Swing App Design Question

[Thomas Hubschman]

Hello,
If I want to dyamically build a GUI from an XML file where the number of containers will not be known untill runtime, what is the best method for tracking them? I currently am adding the created containers to a hash map. With a key deliminated in the XML file.
Is this a good solution? Are there better ways?
Many thanks.
Tom

[Alex Kravets]

I guess you can store your containers in any collections you want: arrays, hashes, Vectors etc. It all comes down to which one is the fastest. Don't you think so?

[Stan James]

As an exercise, I'm building something myself to specify a Swing GUI in XML. If a name='aname' attribute is found on any component I put it into a Map. I can create the UI and then get or set values for any of the components. I can also create a listener or model component and reference it by Map key in multiple components.

[Gregg Bolinger]

Have you seen:
http://www.swixml.org/
http://www.jeasy.de/
Even if you want to design your own and not use those, they should be able to give you some hints as to the best methods to use.

[Harry Pfohl]

Hello,
see how it is done in JEasy. The hole GUI is stored in XML. To build panels and other components dynamically, JEasy offers a XML-Syntax to create new compnentns at runtime.
To test it, run the Example from www.jeasy.de and chose the tabbedpane dynamic panel. Change the xml string at the left and build a form.
Harry