Create Image-Themed Components
This hack shows how to use Swing's built-in image support to create a completely custom image-based user interface
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Don't Settle for Boring Text Labels
JLabel is a Swing staple; but it's easy to spruce up boring labels with drop shadows, outlines, and even 3D text
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Fill Your Borders with Pretty Pictures
Swing comes with a set of customizable borders, but sometimes you want more than they provide. This hack shows how to create a completely imagebased border that can be resized
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Display Dates in a Custom Calendar
You can download calendar components from third parties, but real hackers can use Swing to build a custom calendar widget on their own
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Add a Watermark to a Text Component
This hack will show how to create a custom image background for the , a complex Swing component that does not already support backgrounds or icons by default
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Watermark Your Scroll Panes
This hack creates a text area with a tiled background image that is fixed, even when the text area scrolls, and also a fixed foreground image that appears above the text, much like the station badges now affixed to the lower-righthand corner of most TV broadcasts.
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Put a NASA Photo into the Background of a Text Area
This hack will repurpose an existing web page, one of NASA's photo sites, by pulling their "Astronomy Picture of the Day" into the background of a text area.
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Animate Transitions Between Tabs
This hack shows how to create animated transitions that play whenever the user switches tabs on a .
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Blur Disabled Components
This hack explores creating how to perform a blur transformation on a Swing component.
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Building a Drop-Down Menu Button
This hack shows how to build a color chooser as a proper drop-down component. It will behave like but without the extension headaches of Sun's version of the class.
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Create Menus with Drop Shadows
This hack explores a simple way to create drop shadows on menus throughout an entire application with minimal code changes.
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Add Translucence to Menus
In this hack I will show you how to add true translucency to your menus with only a slight modification to your program.
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Filter JLists
Make your 1,000-item list a lot more manageable
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Add a Filter History
Remember previous searches and research with one click
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Make JLists Checkable
Avoid losing 50 selections to an unshifted click
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Make Different List Items Look Different
An in-progress download shouldn't look like a completed one
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Reorder a JList with Drag-and-Drop
Let users put things where they want
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Animate Your JList Selections
Fading in and catching the eye
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Turn Methods into List Renderers
By using a little bit of reflection, you can make a generic that can render data using any method at runtime
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Create a Collections-Aware JComboBox
You've moved on from Vector; your combo boxes should, too
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Size Your Columns to Suit Your JTable's Contents
A one-digit column does not need 100 pixels of dead space. You know this; your JTables should, too
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Add Column Selection to JTables
So, why can't I select a column by clicking on its header?
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Let Your JTables Do the Sorting
Why doesn't Swing already offer this? Oh well, here's how to do it yourself
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Create a JDBC Table Model
Bring your database tables into Swing with a minimum of hassle
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Export Table Data to an Excel Spreadsheet
I don't want an entire spreadsheet API, I just want to get a table of values into Excel
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Search Through JTables Easily
Use this nifty TableModel decorator to search your JTables with minimal fuss
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Animate JTree Drops
Who said working with tree paths was hard? Now you can reorganize tree hierarchies with drag-and-drop
The Code
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Add a Right-Click Context Menu to the JFileChooser
Improve the native platform fidelity of the by adding a contextual menu that lets the user create new folders and delete files
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Display Shortcuts in the JFileChooser
This hack will customize the to recognize shortcut (linked) folders and overlay them with a link graphic, mimicking the native Windows File Explorer
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Real Windows Shortcut Support
Support Windows shortcuts by actually opening and parsing files with the under-documented LNK format
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Add Image Preview to File Choosers
This hack will show you how to add an image previewer to a , and it will set you on the way toward building your own customizations
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Preview ZIP and JAR Files
This hack will show you how to customize the file chooser to let users navigate and load files from inside a ZIP or JAR file archive
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Window Snapping
Make your windows snap to the edges of the screen by using a special event listener
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Make a Draggable Window
Drag a window by clicking on its background using a special event listener
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Add Windows Resize Icons
The Windows resize icons aren't built into Java. Here's how to make your own
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Add Status Bars to Windows
Lots of applications use a bottom-of-window panel to communicate status. But Swing doesn't provide a consistent way to do this. So, you need to provide it yourself
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Save Window Settings
Make sure your windows always show up right where you left them, even after a program restarts, by saving the window position and size automatically
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Earthquake Dialog
Make sure your users really know they got their password wrong
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Spin Open a Detail Pane
You don't want to bombard the user with details, but you don't want to hide them either. Here's a way to let the user pop open a More Info widget
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Minimize to a Mini-Frame
When you want your program to have a smaller window but still be on the screen, try building a mini-mod
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Transparent Windows
Create translucent and shaped windows, while avoiding native code, with clever use of a screenshot
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Make Your Frame Dissolve
Create animated frame dissolves using two screenshots and some clever graphics code
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Create Custom Tool Tips
Replace the standard rollover tool tip with an attractive custom version, including a border and rounded corners
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Turn Dialogs into Frame-Anchored Sheets
One of Mac OS X's best ideas is binding the dialog to the window it blocks. This hack shows you how to mimic this in Swing
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Animating a Sheet Dialog
By animating the sheet's appearance and disappearance, you give the user a better clue that his attention is required. Plus, it looks cool
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Slide Notes Out from the Taskbar
Pop up a note above the taskbar when your application wants attention
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Indefinite Progress Indicator
Despite its numerous advanced widgets, Swing offers no efficient way to show that a task of unknown length is in progress. This hack presents two solutions to address this issue
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Make Text Components Searchable
This hack will show you how to add incremental search to a text area as a simple document listener, making it very easy to integrate with your existing software
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Force Text Input into Specific Formats
Use Java's powerful pattern matching to enforce rules on typed input
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Auto-Completing Text Fields
Typing in a whole URL is a pain. When the user starts to type, complete his text with previously entered options, and let the user select one instead of typing the whole URL
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Write Backward Text
Baffle your friends by turning their text into its mirror image
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Use HTML and CSS in Text Components
Spruce up your plain JLabels and buttons using HTML and CSS effects, such as underlines, color, and even embedded tables
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Use Global Anti-Aliased Fonts
Think Swing apps always look ugly because of the chunky fonts? Finally, you can do something about it
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Anti-Aliased Text Without Code
Draw anti-aliased text without any code changes at all using two clever tricks introduced in Java 5.0
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Anti-Aliased Text with a Custom Look and Feel
Another way to get smooth text is to use a custom Look and Feel to avoid the fragile Java 5.0 APIs
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Create a Magnifying Glass Component
Zoom in on those pixels with a little creative abuse of the AWT's debuggingoriented class
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Create a Global Right-Click
Give your application a right-click context menu without having to add a listener to every component
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Block a Window Without a Modal Dialog
Block the input in a single window during long operations without stopping your entire application
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Create a Color Eyedropper
Enhance your color pickers with an eyedropper tool that grabs a color from anywhere on the screen
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Changing Fonts Throughout Your Application
Get a quick font face-lift, without having to write a whole Look and Feel
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Load New Fonts at Runtime
Who cares what fonts your users have? Bundle the fonts you want your application to use and load those fonts dynamically
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Build a Colorful Vector-Based Button
Build a resolution-independent OS X-style button using scalable graphics code
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Add a Third Dimension to Swing
User interfaces have stuck to 2D drawing for many years. Today, Swing and Java3D give you a chance to go one step further and add 3D widgets to your UI
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Turn the Spotlight on Swing
Users often get lost when using applications, as if they were in total darkness. Why don't you turn on a spotlight to show them the way
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Drag-and-Drop with Files
Drag files from your application directly to the desktop, complete with translucent icons
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Handle Dropped URLs
Drag-and-drop is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get…
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Handle Dropped Images
I spy, with my little method, something that doesn't support …arrrgh
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Handling Dropped Picts on Mac OS X
For Mac applications that provide only the legacy Pict flavor of drops, QuickTime for Java offers a Mac-specific solution
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Translucent Drag-and-Drop
The Java implementation of drag-and-drop offers poor visual feedback. This hack shows how to provide more information and a better-looking response to the user
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Play a Sound in an Applet
If you're forced to write to the old Applet API for sound, here's how you do it. Good luck
The Code
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Play a Sound with JavaSound
Get a small clip to play from memory with a lot less hassle
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Play a Sound with Java Media Framework
Use the Java Media Framework for better performance and support for more audio formats
The Code
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Play a Sound with QuickTime for Java
Using QuickTime, you can play even more kinds of sounds, but only on two operating systems
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Add MP3 Support to JMF
MP3s are everywhere, and by installing a plug-in you can use them with Java Media Framework, too
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Build an Audio Waveform Display
With a little understanding of audio data formats, you can easily build a basic graphical audio display
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Play Non-Trivial Audio
When loading an entire audio clip into memory is a bad idea (or just impossible), you have to take JavaSound responsibilities into your own hands
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Show Audio Information While Playing SoundHack
Providing visual feedback for JavaSound audio, or at least trying to…
The Code
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Provide Audio Controls During Playback
Let your users take control of JavaSound playback
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Launch External Programs on Windows
With one simple command you can tell Windows to open files, directories, and URLs on your behalf
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Open Files, Directories, and URLs on Mac OS X
Open files, directories, and URLs in external programs right from your Swing app
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Make Mac Applications Behave Normally
Setting a few system properties will make your application seem more like other Mac apps
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Control iTunes on Mac OS X
With a few bits of AppleScript, you can monitor and control Macintosh iTunes from your own application
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Control iTunes Under Windows
Use a simple open source library to monitor and control Windows iTunes from your Swing application
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Construct Single-Launch Applications
Only allow one instance of a program, notifying the existing instance when the user tries to launch a new one
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Stuff Stuff in JARs
Hide images, sounds, and more inside JAR files
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Make Quick Look and Feel Changes
Customize Metal with custom fonts, colors, and even system-bound properties using just a few API calls
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Create an Inverse Black-and-White Theme
Create a custom black-and-white theme for monochrome LCD displays using a few simple UIManager calls
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Display a Busy Cursor
Use the () method and an animation thread to show a frame's busy status
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Fun with Keyboard Lights
Flash the Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll Lock keys for extra user feedback
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Create Demonstrations with the Robot Class
Use the Robot class to control the mouse cursor and create interactive software features
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Check Your Mail with Swing
Add email checking to your application with just a few method calls
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Don't Block the GUI
Thread your heavy lifting so the event-dispatch thread stays responsive
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Code Models That Don't Block
Models should know that they're doing work on another thread
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Fire Events and Stay Bug Free
Most developers think that writing an event-firing method is trivial. Most developers are wrong
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Debug Your GUI
Standard out and err aren't just for log files anymore
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Debug Components with a Custom Glass Pane
Show component boundaries at runtime using a glass pane
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Mirror an Application
With creative use of the AWT event log, you can bind two instances of an application together over a socket, creating a mirroring effect
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Add Velocity for Dynamic HTML
Use the Velocity template engine to mimic server-side web technologies in your Swing application
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Get Large File Icons
Using an undocumented Windows-only class, you can retrieve large, full-color file icons from the operating system
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Make Frames Resize Dynamically
Make your application feel more responsive by turning on dynamic layout
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