I need advice in swing

[hubert humptis]

What is the best way to write gui's in java? Because i want to lay things out and it is getting tuff? Are there any Java tools for swing that will layout the gui for U...and then u write the code?
[ May 11, 2002: Message edited by: hubert humptis ]

[Rene Liebmann]

Hi
why you don't take an IDE like JBuilder. There you can design your layout very easy. Of course, you need a bit knowledge of Swing. If you don't have this, then you should start with the tutorial from sun.
To come again to the JBuilder. This IDE provides the functionality, that you create your GUI with a null layout. There you can drag and drop your components. Later you can change this layout to GridBagLayout. So your components are resizable.
Just try it.

Rene

[Gregg Bolinger]

Also there is Forte, which is slow unless you have a descent system (500 MHz or higher IMO) because it is written in JAVA. I use it strickly for GUI component creation though. Then take the code to JCreator to find tune and optimize it. I can only stand to write JButton button1 = new JButton() so many times.
And Forte is Free. Download it from java.sun.com
New Thought, Eclipse is also suposed to have a GUI builder coming soon to it's R2.0 however, it is not there yet. But look for it. www.eclipse.org.
[ May 13, 2002: Message edited by: Gregg Bolinger ]

[Harry Pfohl]

I had the same problems beginning with SWING. The questions was how to experience with the Layout Managers. The idea has a result in a product called JEasy at www.jeasy.de (no cost).
It's a designer for SWING applications and applets. With the help of the JEasyRepository you define all SWING components like frames, panels, menues, labes and textfields .... Then you build relations like a label and a textfield are members of a panel. If you have done this, what is very quick and easy, you are able to see the
panel and what the LayoutManager has done with the members inside.
You may build and see the complete GUI without writing one line of code.
I think for beginners it is the best way to learn building GUIs with SWING.
Source code is included to show how to act on events.
SWING is great, keep on.
Harry