Foam (http://www.computersinmotion.com), a visual designer for Swing,
uses XML to persist the UI. Foam uses Java's XMLEncoder to persist the
beans and layout.

Cheers,
Graham Perks.

FormBuilder is a visual design tool that stores
UI descriptions in XML and builds UIs from XML, see
http://www.swingempire.de/palace/FormBuilder/portal.html

You can plug in different persistence formats.
Anyway, I'd say the interesting thing about FormBuilder
is its approach to decouple roles and activities in
the UI production process.

And FormBuilder is based on an advanced layout system ;)

Karsten

First off, let me say that I worked with external
UI desciptions for over 4 years and built a couple of
cross-platform user interfaces in this style.

Although XML UI descriptions have a good potential
for the future, I'd say that these solutions still
lag behind other UI solutions for the Java desktop
regarding quality, efficiency, and the learning curve.

I've recently posted an article regarding XML UIs, see
http://tinyurl.com/239ht

In short, I see many disadvantages with XML UIs and
only a few advantages. In some cases a late build time
is necessary, which is addressed well by XML UI descriptions.
However, I'd say that most people don't need this feature
and therefore do better with avoiding the disadvantages.

Also, most of the disadvantages I've listed in the article
mentioned above can be addressed by a visual builder tool.
The two tools mentioned before in this thread "Foam" and
"FormBuilder" solve some of the problems with XML UIs.

Karsten

I see XML as a great subject descriptor for a pre-planned application.  This
is the classic "document driven" application.  What i mean is that you build
a basic application structure but use a document (such as XML) to describe
the variable.  This works great if you are building a "build-for-client"
type of software.  The format of the GUI has a predefined structure but its
content is described using XML.  This is a hybrid that works great for
content that changes slightly from user to user, such as a switch control
Applet that changes the input types and rules based on different vendors but
have the same basic content.  The more generic features are feature-rich
while the unique portions are generically rendered.