The JFC Swing Tutorial: A Guide to Constructing GUIs (2nd Edition)

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/misc/index.html

This chapter contains a collection of how-tos to help you use miscellaneous Swing features. You can find source files for all of this chapter's examples on the CD and online:

JavaTutorial/uiswing/misc/example-1dot4/index.html

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/misc/example-1dot4/index.html

The preceding URLs take you to an example index that has links to the files required by each example. To go directly to the entry for a particular example add # ExampleName to the URL. Most examples have a "Run" link in the index which executes the example using Java Web Start technology.

Here are short summaries of the how-to sections in this chapter:

• How to Use Actions ” With Action objects, you can coordinate the state and event handling of two or more components that generate action events. For example, you can use a single Action to create and coordinate a tool-bar button and a menu item that perform the same function.

• How to Support Assistive Technologies ” Swing components have built-in support for assistive technologies. Your program can provide even better support by following a few rules.

• How to Use Borders ” Bopaintingrders are very handy for painting lines, titles, and empty space around the edges of components. This section tells you how to add a border to any JComponent .

• How to Use Drag and Drop and Data Transfer ” Most applications can benefit from the ability to transfer information between components using drag and drop or cut, copy, and paste. This section tells you how to implement these features in your program.

• How to Use the Focus Subsystem ” Some programs need to manipulate focus; for example, to validate input or change the tab order of components. This section describes some techniques you can use to customize focus in your program.

• How to Use Icons ” Many Swing components can display icons. Usually, icons are implemented as instances of the ImageIcon class.

• How to Use Key Bindings ” With key bindings, you can specify how components react to a user 's input.

• How to Set the Look and Feel ” You can specify the look and feel of Swing components.

• How to Use Threads ” Read this section to learn about using threads properly in programs that use the Swing components. This section talks about the event-dispatching thread and explains how to use methods , such as invokeLater , and classes, such as SwingWorker . It also tells you when you might want to use the Timer class.

• How to Use Timers ” With the Swing Timer class, you can implement a thread that performs an action after a delay and optionally continues to repeat the action. The action executes in the event-dispatching thread.

If you encounter any problems in this chapter, you may find the solutions in Solving Common Problems Using Other Swing Features (page 743) in the Appendix.

How to Use Actions

The Action API

Examples That Use Actions

How to Support Assistive Technologies

Rules for Supporting Accessibility

Testing for Accessibility

Setting Accessible Names and Descriptions on Components

How Accessibility Works

Making Custom Components Accessible

The Accessibility API

Examples That Use the Accessibility API

How to Use Borders

The BorderDemo Example

Using the Borders Provided by Swing

Creating Custom Borders

The Border API

Examples That Use Borders

How to Use Drag and Drop and Data Transfer

A Visual Guide to Drag-and-Drop Cursor Icons

Introduction to Data Transfer Support

A Simple Example: Adding DnD to JLabel

Extending Default DnD Support

Specifying the Data Format

Importing a New Flavor: Color

Replacing Default Support: Color and Text

Importing a New Flavor: Files

Data Transfer with a Custom Component

Data Transfer with a Custom DataFlavor

Adding Cut/Copy/Paste Support

The Data Transfer API

Examples That Use Data Transfer

How to Use the Focus Subsystem

Introduction to the Focus Subsystem

Validating Input

Making a Custom Component Focusable

Customizing Focus Traversal

Tracking Focus Changes to Multiple Components

Timing Focus Transfers

The Focus API

Examples That Use Focus

How to Use Icons

A More Complex Image Icon Example

Loading Images Using getResource

Loading Images into Applets

Improving Perceived Performance When Loading Image Icons

Creating a Custom Icon Implementation

The Image Icon API

Examples That Use Icons

How to Use Key Bindings

How Key Bindings Work

How to Make and Remove Key Bindings

The Key Binding API

Examples That Use Icons

How to Set the Look and Feel

Programmatically Setting the Look and Feel

Specifying the Look and Feel: Command Line

Specifying the Look and Feel: swing.properties

How the UI Manager Chooses the Look and Feel

Changing the Look and Feel after Startup

How to Use Threads

The Event-Dispatching Thread

Using the invokeLater Method

Using the invokeAndWait Method

Using Threads to Improve Performance

Using the SwingWorker Class

How to Use Timers

The Timer API

Examples That Use Timers