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Creating a User Interface

The Creating a User Interface trail covers everything you need to know about creating a user interface (UI) for a Java program.

Note: All the material covered in this trail applies to both applets and applications, except for a few clearly marked exceptions.

Overview of the Java UI tells you about the pieces the Java environment provides for building UIs. It introduces you to the graphical UI components and other UI-related classes we provide. It also gives an overview of how programs display themselves and how they handle events such as mouse clicks. You should fully understand the information in this lesson before going on to other lessons in this trail.

Using Components, the GUI Building Blocks will tell you how to use each of the Components we provide and [eventually] how to implement a custom Component.

Laying Out Components within a Container tells you how to choose a layout manager, how to use each of the layout manager classes we provide, how to use absolute positioning instead of a layout manager, and how to create your own layout manager. It will also discuss solutions to common layout problems.

Working with Graphics will tell you how to do everything from drawing lines and text to loading, displaying, and manipulating images. It will include information on performing animation and on improving graphics performance.


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