Swing - / SWT - GUI - Plug-Ins for the Eclipse IDE

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Bastian Bohac - 07 Sep 2004 07:29 GMT

Hi everybody!

I'm just beginning programming Java. For that I'm searching for a good
GUI Plug-In for the Eclipse IDE.

The first question appearing is, which package to use for GUI
building: SWT or Swing?
Where are the advantages and disadvantages of the packages?

And which Plug-Ins are recommendable? I've just found the
Swing-Designer (www.swing-designer.com) respectively the SWT-Designer
(www.swt-designer.com). Are these good tools? Are there better tools
available?

Thanks in advance!

Greets,

Bastian

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Ivo Limmen - 07 Sep 2004 18:04 GMT

> Hi everybody!
>
> I'm just beginning programming Java. For that I'm searching for a good
> GUI Plug-In for the Eclipse IDE.

If you are just beginning I suggest that you do not start with GUI
programming, but start at the beginning: the console.

> The first question appearing is, which package to use for GUI
> building: SWT or Swing?

Swing is pure Java but is very heavy, SWT is lite but native. SWT is
however available in on a lot of platforms.
Swing programming can be quite difficult if you programmed in a
different language before, if you where used to building GUI's in
Windows I would recommend using SWT. From a user experience view I would
also recommend SWT, it feels more native (as it looks) and responses
more quickly (if build correctly!).

> Where are the advantages and disadvantages of the packages?

See above.

> And which Plug-Ins are recommendable? I've just found the
> Swing-Designer (www.swing-designer.com) respectively the SWT-Designer
> (www.swt-designer.com). Are these good tools? Are there better tools
> available?

Why not use VE? It's a sub project of Eclipse... I am not sure if they
support SWT completly at the moment but they are at least planning to in
the future.

> Thanks in advance!
>
> Greets,
>
> Bastian

--
Ivo Limmen

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Swing - / SWT - GUI - Plug-Ins for the Eclipse IDE

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