LAF : Java Glossary

Mac L&F

public boolean isSupportedLookAndFeel()
   {
   return isNativeLookAndFeel();
   }

public boolean isSupportedLookAndFeel()
   {
   return true;
   }

Selecting L&F Programmatically

Selecting L&F On the Command Line

java -Dswing.defaultlaf=com.incors.plaf.kunststoff.KunststoffLookAndFeel MyClass

Discovering Installed L&Fs

Discovering Active L&Fs

// discovering the current active Look and Feel
LookAndFeel laf = UIManager.getLookAndFeel();
String lafName = laf.getName();

Decorating

L&F Icons

// Get an icon that looks just like the one the L&F uses
// for closing internal frames.
Icon closeIcon = UIManager.getIcon( "InternalFrame.closeIcon" );

Overriding

// overriding a colour in the L&F
UIManager.put( "TabbedPane.selected", Color.RED );

Another approach is to write your own Look & Feel that extends some other one, and just overrides a few font-defining methods or colour-defining methods. See this sample code for a writing a derived LAF.

Gotchas

• If you change the L&F dynamically, sometimes parts of your app won’t change. You can find all frames and get them to refresh with code like this:
• If you load your look and feel with a custom class loader, you must use this undocumented hook so that Swing will use your loader to look for LAF classes:

  // persuade Swing to use your custom class loader to load LAF classes
  UIManager.getDefaults().put( "ClassLoader", loader );

• Nimbus LAF is part of JDK 1.0.6_10+, but it is not the default. It does not use any bit map graphics. It uses scaleable 2D graphics and gradients. It has hardware acceleration support. It seems to render JTable columns and JSpinners larger, but the layout managers do not seem to notice. You must manually pad their sizes.
• On the Macintosh, you usually use the command clover key ⌘ to copy/paste. With most look and feels, this stops working. You must use the Control key instead. To leave it as native, you need to use the UIManager. getSystemLookAndFeelClassName(). Arggh! would it have been that hard to make both keys work?

Learning More

Books

	recommend book⇒Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines (2nd Edition)
		paperback
	ISBN13:	978-0-201-72588-9
	ISBN10:	0-201-72588-6
	publisher:	Addison-Wesley
	published:	2001-03-19
	by:	Sun Microsystems
This book contains no code. It about how to design a good UI using Metal as an example. It contains Sun’s standards for how many pixels to use for various purposes.
abe books.co.uk abe books.ca amazon.co.uk amazon.ca abe books.de chapters.indigo.ca amazon.de abe books.com abe books.fr amazon.com amazon.fr barnes and noble.com abe books.it powells.com iberlibro.com abe books anz

	recommend book⇒Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics
		paperback
	ISBN13:	978-0-201-77582-2
	ISBN10:	0-201-77582-4
	publisher:	Addison-Wesley
	published:	2001-12-27
	by:	Sun Microsystems
It is about how to design a good UI using Metal as an example.
abe books.co.uk abe books.ca amazon.co.uk amazon.ca abe books.de chapters.indigo.ca amazon.de abe books.com abe books.fr amazon.com amazon.fr barnes and noble.com abe books.it powells.com iberlibro.com abe books anz

	recommend book⇒GUI Bloopers: Don’ts and Do’s for Software Developers and Web Designers
		paperback
	ISBN13:	978-1-55860-582-4
	ISBN10:	1-55860-582-7
	publisher:	Morgan Kaufmann
	published:	2000-03-17
	by:	Jeff Johnson
Works by analysing 82 examples of bad design.
abe books.co.uk abe books.ca amazon.co.uk amazon.ca abe books.de chapters.indigo.ca amazon.de abe books.com abe books.fr amazon.com amazon.fr barnes and noble.com abe books.it powells.com iberlibro.com abe books anz