CHAPTER

12
A First
Look at
GUI
Applicatio
ns
Updated by: Najlaa Alshatri

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd.

 Chapter Topics
Chapter 12 discusses the following main topics:
– Introduction
– Creating Windows
– Equipping GUI Classes with a main method
– Layout Managers
– Handling Action Event
– Radio Buttons and Check Boxes
– Borders
– Focus on Problem Solving: Extending Classes from JPanel

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 Introduction
• Many Java application use a graphical user interface
or GUI (pronounced “gooey”).
• A GUI is a graphical window or windows that provide
interaction with the user.
• GUI’s accept input from:
– the keyboard
– a mouse.
• A window in a GUI consists of components that:
– present data to the user
– allow interaction with the application.

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 Introduction
• Some common GUI components are:
– buttons, labels, text fields, check boxes, radio buttons,
combo boxes, and sliders.

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 Some GUI Components

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 JFC, AWT, Swing
• Java programmers use the Java Foundation Classes (JFC)
to create GUI applications.
• The JFC consists of several sets of classes, many of which
are beyond the scope of this book.
• The two sets of JFC classes that we focus on are AWT and
Swing classes.
• Java is equipped with a set of classes for drawing graphics
and creating graphical user interfaces.
• These classes are part of the Abstract Windowing Toolkit
(AWT).

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 JFC, AWT, Swing
• The AWT allows creation of applications and applets
with GUI components.
• The AWT does not actually draw user interface
components on the screen.
• The AWT communicates with a layer of software, peer
classes.
• Each version of Java for a particular operating system
has its own set of peer classes.

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 JFC, AWT, Swing
• Java programs using the AWT:
– look consistent with other applications on the same system.
– can offer only components that are common to all the operating
systems that support Java.
• The behavior of components across various operating
systems can differ.
• Programmers cannot easily extend the AWT components.
• AWT components are commonly called heavyweight
components.

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 JFC, AWT, Swing
• Swing was introduced with the release of Java 2.
• Swing is a library of classes that provide an improved alternative
for creating GUI applications and applets.
• Very few Swing classes rely on peer classes, so they are referred
to called lightweight components.
• Swing draws most of its own components.
• Swing components have a consistent look and predictable
behavior on any operating system.
• Swing components can be easily extended.

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 javax.swing and java.awt
• In an application that uses Swing classes, it is necessary to use
the following statement:
import javax.swing.*;
– Note the letter x that appears after the word java.
• Some of the AWT classes are used to determine when events,
such as the clicking of a mouse, take place in applications.
• In an application that uses an AWT class, it is necessary to use
the following statement.
import java.awt.*;
Note that there is no x after java in this package
name.

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 Creating Windows
• Often, applications need one or more windows with
various components.
• A window is a container, which is simply a component
that holds other components.
• A container that can be displayed as a window is a frame.
• In a Swing application, you create a frame from the
JFrame class.

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 Creating Windows
• A frame is a basic window that has:
– a border around it,
– a title bar, and
– a set of buttons for:
• minimizing,
• maximizing, and
• closing the window.
• These standard features are sometimes referred
to as window decorations.
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 Creating Windows
• See example: ShowWindow.java

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 Creating Windows
• The following import statement is needed to use the swing
components:
import javax.swing.*;

• In the main method, two constants are declared:

final int WINDOW_WIDTH = 350;
final int WINDOW_HEIGHT = 250;

• We use these constants later in the program to set the size of the
window.
• The window’s size is measured in pixels.
• A pixel (picture element) is one of the small dots that make up a
screen display.

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 Creating Windows
• An instance of the JFrame class needs to be created:
JFrame window = new JFrame();

• This statement:
– creates a JFrame object in memory and
– assigns its address to the window variable.

• The string that is passed to the setTitle method will

appear in the window’s title bar when it is displayed.
window.setTitle("A Simple Window");

• A JFrame is initially invisible.

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 Creating Windows
• To set the size of the window:
window.setSize(WINDOW_WIDTH, WINDOW_HEIGHT);

• To specify the action to take place when the user clicks on the
close button.
window.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

• The setDefaultCloseOperation method takes an int

argument which specifies the action.
– JFrame.HIDE_ON_CLOSE - causes the window to be hidden from
view, but the application does not end.
– The default action is JFrame.HIDE_ON_CLOSE.

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 Creating Windows
• The following code displays the window:
window.setVisible(true);

• The setVisible method takes a boolean

argument.
– true - display the window.
– false - hide the window.

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 Any use of Swing classes
requires importing
javax.swing package.

Instantiate a swing
Frame object

Call JFrame methods to control visuals and behavior

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 Set width and height of the frame in pixels

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 Cause frame to be centered on the screen when displayed

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 When user closes the window, the application will terminate

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 This is needed to make the frame actually show up on the screen

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 Extending JFrame
• We usually use inheritance to create a new class that extends the
JFrame class.
• When a new class extends an existing class, it inherits many of
the existing class’s members just as if they were part of the new
class.
• These members act just as if they were written into the new
class declaration.
• New fields and methods can be declared in the new class
declaration.
• This allows specialized methods and fields to be added to your
window.
• Examples: SimpleWindow.java
• Examples: SimpleWindow.java, SimpleWindowDemo.java

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Equipping GUI Classes with a main Method
• Java applications always starts execution with a
method named main.
• The previous example used two separate files:
– SimpleWindow.java -- the class that defines the GUI
window
– SimpleWindowDemo.java – contains the main
method that creates an instance of the SimpleWindow
class.
• Applications can also be written with the main
method directly written into the GUI class.
• See example: EmbeddedMain.java
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 Adding Components

• Swing provides numerous components

that can be added to a window.
• Three fundamental components are:
JLabel : An area that can display text.
JTextField : An area in which the user may type a
single line of input from the keyboard.
JButton : A button that can cause an action to occur
when it is clicked.

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 Sketch of Kilometer Converter
Graphical User Interface
Text Field
Window Title

Label

Button

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 Adding Components
private JLabel message;
private JTextField kilometers;
private JButton calcButton;
…
message = new JLabel("Enter a distance in kilometers");
kilometers = new JTextField(10);
calcButton = new JButton("Calculate");

• This code declares and instantiates three Swing

components.

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 Adding Components
• A content pane is a container that is part of every
JFrame object.
• Every component added to a JFrame must be added
to its content pane. You do this with the JFrame
class's add method.
• The content pane is not visible and it does not have a
border.
• A panel is also a container that can hold GUI
components.

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 Adding Components
• Panels cannot be displayed by themselves.
• Panels are commonly used to hold and organize
collections of related components.
• Create panels with the JPanel class.

private JPanel panel;

…
panel = new JPanel();
panel.add(message);
panel.add(kilometers);
panel.add(calcButton);

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 Adding Components

• Components are typically placed on a panel

and then the panel is added to the JFrame's
content pane.

add(panel);

• Examples: KiloConverter.java

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 Layout Managers
• An important part of designing a GUI application is
determining the layout of the components.
• The term layout refers to the positioning and sizing
of components.
• In Java, you do not normally specify the exact
location of a component within a window.
• A layout manager is an object that:
– controls the positions and sizes of components, and
– makes adjustments when necessary.

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 Layout Managers
• The layout manager object and the container work
together.
• Java provides several layout managers:
– FlowLayout - Arranges components in rows. This is the
default for panels.
– BorderLayout - Arranges components in five regions:
• North, South, East, West, and Center.
• This is the default layout manager for a JFrame object’s content
pane.
– GridLayout - Arranges components in a grid with rows
and columns.

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 Layout Manager Hierarchy
LayoutManager

FlowLayout

GridLayout

Object BorderLayout

CardLayout

GridBagLayout

LayoutManager is an interface. All the layout classes implement this interfac

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 Layout Managers
• The Container class is one of the base classes that many
components are derived from.
• Any component that is derived from the Container class can
have a layout manager added to it.
• You add a layout manager to a container by calling the
setLayout method.

JPanel panel = new JPanel();

panel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());

• In a JFrame constructor you might use:

setLayout(new FlowLayout());

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 FlowLayout Manager
• FlowLayout is the default layout manager for
JPanel objects.
• Components appear horizontally, from left to
right, in the order that they were added. When
there is no more room in a row, the next
components “flow” to the next row.
• See example: FlowWindow.java

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 FlowLayout Manager
• The FlowLayout manager allows you to align components:
– in the center of each row
– along the left or right edges of each row.
• An overloaded constructor allows you to pass:
– FlowLayout.CENTER,
– FlowLayout.LEFT, or
– FlowLayout.RIGHT.
• Example:
setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));

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 FlowLayout Manager
• FlowLayout inserts a gap of five pixels between components,
horizontally and vertically.
• An overloaded FlowLayout constructor allows these to be
adjusted.
• The constructor has the following format:

FlowLayout(int alignment,
int horizontalGap,
int verticalGap)

• Example:
setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT, 10, 7));

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 A Frame class that uses FlowLayout layout manager

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 A Frame class that uses FlowLayout layout manager

Note: creating a subclass of

JFrame

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 A Frame class that uses FlowLayout layout manager

Note: it’s common to

make the Frame an
application class by
including a main
method. The main
method will
instantiate its own
class.

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 Resizing the frame causes the
components to wrap around when
necessary.
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 BorderLayout Manager
BorderLayout manages five regions
where components can be placed.

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 BorderLayout Manager
• See example: BorderWindow.java
• A component placed into a container that is managed
by a BorderLayout must be placed into one of five
regions:
– BorderLayout.NORTH
– BorderLayout.SOUTH
– BorderLayout.EAST
– BorderLayout.WEST
– BorderLayout.CENTER

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 BorderLayout Manager
• Each region can hold only one component at a time.
• When a component is added to a region, it is stretched so it fills
up the entire region.
• BorderLayout is the default manager for JFrame objects.

add(button, BorderLayout.NORTH);

• If you do not pass a second argument to the add method, the

component will be added to the center region.

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 BorderLayout Manager
• Normally the size of a button is just large enough to
accommodate the text that it displays
• The buttons displayed in BorderLayout region will
not retain their normal size.
• The components are stretched to fill all of the space in
their regions.

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 BorderLayout Manager
• If the user resizes the window, the sizes of the
components will be changed as well.
• BorderLayout manager resizes components:
– placed in the north or south regions may be resized
horizontally so it fills up the entire region,
– placed in the east or west regions may be resized vertically
so it fills up the entire region.
– A component that is placed in the center region may be
resized both horizontally and vertically so it fills up the
entire region.

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 BorderLayout Manager
• By default there is no gap between the regions.
• An overloaded BorderLayout constructor allows
horizontal and vertical gaps to be specified (in pixels).
• The constructor has the following format

BorderLayout(int horizontalGap, int verticalGap)

• Example:
setLayout(new BorderLayout(5,10));

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A Frame class that uses BorderLayout layout manager

Setting the layout manager

Adding components to specific

regions

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 Resizing the
frame causes the
components to
resize and
maintain their
same regions.

NOTE: the CENTER region

dominates the sizing.
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 GridLayout Manager
GridLayout creates a grid with rows and columns, much
like a spreadsheet. A container that is managed by a
GridLayout object is divided into equally sized cells.

columns

rows

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 GridLayout Manager
• GridLayout manager follows some simple
rules:
– Each cell can hold only one component.
– All of the cells are the size of the largest component
placed within the layout.
– A component that is placed in a cell is automatically
resized to fill up any extra space.
• You pass the number of rows and columns as
arguments to the GridLayout constructor.

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 GridLayout Manager
• The general format of the constructor:
GridLayout(int rows, int columns)
• Example
setLayout(new GridLayout(2, 3));
• A zero (0) can be passed for one of the
arguments but not both.
– passing 0 for both arguments will cause an
IllegalArgumentException to be thrown.

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 GridLayout Manager
• Components are added to a GridLayout in
the following order (for a 5×5 grid):
1 2 3 4 5 Example:
6 7 8 9 10 GridWindow.java

11 12 13 14 15 GridLayout also accepts

16 17 18 19 20 nested components:
Example:
21 22 23 24 25 GridPanelWindow.java

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 A Frame class that uses GridLayout layout manager

Setting the layout manager

Adding components

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 Resizing the frame causes the
components to resize and
maintain their same grid pattern.

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 Nesting Components in a Layout
• Adding components to panels and then nesting the
panels inside the regions can overcome the single
component limitation of layout regions.
• By adding buttons to a JPanel and then adding the
JPanel object to a region, sophisticated layouts can
be achieved.
• See example:BorderPanelWindow.java

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 Testing Panels
This example uses panels to organize components.
The program creates a user interface for a
Microwave oven.
frame
A textfield
p2
A button 12
buttons p1

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A Frame class
that contains
panels for
organizing
components

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A Frame class
that contains
panels for
organizing
components

Creating a panel and

setting its layout

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A Frame class
that contains
panels for
organizing
components

Adding
components to
the panel

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A Frame class
that contains
panels for
organizing
components
Creating another panel
and setting its layout…
note that this setting
layout for the panel can
be done using an
overloaded constructor

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A Frame class
that contains
panels for
organizing
components

Adding components to the second panel…

NOTE: panel p1 is
embedded inside panel p2!

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A Frame class
that contains
panels for
organizing
components
Adding a panel and a button
to the frame’s content pane.

Note: the JFrame class’s

default layout manager is
Border, so you if you don’t
explicitly call setLayout() for
the frame it will be Border.

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 Button in the CENTER region
Panel p2 in the EAST region

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 Text field in NORTH
region

Panel p1 in the CENTER

region

©2016 Pearson Education, Ltd.Panel p2 has BorderLayout manager

 Panel p1 has GridLayout
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manager, four rows and three
 Background and Foreground Colors
• Many of the Swing component classes have methods
named setBackground and setForeground.
• setBackground is used to change the color of the
component itself.
• setForeground is used to change the color of the
text displayed on the component.
• Each method takes a color constant as an argument.

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 Color Constants
• There are predefined constants that you can use for colors.
Color.BLACK Color.BLUE
Color.CYAN Color.DARK_GRAY
Color.GRAY Color.GREEN
Color.LIGHT_GRAY Color.MAGENTA
Color.ORANGE Color.PINK
Color.RED Color.WHITE
Color.YELLOW
• Examples: ColorWindow.java

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 Event Driven Programming
• Programs that operate in a GUI environment must be
event-driven.
• An event is an action that takes place within a
program, such as the clicking of a button.
• Part of writing a GUI application is creating event
listeners.
• An event listener is an object that automatically
executes one of its methods when a specific event
occurs.

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 Handling Action Events
• An event is an action that takes place within a program,
such as the clicking of a button.
• When an event takes place, the component that is
responsible for the event creates an event object in memory.
• The event object contains information about the event.
• The component that generated the event object is know as
the event source.
• It is possible that the source component is connected to one
or more event listeners.

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 Handling Action Events
• An event listener is an object that responds to events.
• The source component fires an event which is passed to
a method in the event listener.
• Event listener classes are specific to each application.
• Event listener classes are commonly written as private
inner classes in an application.

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 Handling Simple Action Events

The method for

responding to an
Action event.
Implementing the
listener interface

Registering the
frame to be a
listener for action
events generated
by the two buttons

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 Writing Event Listener Classes as
Private Inner Classes
A class that is defined inside of another class is known as
an inner class

public class Outer

{
Fields and methods of the Outer class appear here.

private class Inner

{
Fields and methods of the Inner class appear here.
}
}

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 Example with named inner
classes, one for listening to each
button

Inner class
has direct
access to all
members
(even private)
of the outer
class

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 Example with
anonymous inner
classes, one for listening
to each button

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 Event Listeners Must Implement an
Interface
• All event listener classes must implement an interface.
• An interface is something like a class containing one
or more method headers.
• When you write a class that implements an interface,
you are agreeing that the class will have all of the
methods that are specified in the interface.

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 Handling Action Events
• JButton components generate action events, which require
an action listener class.

• Action listener classes must meet the following requirements:

– It must implement the ActionListener interface.
– It must have a method named actionPerformed.

• The actionPerformed method takes an argument of the

ActionEvent type.

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)

{
Code to be executed when button is pressed goes here.
}

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 Handling Action Events
Event
Object

Action Listener Object

JButton Component void actionPerformed(ActionEvent
e)

When the button is pressed

…
The JButton component generates an event
object and passes it to the action listener
object's actionPerformed method.

Example:
KiloConverter.java
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 Registering A Listener
• The process of connecting an event listener object to
a component is called registering the event listener.
• JButton components have a method named
addActionListener.

calcButton.addActionListener(
new CalcButtonListener());

• When the user clicks on the source button, the action

listener object’s actionPerformed method will
be executed.

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 The ActionEvent Object
• Event objects contain certain information about the
event.
• This information can be obtained by calling one of
the event object’s methods.
• Two of these methods are:
– getSource - returns a reference to the object that
generated this event.
– getActionCommand - returns the action command
for this event as a String.
• Example:
– EventObject.java

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 Selected User Actions
Source Event Type
User Action Object Generated

Click a button JButton ActionEvent

Click a check box JCheckBox ItemEvent, ActionEvent
Click a radio button JRadioButton ItemEvent, ActionEvent
Press return on a text field JTextField ActionEvent
Select a new item JComboBox ItemEvent, ActionEvent
Select an item from a List JList ListSelectionEvent
Window opened, closed, etc. Window WindowEvent
Mouse pressed, released, etc. Any Component MouseEvent
Key released, pressed, etc. Any Component KeyEvent

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 Selected Event Handlers

Event Class Listener Interface Listener Methods (Handlers)

ActionEvent ActionListener actionPerformed(ActionEvent)

ItemEvent ItemListener itemStateChanged(ItemEvent)

ListSelection ListSelection valueChanged

Event Listener (ListSelectionEvent)

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 Button Groups
• Radio buttons normally are grouped together.
• In a radio button group only one of the radio buttons in
the group may be selected at any time.
• Clicking on a radio button selects it and automatically
deselects any other radio button in the same group.
• An instance of the ButtonGroup class is a used to
group radio buttons

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 Button Groups
• The ButtonGroup object creates the mutually
exclusive relationship between the radio buttons that it
contains.

JRadioButton radio1 = new JRadioButton("Choice 1",

true);
JRadioButton radio2 = new JRadioButton("Choice 2");
JRadioButton radio3 = new JRadioButton("Choice 3");
ButtonGroup group = new ButtonGroup();
group.add(radio1);
group.add(radio2);
group.add(radio3);

©2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 12-84

 Button Groups
• ButtonGroup objects are not containers like
JPanel objects, or content frames.
• If you wish to add the radio buttons to a panel or a
content frame, you must add them individually.

panel.add(radio1);
panel.add(radio2);
panel.add(radio3);

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 Radio Button Events
• JRadioButton objects generate an action event
when they are clicked.
• To respond to an action event, you must write an
action listener class, just like a JButton event
handler.
• See example: MetricConverter.java

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 Radio Buttons
• Radio buttons allow the user to select one choice
from several possible options.
• The JRadioButton class is used to create radio
buttons. Button appears
• JRadioButton constructors: already selected
when true
– JRadioButton(String text)
– JRadioButton(String text, boolean selected)
• Example:
JRadioButton radio1 = new JRadioButton("Choice 1");
or
JRadioButton radio1 = new JRadioButton(
"Choice 1",
true);

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 Determining Selected Radio Buttons

• The JRadioButton class’s isSelected method

returns a boolean value indicating if the radio button
is selected.

if (radio.isSelected())
{
// Code here executes if the radio
// button is selected.
}

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 Selecting a Radio Button in Code
• It is also possible to select a radio button in code with
the JRadioButton class’s doClick method.
• When the method is called, the radio button is selected
just as if the user had clicked on it.
• As a result, an action event is generated.

radio.doClick();

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 Check Boxes
• A check box appears as a small box with a label
appearing next to it.
• Like radio buttons, check boxes may be selected or
deselected at run time.
• When a check box is selected, a small check mark
appears inside the box.
• Check boxes are often displayed in groups but they are
not usually grouped in a ButtonGroup.

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 Check Boxes
• The user is allowed to select any or all of the check
boxes that are displayed in a group.
• The JCheckBox class is used to create check
boxes. Check appears
• Two JCheckBox constructors: in box if true
JCheckBox(String text)
JCheckBox(String text, boolean selected)
• Example:
JCheckBox check1 = new JCheckBox("Macaroni");
or
JCheckBox check1 = new JCheckBox("Macaroni",
true);

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 Check Box Events
• When a JCheckBox object is selected or deselected,
it generates an item event.
• Handling item events is similar to handling action
events.
• Write an item listener class, which must meet the
following requirements:
– It must implement the ItemListener interface.
– It must have a method named itemStateChanged.
• This method must take an argument of the ItemEvent type.

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 Check Box Events
• Create an object of the class
• Register the item listener object with the
JCheckBox component.
• On an event, the itemStateChanged
method of the item listener object is
automatically run
– The event object is passed in as an argument.

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 Determining Selected Check Boxes
• The isSelected method will determine whether a
JCheckBox component is selected.
• The method returns a boolean value.
if (checkBox.isSelected())
{
// Code here executes if the check
// box is selected.
}
• See example: ColorCheckBoxWindow.java

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 Selecting Check Boxes in Code
• It is possible to select check boxes in code with the
JCheckBox class’s doClick method.
• When the method is called, the check box is selected
just as if the user had clicked on it.
• As a result, an item event is generated.

checkBox.doClick();

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 Borders
• Windows have a more organized look if related
components are grouped inside borders.

• You can add a border to any component that is

derived from the JComponent class.
– Any component derived from JComponent inherits a
method named setBorder

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 Borders
• The setBorder method is used to add a border to
the component.
• The setBorder method accepts a Border object as
its argument.
• A Border object contains detailed information
describing the appearance of a border.
• The BorderFactory class, which is part of the
javax.swing package, has static methods that
return various types of borders.

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 Border BorderFactory Method Description
A border that has two parts: an inside edge and
Compound createCompoundBorder an outside edge. The inside and outside edges
border
can be any of the other borders.
Empty border createEmptyBorder A border that contains only empty space.
A border with a 3D appearance that looks
Etched border createEtchedBorder
“etched” into the background.
Line border createLineBorder A border that appears as a line.

A border that looks like beveled edges. It has a

Lowered bevel createLoweredBevelBorder 3D appearance that gives the illusion of being
border
sunken into the surrounding background.

A line border that can have edges of different

Matte border createMatteBorder
thicknesses.

A border that looks like beveled edges. It has a

Raised bevel createRaisedBevelBorder 3D appearance that gives the illusion of being
border
raised above the surrounding background.

Titled border createTitledBorder An etched border with a title.

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 The Brandi’s Bagel House Application
• A complex application that uses numeroous components
can be constructed from several specialized panel
components, each containing other components and
related code such as event listeners.
• Examples:
GreetingPanel.java GreetingPanel.java,
BagelPanel.java GreetingPanel.java,
BagelPanel.java, ToppingPanel.java
GreetingPanel.java, BagelPanel.java, ToppingPanel.java,
CoffeePanel.java GreetingPanel.java,
BagelPanel.java, ToppingPanel.java, CoffeePanel.java,
OrderCalculatorGUI.java
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 Splash Screens
• A splash screen is a graphic image that is
displayed while an application loads into
memory and starts up.
• A splash screen keeps the user's attention while
a large application loads and executes.
• Beginning with Java 6, you can display splash
screens with your Java applications.

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 Splash Screens
• To display the splash screen you use the java command in the
following way when you run the application:

java -splash:GraphicFileName ClassFileName

• GraphicFileName is the name of the file that contains the

graphic image, and ClassFileName is the name of the .class fi
le that you are running.
• The graphic file can be in the GIF, PNG, or JPEG formats.

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Using Console Output to Debug a GUI

• Display variable values, etc. as your application

executes to identify logic errors
– Use System.out.println()

// For debugging, display the text entered, and

// its value converted to a double.
System.out.println("Reading " + str +
" from the text field.");
System.out.println("Converted value: " +
Double.parseDouble(str));

• See example: KiloConverter.java

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