I am looking for best swing editor rite now I was looking for eclipse plugin that is Swing Plugin. Are there any other plugins for designing Swing apps. that can be installed in Eclipse, and will also generate the code?
Not Eclipse, but quite powerful is the swing designer of Netbeans.
It generates the code you need, and has got a lot of features.
Related
I have existing java application where GUI had mainly built using Swing and prefuse API (http://prefuse.org/).
I want to develop eclipse plugin for this application. I have read in vogella tutorial that SWT is prefer to use for plugin development.
My problem is that if I should use SWT, then how can I convert each swing and prefuse API component to SWT?
PS: If I use existing GUI in my eclipse plugin project, then when I run the plugin as "Eclipse Application", it display GUI outside eclipse which I am not sure is correct behaviour for plugin development.
The http://wiki.eclipse.org/Albireo_Project might help:
"The Albireo project builds on the SWT_AWT bridge to provide more complete Swing/SWT integration, resulting in a better "out-of-the-box" experience and more credibility for the entire notion of Swing/SWT integration."
Extend the SwingControl and implement createSwingComponent() and getLayoutAncestor().
http://eclipsesrc.appspot.com/jsrcs/org.eclipse.albireo/org.eclipse.albireo.core/src/org/eclipse/albireo/core/SwingControl.java.html
Can somebody help me on how content assist works in eclipse and how I mimic that functionality for my desktop java application?
Thanks!
Eclipse is built on SWT and JFace, in other words, it's part of the UI toolkit Eclipse interface is based on. Since you have a average desktop application I assume your program's GUI is Swing and I don't know about content proposals in the Swing toolkit.
Some links on the Eclipse Platform (<- overall name for technologies like SWT, JFace, more general plugin development):
Eclipse Wiki: JFace
Eclipse Wiki: JFace UI Framework -> Field Assist
Can I use Eclipse RCP framework with google's window builder pro for desktop application development.
I also want to know more about Eclipse RCP, what are the advantages when comapared to swing.
Yes you can use WindowBuilder Pro for Eclipse RCP development. Window Builder Pro has great support for SWT, JFace, and Eclipse RCP specific stuff like Views and Perspectives for example you can create perspectives in visual editor.
For second questions
You can directly compare Swing and Eclipse RCP, Swing equivalent is SWT, and they have comparable features. SWT has better OS native widgets look.
SWT is set of widgets that you can use. On top of SWT JFace is built- JFace is set of high level frameworks for MVC, wizards, databinding, working with table/treeview,combos ...
On top of SWT and JFace is Eclipse RCP is built which provides application framework for plugins, with support for extensions, perspectives/views,actions, menus, and basically for extendability.
As your first question, yes, WindowBuilder Pro can create SWT code.
As for the second, there are a lot of comparisons on the pros and cons of Swing vs RCP, and the core verdict is that It Depends. Personally I would reccomend going thr RCP route for any major work, but keep in mind that it's a complete stack and not just a widget toolkit, and the things you will need to learn are correspondingly more.
I'm creating a plugin project that will have a menu and toolbar item, that when clicked, will open a dialog for user interaction (input, searching, etc.). Should I create the dialog using SWT or Swing?
One advantage of doing it in Swing is that you don't have to supply any other libraries, because Swing is part of JRE. With SWT you have to do it and you have to have separate dlls for specific platforms.
UPDATE:
Since you mentioned that you have to create Eclipse plugin, I think you have a clear choice here - SWT. It is what Eclipse is based on.
SWT.
Debate over the merits of Swing and SWT is irrelevant. Your plug-in will integrate with a platform built on SWT. Using the same user-interface toolkit will simplify your development and testing, and produce better results.
There are cases where it's useful to use Swing within Eclipse, such as when you have an existing codebase that would be impractical to port. There is an SWT/AWT bridge; I have not used it.
Like #eugener, I prefer Swing to SWT, but both are rich, well-maintained frameworks that will serve the purpose. NetBeans and Eclipse are widely used exemplars. SWT binaries for popular platforms aren't too hard to integrate. The SWT FAQ may offer some perspective.
You'll need some other criteria to decide.
Since you're integrating Code Barrel into Eclipse, and SWT is part of the Eclipse project...
Actually, you should be looking at the Eclipse Plug-in Architecture and see how it works.
I used to work on netbeans to build Java applications but now: i am using eclipse.
I was was wondering if there a a free good plug-in to help me with swing windows.??
Jigloo - CloudGarden(free non-commercial)
Visual Editor Project
AND JForm (pay)
I'm assuming you want a GUI designer. The best plug-in for this is the excellent Swing Designer. Definitely worth a look.
Jigloo is free for non-commercial use. There are others on the UI category at Eclipse Plugin Central.
JForm designer is a good swing designer, but it is not free.