Re: silly newbie GUI ques

  To: comp.lang.java.gui
RedGrittyBrick wrote:


<snip Q about app design using execution of separate programs to
organise elements of an application>

Here's a working example of what I was talking about. It is minimal but
should give an idea about one way (of many) of organising code for a
Swing GUI application.

----------------------- ClubApp.java -----------------------
package ClubApp;
// Licence: GPL RedGrittyBrick.org 2007 :-)

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

public class ClubMaster {
     public static void main(String[] args) {
         SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
             public void run() {
                 JFrame f = new JFrame("Club Master");
                 f.add(new MainPanel(f));
                 f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
                 f.pack();
                 f.setVisible(true);
             }
         });
     }
}
--------------------- MainPanel.java ------------------------
package ClubApp;

import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import javax.swing.BoxLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

public class MainPanel extends JPanel implements ActionListener {

     JFrame parent;

     JButton memberButton, eventButton;

     // View
     MainPanel(JFrame parent) {
         this.parent = parent;
         setLayout(new BoxLayout(this, BoxLayout.LINE_AXIS));
         memberButton = new JButton("members");
         eventButton = new JButton("events");
         memberButton.addActionListener(this);
         eventButton.addActionListener(this);
         add(memberButton);
         add(eventButton);
     }

     // Controller
     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
         String command = e.getActionCommand();
         if (command.equals("members")) {
             JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(parent,
                     new MembersPanel(parent));
         } else if (command.equals("events")) {
             JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(parent,
                     new EventsPanel(parent));
         }
     }
}
------------------ MembersPanel.java -----------------------
package ClubApp;

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

public class MembersPanel extends JPanel {
     MembersPanel(JFrame parent) {
         add(new JLabel("A list of members"));
     }
}
-------------------- EventsPanel.java -----------------------
package ClubApp;

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

public class EventsPanel extends JPanel {
     EventsPanel(JFrame parent) {
         add(new JLabel("A list of events"));
     }
}
-------------------------------------------------------------

When you compile the above you will get four class files. Don't worry
about that, they are *not* four "programs", they together comprise one
program. For deployment I would package them into a single executable
ClubMaster.jar file.

Note that in the "Controller" section of MainPanel I could, instead of
using JOptionPane, create JFrames to hold the new xxxPanel() or I could
add them to a new card in a CardPanel in MainPanel's "View" section.

I've omitted any business functionality. I'd maybe have JTables to list
the members, I'd have a separate MemberModel that extends
AbstractTableModel and fetches the member list data from a database.

For brevity I've omitted MemberPanel (singular). I would add
ActionListener and add/edit/delete buttons to MembersPanel (plural),
MembersPanel could have a Controller section like the Controller section
of MainPanel to open new windows containing a data entry form defined in
MemberPanel (singular)

Note my use of the terms Model, View and Controller. This is an
important design pattern in OO languages.

When I was starting out learning Swing, An example such as the above
might have saved me weeks of work! I hope others find it of some use.

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