"Swing Hacks" helps Java developers move beyond the basics of Swing, the graphical user interface (GUI) standard since Java 2. If you're a Java developer looking to build enterprise applications with a first-class look and feel, Swing is definitely one skill you need to master. This latest title from O'Reilly is a reference to the cool stuff in Swing. It's about the interesting things you learn over the years--creative, original, even weird hacks--the things that make you say, "I didn't know you could even do that with Swing!" "Swing Hacks" will show you how to extend Swing's rich component set in advanced and sometimes non-obvious ways. The book touches upon the entire Swing gamut-tables, trees, sliders, spinners, progress bars, internal frames, and text components. Detail is also provided on JTable/JTree, threaded component models, and translucent windows. You'll learn how to filter lists, power-up trees and tables, and add drag-and-drop support. "Swing Hacks" will show you how to do fun things that will directly enhance your own applications. Some are visual enhancements to make your software look better. Some are functional improvements to make your software do something it couldn't do before. Some are even just plain silly, in print only to prove it could be done. The book will also give you give you a small glimpse of the applications coming in the future. New technology is streaming into the Java community at a blistering rate, and it gives application developers a whole new set of blocks to play with. With its profusion of tips and tricks, "Swing Hacks" isn't just for the developer who wants to build a better user interface. It's also ideally suited for client-side Java developers who want to deliver polished applications, enthusiasts who want to push Java client application boundaries, and coders who want to bring powerful techniques to their own applications. Whatever your programming needs, "Swing Hacks" is packed with programming lessons that increase your competency with interface-building tools.

Table of Contents:
Credits Preface Chapter 1. Basic JComponents 1. Create Image-Themed Components 2. Don't Settle for Boring Text Labels 3. Fill Your Borders with Pretty Pictures 4. Display Dates in a Custom Calendar 5. Add a Watermark to a Text Component 6. Watermark Your Scroll Panes 7. Put a NASA Photo into the Background of a Text Area 8. Animate Transitions Between Tabs 9. Blur Disabled Components 10. Building a Drop-Down Menu Button 11. Create Menus with Drop Shadows 12. Add Translucence to Menus Chapter 2. Lists and Combos 13. Filter JLists 14. Add a Filter History 15. Make JLists Checkable 16. Make Different List Items Look Different 17. Reorder a JList with Drag-and-Drop 18. Animate Your JList Selections 19. Turn Methods into List enderers 20. Create a Collections-Aware JComboBoxChapter 3. Tables and Trees 21. Size Your Columns to Suit Your JTable's Contents 22. Add Column Selection to JTables 23. Let Your JTables Do the Sorting 24. Create a JDBC Table Model 25. Export Table Data to an Excel Spreadsheet 26. Search Through JTables Easily 27. Animate JTree Drops Chapter 4. File Choosers 28. Add a Right-Click Context Menu to the JFileChooser 29. Display Shortcuts in the JFileChooser 30. Real Windows Shortcut Support 31. Add Image Preview to File Choosers 32. Preview ZIP and JAR Files Chapter 5. Windows, Dialogs, and Frames 33. Window Snapping 34. Make a Draggable Window 35. Add Windows Resize Icons 36. Add Status Bars to Windows 37. Save Window Settings 38. Earthquake Dialog 39. Spin Open a Detail Pane 40. Minimize to a Mini-Frame Chapter 6. Transparent and Animated Windows 41. Transparent Windows 42. Make Your Frame Dissolve 43. Create Custom Tool Tips 44. Turn Dialogs into Frame-Anchored Sheets 45. Animating a Sheet Dialog 46. Slide Notes Out from the Taskbar 47. Indefinite Progress Indicator Chapter 7. Text 48. Make Text Components Searchable 49. Force Text Input into Specific Formats 50. Auto-Completing Text Fields 51. Write Backward Text 52. Use HTML and CSS in Text Components 53. Use Global Anti-Aliased Fonts 54. Anti-Aliased Text Without Code 55. Anti-Aliased Text with a Custom Look and Feel Chapter 8. Rendering 56. Create a Magnifying Glass Component 57. Create a Global Right-Click 58. Block a Window Without a Modal Dialog 59. Create a Color Eyedropper 60. Changing Fonts Throughout Your Application 61. Load New Fonts at Runtime 62. Build a Colorful Vector-Based Button 63. Add a Third Dimension to Swing 64. Turn the Spotlight on Swing Chapter 9. Drag-and-Drop 65. Drag-and-Drop with Files 66. Handle Dropped URLs 67. Handle Dropped Images 68. Handling Dropped Picts on Mac OS X 69. Translucent Drag-and-Drop Chapter 10. Audio 70. Play a Sound in an Applet 71. Play a Sound with JavaSound 72. Play a Sound with Java Media Framework 73. Play a Sound with QuickTime for Java 74. Add MP3 Support to JMF 75. Build an Audio Waveform Display 76. Play Non-Trivial Audio 77. Show Audio Information While Playing Sound 78. Provide Audio Controls During Playback Chapter 11. Native Integration and Packaging 79. Launch External Programs on Windows 80. Open Files, Directories, and URLs on Mac OS X 81. Make Mac Applications Behave Normally 82. Control iTunes on Mac OS X 83. Control iTunes Under Windows 84. Construct Single-Launch Applications 85. Stuff Stuff in JARs 86. Make Quick Look and Feel Changes 87. Create an Inverse Black-and-White Theme Chapter 12. Miscellany 88. Display a Busy Cursor 89. Fun with Keyboard Lights 90. Create Demonstrations with the Robot Class 91. Check Your Mail with Swing 92. Don't Block the GUI 93. Code Models That Don't Block 94. Fire Events and Stay Bug Free 95. Debug Your GUI 96. Debug Components with a Custom Glass Pane 97. Mirror an Application 98. Add Velocity for Dynamic HTML 99. Get Large File Icons 100. Make Frames Resize Dynamically Index