Swing has 6-8 months to shape up or WFC wins.
comp.lang.java.programmer
Topic: Are you happy with JFC/Swing?
>Greetings,
>
>We are curious how many people who are (seriously) using JFC/Swing
>are acutally happy with it?
>
I use JDK1.2B3 (which, I believe, includes JFC1.1 aka Swing1.0) on
Win95. In my opinion, as much as I like Java and Swing, I give
it until year's end before I get disgusted enough to switch to WFC.
I have heard similar time frames from other developers who are
working on commercial apps using Swing.
>
>How useful is a pluggable look-and-feel if one cannot even create
>simple reliable yes/no dialogs?
>
As someone else also mentioned, PLAF's are little more than academic
toys. Sun should me improving the existing LAFs (specially Windows)
instead of going around designing new LAFs. Like it or now, most of
the Java apps will run on Windows platforms, and if they continue to
stick out like a sore thumb amid the other polished apps on the
desktop, there won't be much of a market for them. Right now the
Windows LAF completely ignores the systemwide color/font settings.
What good is this?
Aside from hopeless performance, my biggest gripe about Swing is
that they obviously haven't given much thought to keyboard
interaction. Advanced users typically tend to use the keyboard more
than the mouse.
Some things in Swing that are completely unacceptable in a commercial
product:
- You cannot invoke a context menu using the keyboard. This is such
an important operation that the new keyboards have a special key JUST
FOR THIS.
- Pressing ESCAPE does not dismiss a dialog box.
- JPopupMenus are not modal. Just invoke a context menu for a table
cell and use the arrow keys. Rather than selecting entries on the
popup menu, this actually changes the selection in the table (!!)
- Disabling resize on a JDialog/JFrame does a half hearted job. You
can still do it using the keyboard and the system menu.
- MVC is ridiculous overkill for a simple two digit JTextField.
Unfortunately, we have to carry this excess baggage and pay the price
in performance. To repaint 42 JTextFields takes THREE seconds.
Ridiculous!
- I can actually watch the JCheckBox paint itself when I click on
it.
And please don't tell me that I can do all this stuff by
subclassing and adding my own workarounds. The point of a toolkit is
to provide a usable framework. If I have to spend time working around
the bugs in Swing, and meanwhile WFC provides excellent performance
with the needed functionality already in place, I have to question the
merits of staying with Swing.
>
>Are you happy with Swing?
>
Bottom line: As much as the Java priesthood around here doesn't like
to admit it, 90% of users are Windows users, and they really couldn't
care less whether your application runs on Unix or Mac. They demand
fast, snazzy, stable apps on Windows. Swing has a lawwwwwwwng way to
go before it can compete with native Windows widgets. Right now it is
not even a contest.
Don't get me wrong. I actually come from a long Unix/Motif
background. I love Java as a language and Swing has a lot of cool
features. But, regardless of my personal preferences, my obligation as
a professional developer is to recommend and use the best technology
for the job. If Swing doesn't cut it by the end of this year, and WFC
does, the choice becomes clear. It won't be a happy choice, but...
**************************
Imagine, a hardware company like Sun ignoring the needs of the
independent developer community in order to pursue its own agenda.
Remember IBM and OS/2? Deja vu. |
