Swing Application Framework

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The Swing Application Framework (JSR 296) is a Java specification for a simple application framework for Swing applications, with a graphical user interface (GUI) in computer software. It defines infrastructure common to most desktop applications, making Swing applications easier to create. It has now been withdrawn. [1]

The Java Community Process (JCP), established in 1998, is a formalized mechanism that allows interested parties to develop standard technical specifications for Java technology. Anyone can become a JCP Member by filling a form available at the JCP website. JCP membership for organizations and commercial entities requires annual fees – but is free for individuals.

In computer programming, an application framework consists of a software framework used by software developers to implement the standard structure of application software.

Swing (Java) Java GUI widget toolkit

Swing is a GUI widget toolkit for Java. It is part of Oracle's Java Foundation Classes (JFC) – an API for providing a graphical user interface (GUI) for Java programs.

Contents

Features

The JSR 296 specification defines the basic structure of a Swing application. It defines a framework as a small set of extensible classes that define infrastructure common to most desktop applications:

In computer programming, a software framework is an abstraction in which software providing generic functionality can be selectively changed by additional user-written code, thus providing application-specific software. A software framework provides a standard way to build and deploy applications. A software framework is a universal, reusable software environment that provides particular functionality as part of a larger software platform to facilitate development of software applications, products and solutions. Software frameworks may include support programs, compilers, code libraries, tool sets, and application programming interfaces (APIs) that bring together all the different components to enable development of a project or system.

In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system, which share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphical shell. The desktop environment was seen mostly on personal computers until the rise of mobile computing. Desktop GUIs help the user to easily access and edit files, while they usually do not provide access to all of the features found in the underlying operating system. Instead, the traditional command-line interface (CLI) is still used when full control over the operating system is required.

Application software computer software designed to perform a group of coordinated functions, tasks, or activities for the benefit of the user

Application software is software designed to perform a group of coordinated functions, tasks, or activities for the benefit of the user. Examples of an application include a word processor, a spreadsheet, an accounting application, a web browser, an email client, a media player, a file viewer, an aeronautical flight simulator, a console game or a photo editor. The collective noun application software refers to all applications collectively. This contrasts with system software, which is mainly involved with running the computer.

Status and roadmap

Development of an open-source Reference Implementation called "appframework" began in 2006. [2] It was originally expected that this implementation would be the means for integrating JSR 296 into the upcoming Java SE 7 (Dolphin) version of Java, and the project was scheduled to be included in milestone 5 of the Java Development Kit JDK7 development. However, in August 2009, it was announced that the project would not be included, due to an inability to reconcile design flaws and achieve consensus among the JSR 296 team before the milestone 5 deadline. [3]

Open-source software software licensed to ensure source code usage rights

Open-source software (OSS) is a type of computer software in which source code is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose. Open-source software may be developed in a collaborative public manner. Open-source software is a prominent example of open collaboration.

Java Platform, Standard Edition is a computing platform for development and deployment of portable code for desktop and server environments. Java SE was formerly known as Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE).

Java (programming language) Object-oriented programming language

Java is a general-purpose programming language that is class-based, object-oriented, and designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is intended to let application developers write once, run anywhere (WORA), meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need for recompilation. Java applications are typically compiled to bytecode that can run on any Java virtual machine (JVM) regardless of the underlying computer architecture. The syntax of Java is similar to C and C++, but it has fewer low-level facilities than either of them. As of 2019, Java was one of the most popular programming languages in use according to GitHub, particularly for client-server web applications, with a reported 9 million developers.

The original Swing Application Framework implementation has been put on hold indefinitely. [4] It was later withdrawn at the Spec Lead's request in June 2011. The last public release of the appframework project was version 1.03. [2]

Forks and alternatives

Several forks of the original implementation have been started by open-source communities, and several other application framework libraries have been created to achieve goals similar to those of JSR 296.

Better Swing Application Framework
The Better Swing Application Framework project, or BSAF, is a fork of version 1.03 of the original appframework project. BSAF was created at Project Kenai in September 2009 and is currently the most active of the forks. Its goals are to eliminate bugs and execute small design fixes on the original appframework implementation while maintaining compatibility with version 1.03. [5]

Last release BSAF 1.9.1 was 2012. [6] BSAF is still available at SourceForge, which has a button that says "This project can now be found here," that takes you to the now defunct project Kenai.

SourceForge Web-based source code repository

SourceForge is a web-based service that offers software developers a centralized online location to control and manage free and open-source software projects. It provides a source code repository, bug tracking, mirroring of downloads for load balancing, a wiki for documentation, developer and user mailing lists, user-support forums, user-written reviews and ratings, a news bulletin, micro-blog for publishing project updates, and other features.

Guice Utilities & Tools Set
The Guice Utilities & Tools Set, or GUTS, is an implementation of JSR 296 that combines the appframework with the Google Guice Dependency Injection library. Like BSAF, it is also hosted at Project Kenai. Unlike BSAF, GUTS is making a break-away from the "problematic singleton" [7] [8] pattern. This project began in June 2009, and is currently not active (version 0.1 stuck 2010). [9]
Swing Application Framework Fork
The Swing Application Framework Fork, or SAFF, is a fork of appframework 1.03. It is currently hosted at GitHub. However, this project has been dormant since October 2009. [10]
TreasureMap
TreasureMap is a library providing standalone use of appframework 1.03's ResourceMap implementation. [11]
NetBeans Platform
The NetBeans Platform is a robust Swing application framework, with many more features, as well as much more documentation. Because of the JSR failure/hold, SAF has been removed from Netbeans as of version 7.1. The developers seem to have no desire to provide any alternative, and suggest that the Netbeans platform is the right mechanism for porting SAF projects to a supported platform. [12]
Eclipse RCP
Eclipse RCP is a big SWT (an alternative to Swing) application framework, for bigger projects, needs more time for understanding.
jGAF - Java Generic Application Framework
jGAF is a simple and compact library to quickly build full-featured Java Swing Application. This free open-source framework provides APIs to handle application life cycle, menus, configuration, OS integration, application data persistence, application protection, wizards, preferences, etc. [13]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=296
  2. 1 2 appframework: Swing Application Framework
  3. ↑ Potochkin, Alexander, SAF and JDK7
  4. ↑ Potochkin, Alexander, The alternative Swing frameworks
  5. ↑ Better Swing Application Framework
  6. ↑ Better Swing Application Framework - Last Release
  7. ↑ Hans Muller "Swan Song"
  8. ↑ JSR 296 "From the Trenches" (PDF)
  9. ↑ Guice Utilities & Tools Set
  10. ↑ Swing Application Framework Fork
  11. ↑ TreasureMap
  12. ↑ NetBeans Platform
  13. ↑ Java Generic Application Framework
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