Java Programming : Sample GUI

Objects

Dr. May Phyo Thu

Lecturer

Faculty of Computer Science ©https://blogs.ashrithgn.com/

 Objectives

• To define a subclass of JFrame to implement a customized frame window.

• To write event-driven programs using Java's delegation-based event model.
• To write GUI application programs using GUI objects from the javax.swing
package.

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 Graphical User Interface

• In Java, GUI-based programs are implemented by using classes from the

javax.swing and java.awt packages.

AWT Swing

Components are platform-dependent. Components are platform-independent.

Components are heavyweight. Components are lightweight.

less components more powerful components

doesn't follow MVC follows MVC

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 Sample GUI Objects

JLabel JTextField

JCheckBox

JFrame

JButton

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 Creating a Frame

• javax.swing.JFrame class is a type of container which inherits the java.awt.Frame

class.
• Top-level window, with border and a title bar.
• JFrame class has various methods which can be used to customize it.
• It works like the main window.
• Two ways to create a frame:
 By creating the object of JFrame class (association)
 By extending JFrame class (inheritance)

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 Creating a Frame (Cont’d)

• import javax.swing.*;
• public class JFrameSubclass extends JFrame {
• public JFrameSubclass() {
• setTitle("First GUI Program");
• setSize(300, 200);
• setLocation(150, 250);
• setVisible(true);
• setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
• }

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 Creating a Frame (Cont’d)

• public static void main(String[] args) {

• new JFrameSubclass();
•}
•}

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 ContentPane

• In Java Swing, the layer that is used to hold objects is called content pane.
• GUI objects such as buttons, labels, textboxes are added to the content pane layer
of the container.
• getContentPane() method retrieves the content pane layer so that you can add
an object to it.

This gray area is the

content pane of this
frame.

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 Changing the Background Color

• We can change the background color of a content pane.

• Container contentPane = getContentPane();
• contentPane.setBackground(Color.CYAN);

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 JPanel

•  Swing’s lightweight container which is used to group a set of components

together. 
• JPanel is a pretty simple component which does not have a GUI (except visual
border).
• Use add(Componet) method to add components like JLabel, JTextField, JButton,
etc for the layout managers: FlowLayout, BorderLayout, GridLayout etc.
• JPanel panel=new Jpanel(new FlowLayout());
• JButton button=new Jbutton(“Click”);
• panel.add(button);

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 JOptionPane

• JOptionPane class is used to provide standard dialog boxes such as message

dialog box, confirm dialog box and input dialog box.
• These dialog boxes are used to display information or get input from the user.  
• JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(f,"Hello, How are you?"); 

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 Summary

• GUI-based programs are implemented by using classes from the javax.swing

packages.
• Learn about JFrame, and contentPane.
• Learn about JOptionPane and JPanel.

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 Next Lecture

• Layout Manager
• FlowLayout
• BorderLayout
• GridLayout
• Absolute Positioning

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