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good reference, goes well beyond javadocs, March 17, 1999

By	Greg Munger (chesterton, in USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book has been well reviewed by others, but for once I actually read a programming book cover to cover (on vacation), so I wanted to comment.

This is the first book on Swing that I have read, though perhaps the 10th on Java, and I have been using Swing since the first beta was available.

I think the authors should be commended for really examining each class that is presented, and the sample programs to exercise the "little" classes really show good preparation. I think the size of the sample code is perfect to explain a concept without getting bogged down in the details of a toy application.

The book is organized in a "bottom up" fashion, so the TableColumn class is explained before JTable (for example). This provides consistant explanations, but it does mean deferring the motivation for learning something until the end.

The biggest problem is with the Text/Editor classes. Here there are 200 pages of preliminary information before you get to JEditorPane, and then the authors stop and say the class is too buggy to explain. I can't blame the authors for JDK problems, but I think a "top down" explanation might work better with this very complex set of classes. On the other hand, if we ever do get a version of JEditorPane that can display HTML without throwing exceptions, these chapters will provide good background material.

I learned things from almost every chapter, it is a very good reference.