2. Java Foundation Classes

• The Java Foundation Classes (JFC or Swing) are a complete set of light-weight user interface components.

• A rich graphical Java application can be developed using the Swing class library.

• Swing is large (over 300 classes and interfaces) -- complex -- and a very large topic that is beyond the scope of our course...

  • ...However, studying the architectural design of Java Swing library serves as an illustration of an industrial strength framework.

• Many Swing classes represent all-familiar components that appear in a graphical application:

  • buttons, menus, text fields, lists, tables, trees, etc.

• Associating a handler object with UI components attaches an action to be taken when the user clicks a button, etc.