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Visual Swing Designer for Eclipse - the new VE ? [message #145734] Thu, 19 February 2009 09:51 Go to next message
Eclipse UserFriend
Originally posted by: mik.c-l-a-s-s-x.it

Hello,

I found an interesting alternative to VE.
Did anyone test it ?

http://code.google.com/p/visualswing4eclipse/

Cheers,

Mik
--
Re: Visual Swing Designer for Eclipse - the new VE ? [message #145840 is a reply to message #145734] Thu, 19 March 2009 20:02 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Norbert Kulawik is currently offline Norbert KulawikFriend
Messages: 2
Registered: July 2009
Junior Member
I downloaded Visual Swing and tried to get it running. So far I've used
the VE, but I have some trouble with it, so I was happy and thankful to
find a possible alternative.

I tried to load some of my VE generated GUIs (applications and components)
into Visual Swing. This didn't work for at least two reasons:

When VE creates an application, it generates a class extending Object with
the app's main JFrame as a member. Visual Swing won't open those, because
it thinks it is not a swing class (which it isn't, but...)

Most of my Swing classes won't open in Visual Swing as well. The reason is
that the VE creates lazy loading methods for all GUI elements except for
JLabels. Visual Swing wants a lazy loading method for those too and
insists on me writing one for each label.

So I failed to open my existing project in Visual Swing, and up to now I
don't want to refactor them all.

Also, it seemed to me that Eclipse crashed several times because both VE
and Visual Swing were installed (or open), but I didn't look deeper.

I haven't tried to create a new GUI with Visual Swing so far. Maybe that
works better, but right now I don't have the time.
Re: Visual Swing Designer for Eclipse - the new VE ? [message #145849 is a reply to message #145734] Sun, 22 March 2009 20:29 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Marty Fried is currently offline Marty FriedFriend
Messages: 8
Registered: July 2009
Junior Member
Michele Puccini wrote:

> Hello,

> I found an interesting alternative to VE.
> Did anyone test it ?

> http://code.google.com/p/visualswing4eclipse/

> Cheers,

> Mik
>

Thanks for the link... I tried it out, but removed it fairly soon after
because it seems to be missing some required (for me, anyway)
functionality.

For me, I lost the "Java Beans" view, which I use a lot during visual
design. I could not live without it. Aside from the convenience of
adding components using this view, I have one app with a card layout, and
without this view, I see no way to get to any panels that are not on the
top.

Also, I found that you can't lay out a panel outside the frame for later
insertion into the frame, which is sometimes handy.

I also miss the split or tabbed window for source/design mode.

I've been using VE 1.4, and have been fairly happy with it, although I'm
somewhat of a beginner to java. I'm taking a class, so my needs might not
be realistic, although I've been doing GUI programming for over 15 years
using C/C++.

Marty Fried
Left Coast, USA
Re: Visual Swing Designer for Eclipse - the new VE ? [message #145857 is a reply to message #145849] Mon, 23 March 2009 09:23 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Eclipse UserFriend
Originally posted by: mik.c-l-a-s-s-x.it

Hi Marty,
Hi Norbert,

many thanks for the reviews. VSD seems to be kind-of-"fresh" at the moment.

I also found Jigloo gui builder (http://www.cloudgarden.com/jigloo/).
I tried it some time ago and it was too much early stage to be useful.

Not it seems to be quite stable and feature-rich (support for MigLayout). I
tried it, but I'm looking around before switching to a new VE. It would be
interesting to know your opinion.

Cheers,

Mik
--



"Marty Fried" <public.forums@gmail.com> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:1b01589a67b3161428c2f3adf29d1c60$1@www.eclipse.org...
> Michele Puccini wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>
>> I found an interesting alternative to VE.
>> Did anyone test it ?
>
>> http://code.google.com/p/visualswing4eclipse/
>
>> Cheers,
>
>> Mik
>>
>
> Thanks for the link... I tried it out, but removed it fairly soon after
> because it seems to be missing some required (for me, anyway)
> functionality.
>
> For me, I lost the "Java Beans" view, which I use a lot during visual
> design. I could not live without it. Aside from the convenience of
> adding components using this view, I have one app with a card layout, and
> without this view, I see no way to get to any panels that are not on the
> top.
>
> Also, I found that you can't lay out a panel outside the frame for later
> insertion into the frame, which is sometimes handy.
>
> I also miss the split or tabbed window for source/design mode.
>
> I've been using VE 1.4, and have been fairly happy with it, although I'm
> somewhat of a beginner to java. I'm taking a class, so my needs might not
> be realistic, although I've been doing GUI programming for over 15 years
> using C/C++.
>
> Marty Fried
> Left Coast, USA
>
>
Re: Visual Swing Designer for Eclipse - the new VE ? [message #145866 is a reply to message #145857] Mon, 23 March 2009 22:52 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Marty Fried is currently offline Marty FriedFriend
Messages: 8
Registered: July 2009
Junior Member
Hi Michelle,

Thanks for the tip - igloo looks interesting, I think I'll try it out. I'm
somewhat of a tools junkie, so I'm always trying out new ones.

Just out of curiosity, since I'm somewhat of a beginner - are most people
unhappy with VE 1.4, or is it just that the project seems a bit stale (a
nice word for dead)? I've finally learned to install it fairly easily
(adding the Soyatec.org site), and it seems to work fairly well for what
I've been doing. Of course, I realize that there may be more complex
requirements that I don't even know about yet. I have next to zero
experience designing web apps, and so far, all I've done are stand-alone
apps for a class I'm taking.

Thanks...
Re: Visual Swing Designer for Eclipse - the new VE ? [message #145884 is a reply to message #145849] Fri, 27 March 2009 09:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Eclipse UserFriend
Originally posted by: sbrandt_NOSPAM_.gmx.de

Marty Fried wrote:
> Michele Puccini wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>
>> I found an interesting alternative to VE.
>> Did anyone test it ?
>
>> http://code.google.com/p/visualswing4eclipse/
>
>> Cheers,
>
>> Mik
>>
>
> Thanks for the link... I tried it out, but removed it fairly soon after
> because it seems to be missing some required (for me, anyway)
> functionality.
Hi!
I have similar experiences ...
Especially, it is impossible to add a component into a panel that is empty
and zero size in one direction ...

1) use border layout
- put panel on it, CENTER
- try to put anything on left, top, right, or bottom
I didn't manage.

2) use border layout
- put panel on it, bottom
- put panel on it, center
- try to put anything on the bottom panel.
again, I didn't manage.

Only solution: change the center panel to top, add the controls.

W/o a working border layout, I lost my interest in Visual Swing Designer ...

Yours,
Sebastian
Re: Visual Swing Designer for Eclipse - the new VE ? [message #145893 is a reply to message #145884] Fri, 27 March 2009 15:52 Go to previous message
Marty Fried is currently offline Marty FriedFriend
Messages: 8
Registered: July 2009
Junior Member
Sebastian Brandt wrote:

> Hi!
> I have similar experiences ...
> Especially, it is impossible to add a component into a panel that is empty
> and zero size in one direction ...

> 1) use border layout
> - put panel on it, CENTER
> - try to put anything on left, top, right, or bottom
> I didn't manage.

> 2) use border layout
> - put panel on it, bottom
> - put panel on it, center
> - try to put anything on the bottom panel.
> again, I didn't manage.

> Only solution: change the center panel to top, add the controls.

> W/o a working border layout, I lost my interest in Visual Swing Designer ...

Yes, that's the sort of problems that come up where it is essential to be
able to add the element in some sort of outline mode where you can see
every existing element.

I've been experimenting with Igloo, and it is better; not perfect, but
pretty good. I especially like its use of screen space. You can
semi-maximize the source you are working on, and still see everything you
need. The palette is a small tabbed toolbar on top (icons only). Their
GUI outline widow is on the right, above a tabbed properties/layout/events
window. The remaining space is used for the source/GUI editor, which can
be either split or tabbed.

I've had a few problems, but that may be due to my inexperience. Also, it
was a bit cryptic starting out, as it seems to show two possible
containers for adding elements, and it wasn't clear which one to use. But
only one works, and the documentation kind of shows how to do it, although
it doesn't mention what these two containers are.
Re: Visual Swing Designer for Eclipse - the new VE ? [message #617342 is a reply to message #145734] Thu, 19 March 2009 20:02 Go to previous message
Norbert Kulawik is currently offline Norbert KulawikFriend
Messages: 2
Registered: July 2009
Junior Member
I downloaded Visual Swing and tried to get it running. So far I've used
the VE, but I have some trouble with it, so I was happy and thankful to
find a possible alternative.

I tried to load some of my VE generated GUIs (applications and components)
into Visual Swing. This didn't work for at least two reasons:

When VE creates an application, it generates a class extending Object with
the app's main JFrame as a member. Visual Swing won't open those, because
it thinks it is not a swing class (which it isn't, but...)

Most of my Swing classes won't open in Visual Swing as well. The reason is
that the VE creates lazy loading methods for all GUI elements except for
JLabels. Visual Swing wants a lazy loading method for those too and
insists on me writing one for each label.

So I failed to open my existing project in Visual Swing, and up to now I
don't want to refactor them all.

Also, it seemed to me that Eclipse crashed several times because both VE
and Visual Swing were installed (or open), but I didn't look deeper.

I haven't tried to create a new GUI with Visual Swing so far. Maybe that
works better, but right now I don't have the time.
Re: Visual Swing Designer for Eclipse - the new VE ? [message #617343 is a reply to message #145734] Sun, 22 March 2009 20:29 Go to previous message
Marty Fried is currently offline Marty FriedFriend
Messages: 8
Registered: July 2009
Junior Member
Michele Puccini wrote:

> Hello,

> I found an interesting alternative to VE.
> Did anyone test it ?

> http://code.google.com/p/visualswing4eclipse/

> Cheers,

> Mik
>

Thanks for the link... I tried it out, but removed it fairly soon after
because it seems to be missing some required (for me, anyway)
functionality.

For me, I lost the "Java Beans" view, which I use a lot during visual
design. I could not live without it. Aside from the convenience of
adding components using this view, I have one app with a card layout, and
without this view, I see no way to get to any panels that are not on the
top.

Also, I found that you can't lay out a panel outside the frame for later
insertion into the frame, which is sometimes handy.

I also miss the split or tabbed window for source/design mode.

I've been using VE 1.4, and have been fairly happy with it, although I'm
somewhat of a beginner to java. I'm taking a class, so my needs might not
be realistic, although I've been doing GUI programming for over 15 years
using C/C++.

Marty Fried
Left Coast, USA
Re: Visual Swing Designer for Eclipse - the new VE ? [message #617344 is a reply to message #145849] Mon, 23 March 2009 09:23 Go to previous message
Michele Puccini is currently offline Michele PucciniFriend
Messages: 33
Registered: July 2009
Member
Hi Marty,
Hi Norbert,

many thanks for the reviews. VSD seems to be kind-of-"fresh" at the moment.

I also found Jigloo gui builder (http://www.cloudgarden.com/jigloo/).
I tried it some time ago and it was too much early stage to be useful.

Not it seems to be quite stable and feature-rich (support for MigLayout). I
tried it, but I'm looking around before switching to a new VE. It would be
interesting to know your opinion.

Cheers,

Mik
--



"Marty Fried" <public.forums@gmail.com> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:1b01589a67b3161428c2f3adf29d1c60$1@www.eclipse.org...
> Michele Puccini wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>
>> I found an interesting alternative to VE.
>> Did anyone test it ?
>
>> http://code.google.com/p/visualswing4eclipse/
>
>> Cheers,
>
>> Mik
>>
>
> Thanks for the link... I tried it out, but removed it fairly soon after
> because it seems to be missing some required (for me, anyway)
> functionality.
>
> For me, I lost the "Java Beans" view, which I use a lot during visual
> design. I could not live without it. Aside from the convenience of
> adding components using this view, I have one app with a card layout, and
> without this view, I see no way to get to any panels that are not on the
> top.
>
> Also, I found that you can't lay out a panel outside the frame for later
> insertion into the frame, which is sometimes handy.
>
> I also miss the split or tabbed window for source/design mode.
>
> I've been using VE 1.4, and have been fairly happy with it, although I'm
> somewhat of a beginner to java. I'm taking a class, so my needs might not
> be realistic, although I've been doing GUI programming for over 15 years
> using C/C++.
>
> Marty Fried
> Left Coast, USA
>
>
Re: Visual Swing Designer for Eclipse - the new VE ? [message #617345 is a reply to message #145857] Mon, 23 March 2009 22:52 Go to previous message
Marty Fried is currently offline Marty FriedFriend
Messages: 8
Registered: July 2009
Junior Member
Hi Michelle,

Thanks for the tip - igloo looks interesting, I think I'll try it out. I'm
somewhat of a tools junkie, so I'm always trying out new ones.

Just out of curiosity, since I'm somewhat of a beginner - are most people
unhappy with VE 1.4, or is it just that the project seems a bit stale (a
nice word for dead)? I've finally learned to install it fairly easily
(adding the Soyatec.org site), and it seems to work fairly well for what
I've been doing. Of course, I realize that there may be more complex
requirements that I don't even know about yet. I have next to zero
experience designing web apps, and so far, all I've done are stand-alone
apps for a class I'm taking.

Thanks...
Re: Visual Swing Designer for Eclipse - the new VE ? [message #617347 is a reply to message #145849] Fri, 27 March 2009 09:59 Go to previous message
Eclipse UserFriend
Originally posted by: sbrandt_NOSPAM_.gmx.de

Marty Fried wrote:
> Michele Puccini wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>
>> I found an interesting alternative to VE.
>> Did anyone test it ?
>
>> http://code.google.com/p/visualswing4eclipse/
>
>> Cheers,
>
>> Mik
>>
>
> Thanks for the link... I tried it out, but removed it fairly soon after
> because it seems to be missing some required (for me, anyway)
> functionality.
Hi!
I have similar experiences ...
Especially, it is impossible to add a component into a panel that is empty
and zero size in one direction ...

1) use border layout
- put panel on it, CENTER
- try to put anything on left, top, right, or bottom
I didn't manage.

2) use border layout
- put panel on it, bottom
- put panel on it, center
- try to put anything on the bottom panel.
again, I didn't manage.

Only solution: change the center panel to top, add the controls.

W/o a working border layout, I lost my interest in Visual Swing Designer ...

Yours,
Sebastian
Re: Visual Swing Designer for Eclipse - the new VE ? [message #617348 is a reply to message #145884] Fri, 27 March 2009 15:52 Go to previous message
Marty Fried is currently offline Marty FriedFriend
Messages: 8
Registered: July 2009
Junior Member
Sebastian Brandt wrote:

> Hi!
> I have similar experiences ...
> Especially, it is impossible to add a component into a panel that is empty
> and zero size in one direction ...

> 1) use border layout
> - put panel on it, CENTER
> - try to put anything on left, top, right, or bottom
> I didn't manage.

> 2) use border layout
> - put panel on it, bottom
> - put panel on it, center
> - try to put anything on the bottom panel.
> again, I didn't manage.

> Only solution: change the center panel to top, add the controls.

> W/o a working border layout, I lost my interest in Visual Swing Designer ...

Yes, that's the sort of problems that come up where it is essential to be
able to add the element in some sort of outline mode where you can see
every existing element.

I've been experimenting with Igloo, and it is better; not perfect, but
pretty good. I especially like its use of screen space. You can
semi-maximize the source you are working on, and still see everything you
need. The palette is a small tabbed toolbar on top (icons only). Their
GUI outline widow is on the right, above a tabbed properties/layout/events
window. The remaining space is used for the source/GUI editor, which can
be either split or tabbed.

I've had a few problems, but that may be due to my inexperience. Also, it
was a bit cryptic starting out, as it seems to show two possible
containers for adding elements, and it wasn't clear which one to use. But
only one works, and the documentation kind of shows how to do it, although
it doesn't mention what these two containers are.
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