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SWT_AWT Bridge or Albireo [message #950635]

Fri, 19 October 2012 22:32

Eclipse User

My project has an RCP app with an embedded Swing component. A few years ago, we developed an RCP toolkit that included a "Swing in SWT" implementation based on Albireo. Our toolkit didn't use Albireo in its entirety; rather we integrated parts of Albireo into our code.

Now a few years later we're deprecating our toolkit in lieu of another one, which does much of what we need but doesn't have a SWT to AWT bridging capability. So we'll need to incorporate some implementation enabling Swing components to run in the SWT UI. Developers involved in the original toolkit development told me that Albireo was used because it provided needed capabilities and refinements not found in SWT_AWT Bridge.

I was able to find the archived Albireo code (after much searching). However, given that Albireo was terminated because of lack of activity, I'm wondering if it's now OBE. Perhaps some of the capabilities developed for Albireo were incorporated into SWT_AWT Bridge?

Could someone please comment on what advantages Albireo may still have over using SWT_AWT Bridge? I'm happy to use Albireo if it provides some advantage over SWT_AWT Bridge; but if SWT_AWT Bridge is just as good, then of course I want to avoid adding a dependency on Albireo.

-Mark

Re: SWT_AWT Bridge or Albireo [message #953494 is a reply to message #950635]

Mon, 22 October 2012 05:41

Eclipse User

On 2012-10-20 04:32, Mark Leone wrote:
> My project has an RCP app with an embedded Swing component. A few years
> ago, we developed an RCP toolkit that included a "Swing in SWT"
> implementation based on Albireo. Our toolkit didn't use Albireo in its
> entirety; rather we integrated parts of Albireo into our code.
>
> Now a few years later we're deprecating our toolkit in lieu of another
> one, which does much of what we need but doesn't have a SWT to AWT
> bridging capability. So we'll need to incorporate some implementation
> enabling Swing components to run in the SWT UI. Developers involved in
> the original toolkit development told me that Albireo was used because
> it provided needed capabilities and refinements not found in SWT_AWT
> Bridge.
>
> I was able to find the archived Albireo code (after much searching).
> However, given that Albireo was terminated because of lack of activity,
> I'm wondering if it's now OBE. Perhaps some of the capabilities
> developed for Albireo were incorporated into SWT_AWT Bridge?

According to my experience SWT_AWT bridge has not been improved in
relevant ways. We use always Albireo were we need to do SWT/AWT bridging
and this has shown to be much better than using the SWT_AWT bridge directly.

> Could someone please comment on what advantages Albireo may still have
> over using SWT_AWT Bridge? I'm happy to use Albireo if it provides some
> advantage over SWT_AWT Bridge; but if SWT_AWT Bridge is just as good,
> then of course I want to avoid adding a dependency on Albireo.

Even though I'm unhappy that Albireo is not developed further I'm still
convinced that it's much better to use it instead of the SWT_AWT bridge.

HTH & Greetings from Bremen,

Daniel Krügler

Re: SWT_AWT Bridge or Albireo [message #960610 is a reply to message #953494]

Sat, 27 October 2012 12:48

Eclipse User

Quote:

I'm wondering if [[Albireo is]] OBE.

A member of the Order of the British Empire? Smile

Contrary to what Daniel says above, Albireo builds upon SWT_AWT: SWT_AWT provides the base required to embed Swing components, and Albireo helps with everything else (e.g., modal dialogs). Albireo implements the advice given in Gordon Hirsch's article ; the article is still full of valuable advice and mostly still current, especially with regards to embedding the Swing component within a JApplet.

I've been helping a company transition an application suite from a homegrown Swing framework onto Eclipse. We use an older version of Albireo (found by one of the developers before I came in) and we're looking to move to the latest. We use pure SWT_AWT to wrap the views and the editors, but Albireo is started up at the beginning to provide modal support. It works remarkably well.

[Updated on: Sat, 27 October 2012 12:51] by Moderator

Re: SWT_AWT Bridge or Albireo [message #961924 is a reply to message #950635]

Sun, 28 October 2012 14:23

Eclipse User

Thanks to both of you for your comments. Brian, I think Daniel's comments were consistent with your, and I appreciate the additional info you provided on what exactly Albireo provides on top of SWT_AWT Bridge. I was just wondering if capabilities provided by Albireo had been back-ported into SWT_AWT Bridge, and it looks like they have not.

We have a basic implementation working using SWT_AWT Bridge directly. We'll probably incorporate Albireo eventually. Although we don't need modal dialogs, the other things mentioned in the article Brian linked to seem to provide a good reason to use Albireo.

-Mark

Re: SWT_AWT Bridge or Albireo [message #962737 is a reply to message #960610]

Mon, 29 October 2012 05:33

Eclipse User

On 2012-10-27 18:48, Brian de Alwis wrote:
> Contrary to what Daniel says above, Albireo builds upon SWT_AWT:

Please don't misquote me: I have *not* said that Albireo doesn't build
upon on SWT_AWT. I'm quite aware that it does so. In our experience,
Albireo *fixed* a lot of issues still existing in the direct SWT_AWT
layer and using SWT_AWT was embarrassing. We have wrapped *all* our
Swing/SWT-combinations (even though we try to minimize this mixing) with
Albireo, because directly using SWT_AWT did stumble across a lot of
problems. It's a pity that Albireo isn't developed any further.

Greetings from Bremen,

Daniel Krügler

Re: SWT_AWT Bridge or Albireo [message #962998 is a reply to message #962737]

Mon, 29 October 2012 09:49

Eclipse User

Sorry Daniel, I didn't intend to misquote you. Your use of "instead of" in the following is, for a native English speaker, equivalent to XOR:

Quote:

Even though I'm unhappy that Albireo is not developed further I'm still
convinced that it's much better to use it instead of the SWT_AWT bridge.

I'm personally amazed at how well SWT_AWT works. The only two issues we've encountered are:

Strange table flicker when embedded within a CTabFolder (bug 378743)
Occasional Linux crashes when resizing panels as happens when embedding Swing content in Eclipse view parts. It seems related to Java 2D, but I haven't been able to isolate this sufficiently to assign blame, nor to create a standalone demonstration.

Albireo can be resurrected, but there needs to be a firm commitment from several contributors to the project. I'd be interested in being part of such a group, but I can't (and won't) do it alone!

Brian.

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