MODULE IV

ABSTRACT WINDOWING
TOOLKIT (AWT)
By: Dr. Dolly Sharma
Dept of CSE, ASET, AUUP
 Department of Computer
Objectives Science and Engineering

➢ The objectives of this chapter are:

▪ To discuss the classes present in the java.awt package
▪ To understand the inheritance hierarchy of the AWT
▪ To outline the basic structure of GUIs
▪ To show how to add components to containers
▪ To understand how to use Layout Managers
▪ To understand basic graphics processing under the AWT
 Vocabulary Department of Computer
Science and Engineering

➢AWT – The Abstract Window Toolkit provides basic graphics tools (tools for
putting information on the screen)
➢Swing – A much better set of graphics tools.
➢Container – a graphic element that can hold other graphic elements (and is itself
a Component)
➢Component – a graphic element (such as a Button or a TextArea) provided by a
graphics toolkit
➢listener – A piece of code that is activated when a particular kind of event occurs
➢layout manager – An object whose job it is to arrange Components in a
Container.

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 Department of Computer
Abstract Windowing Toolkit Science and Engineering

➢ Present in all Java implementations.

➢ The AWT is roughly broken into three categories
▪ Components
▪ Layout Managers
▪ Graphics

➢ Many AWT components have been replaced by Swing components.

➢ Uses the controls defined by your OS
▪ therefore it's “least common denominator”
➢ It is generally not considered a good idea to mix Swing components and AWT
components. Choose to use one or the other.
 Department of Computer
AWT –Class Hierarchy Science and Engineering

Component

Container Window Frame

Button Panel
List

Checkbox

Choice

Label

TextComponent TextField

TextArea
 Department of Computer
How to build a GUI... Science and Engineering

➢Make somewhere to display things—usually a Frame or Dialog (for an

application), or an Applet
➢Create some Components, such as buttons, text areas, panels, etc.
➢Add your Components to your display area.
➢Arrange, or layout, your Components.
➢Attach Listeners to your Components.
▪ Interacting with a Component causes an Event to occur
▪ A Listener gets a message when an interesting event occurs, and executes
some code to deal with it.
▪ For each Listener you implement, supply the methods that it requires

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 Department of Computer
Component Science and Engineering

➢ Component is the superclass of most of the displayable classes defined within the
AWT. Note: it is abstract.
➢ MenuComponent is another class which is similar to Component except it is the
superclass for all GUI items which can be displayed within a drop-down menu.
➢ The Component class defines data and methods which are relevant to all
Components:
setBounds
setSize
setLocation
setFont
setEnabled
setVisible
setForeground -- colour
setBackground -- colour
 Some types of Components Department of Computer
Science and Engineering

Button Checkbox
Label

Scrollbar
Choice

TextField List
TextArea

Button

Checkbox CheckboxGroup
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 Department of Computer
Science and Engineering

import java.awt.*;
class First extends Frame{
First(){
Button b=new Button("click me");
b.setBounds(30,100,80,30);// setting button position
add(b);//adding button into frame
setSize(300,300);//frame size 300 width and 300 height
setLayout(null);//no layout manager
setVisible(true);//now frame will be visible, by default not visible
}
public static void main(String args[]){
First f=new First();
}}
 Department of Computer
Creating Components Science and Engineering

Label lab = new Label ("Hi, Om!");

Button but = new Button ("Click me!");
Checkbox toggle = new Checkbox ("toggle");
TextField txt = new TextField ("Initial text.", 20);
Scrollbar scrolly = new Scrollbar(Scrollbar.HORIZONTAL,
initialValue, bubbleSize, minValue, maxValue);

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 Department of Computer
Container Science and Engineering

➢ Container is a subclass of Component. (ie. All containers are themselves,

Components)
➢ A Container is also a Component:
▪ This allows Containers to be nested
➢ For a component to be placed on the screen, it must be placed within a Container
➢ The Container class defined all the data and methods necessary for managing
groups of Components
add
getComponent
getMaximumSize
getMinimumSize
getPreferredSize
remove
removeAll
 Department of Computer
Windows and Frames Science and Engineering

➢ The Window class defines a top-level Window with no Borders or

Menu bar.
▪ Usually used for application splash screens

➢ Frame defines a top-level Window with Borders and a Menu Bar

▪ Frames are more commonly used than Windows

➢ Once defined, a Frame is a Container which can contain Components

Frame aFrame = new Frame(“Hello World”);
aFrame.setSize(100,100);
aFrame.setLocation(10,10);
aFrame.setVisible(true);
 Department of Computer
Panels Science and Engineering

➢ When writing a GUI application, the GUI portion can become quite complex.
➢ To manage the complexity, GUIs are broken down into groups of components. Each
group generally provides a unit of functionality.
➢ A Panel is a rectangular Container whose sole purpose is to hold and manage
components within a GUI.
Panel aPanel = new Panel();
aPanel.add(new Button("Ok"));
aPanel.add(new Button("Cancel"));

Frame aFrame = new Frame("Button Test");

aFrame.setSize(100,100);
aFrame.setLocation(10,10);

aFrame.add(aPanel);
 Department of Computer
Buttons Science and Engineering

➢ This class represents a push-button which displays some specified text.

➢ When a button is pressed, it notifies its Listeners.
➢ To be a Listener for a button, an object must implement the ActionListener Interface.

Panel aPanel = new Panel();

Button okButton = new Button("Ok");
Button cancelButton = new Button("Cancel");

aPanel.add(okButton));
aPanel.add(cancelButton));

okButton.addActionListener(controller2);
cancelButton.addActionListener(controller1);
 Department of Computer
Labels Science and Engineering

➢ This class is a Component which displays a single line of text.

➢ Labels are read-only. That is, the user cannot click on a label to edit the
text it displays.
➢ Text can be aligned within the label

Label aLabel = new Label("Enter password:");

aLabel.setAlignment(Label.RIGHT);

aPanel.add(aLabel);
 Department of Computer
List Science and Engineering

➢ This class is a Component which displays a list of Strings.

➢ The list is scrollable, if necessary.
➢ Sometimes called Listbox in other languages.
➢ Lists can be set up to allow single or multiple selections.
➢ The list will return an array indicating which Strings are selected
List aList = new List();
aList.add("Calgary");
aList.add("Edmonton");
aList.add("Regina");
aList.add("Vancouver");
aList.setMultipleMode(true);
 Department of Computer
Checkbox Science and Engineering

➢ This class represents a GUI checkbox with a textual label.

➢ The Checkbox maintains a boolean state indicating whether it is checked or not.
➢ If a Checkbox is added to a CheckBoxGroup, it will behave like a radio button.

Checkbox creamCheckbox = new CheckBox("Cream");

Checkbox sugarCheckbox = new CheckBox("Sugar");
[…]
if (creamCheckbox.getState())
{
coffee.addCream();
}
 Department of Computer
Choice Science and Engineering

➢ This class represents a dropdown list of Strings.

➢ Similar to a list in terms of functionality, but displayed differently.
➢ Only one item from the list can be selected at one time and the currently selected
element is displayed.

Choice aChoice = new Choice();

aChoice.add("Calgary");
aChoice.add("Edmonton");
aChoice.add("Alert Bay");
[…]

String selectedDestination= aChoice.getSelectedItem();

 Department of Computer
TextField Science and Engineering

➢ This class displays a single line of optionally editable text.

➢ This class inherits several methods from TextComponent.
➢ This is one of the most commonly used Components in the AWT

TextField emailTextField = new TextField();

TextField passwordTextField = new TextField();
passwordTextField.setEchoChar("*");
[…]

String userEmail = emailTextField.getText();

String userpassword = passwordTextField.getText();
 Department of Computer
TextArea Science and Engineering

➢ This class displays multiple lines of optionally editable text.

➢ This class inherits several methods from TextComponent.
➢ TextArea also provides the methods: appendText(), insertText() and replaceText()

// 5 rows, 80 columns
TextArea fullAddressTextArea = new TextArea(5, 80);
[…]

String userFullAddress= fullAddressTextArea.getText();

 Department of Computer
Layout Managers Science and Engineering

➢ Since the Component class defines the setSize() and setLocation() methods, all
Components can be sized and positioned with those methods.
➢ Problem: the parameters provided to those methods are defined in terms of pixels.
Pixel sizes may be different (depending on the platform) so the use of those methods
tends to produce GUIs which will not display properly on all platforms.

➢ Solution: Layout Managers. Layout managers are assigned to Containers. When a

Component is added to a Container, its Layout Manager is consulted in order to
determine the size and placement of the Component.
➢ NOTE: If you use a Layout Manager, you can no longer change the size and location
of a Component through the setSize and setLocation methods.
 Department of Computer
Layout Managers (cont) Science and Engineering

➢ There are several different LayoutManagers, each of which sizes and positions its
Components based on an algorithm:
▪ FlowLayout
▪ BorderLayout
▪ GridLayout

➢ For Windows and Frames, the default LayoutManager is BorderLayout. For Panels, the
default LayoutManager is FlowLayout.
 Department of Computer
Flow Layout Science and Engineering

➢ The algorithm used by the FlowLayout is to lay out Components like words on a page:
Left to right, top to bottom.
➢ It fits as many Components into a given row before moving to the next row.

Panel aPanel = new Panel();

aPanel.add(new Button("Ok"));
aPanel.add(new Button("Add"));
aPanel.add(new Button("Delete"));
aPanel.add(new Button("Cancel"));
 Department of Computer
Border Layout Science and Engineering

➢ The BorderLayout Manager breaks the Container up into 5 regions (North, South,
East, West, and Center).
➢ When Components are added, their region is also specified:

Frame aFrame = new Frame();

aFrame.add("North", new Button("Ok"));
aFrame.add("South", new Button("Add"));
aFrame.add("East", new Button("Delete"));
aFrame.add("West", new Button("Cancel"));
aFrame.add("Center", new Button("Recalculate"));
 Department of Computer
Border Layout (cont) Science and Engineering

➢ The regions of the BorderLayout are defined as follows:

North

West Center East

South
 Department of Computer
Grid Layout Science and Engineering

➢ The GridLayout class divides the region into a grid of equally sized rows and columns.
➢ Components are added left-to-right, top-to-bottom.
➢ The number of rows and columns is specified in the constructor for the LayoutManager.

Panel aPanel = new Panel();

GridLayout theLayout = new GridLayout(2,2);
aPanel.setLayout(theLayout);

aPanel.add(new Button("Ok"));
aPanel.add(new Button("Add"));
aPanel.add(new Button("Delete"));
aPanel.add(new Button("Cancel"));
 Department of Computer
What if I don’t want a LayoutManager? Science and Engineering

➢ LayoutManagers have proved to be difficult and frustrating to deal with.

➢ The LayoutManager can be removed from a Container by invoking its setLayout
method with a null parameter.

Panel aPanel = new Panel();

aPanel.setLayout(null);

Ch. VIII - 27
 Department of Computer
Graphics Science and Engineering

➢ It is possible to draw lines and various shapes within a Panel under the AWT.
➢ Each Component contains a Graphics object which defines a Graphics Context which
can be obtained by a call to getGraphics().
➢ Common methods used in Graphics include:
drawLine
drawOval
drawPolygon fillOval
drawPolyLine fillPolygon
drawRect fillRect
drawRoundRect fillRoundRect
drawString setColor
draw3DRect setFont
fill3DRect setPaintMode
fillArc drawImage
 Department of Computer
Science and Engineering

import java.awt.*;
class First extends Frame{
First(){
Button b=new Button("click me");
b.setBounds(30,100,80,30);// setting button position
add(b);//adding button into frame
setSize(300,300);//frame size 300 width and 300 height
setLayout(null);//no layout manager
setVisible(true);//now frame will be visible, by default not visible
}
public static void main(String args[]){
First f=new First();
}}
 Department of Computer
Science and Engineering

import java.awt.*;
class First2{
First2(){
Frame f=new Frame();
Button b=new Button("click me");
b.setBounds(30,50,80,30);
f.add(b);
f.setSize(300,300);
f.setLayout(null);
f.setVisible(true); }
public static void main(String args[]){
First2 f=new First2(); }}