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Getting java applications to look native on windows - how?

Answer 1

A:

Yes, Java does have a Windows-native look and feel available on Windows. Look up how to change your look-and-feel and that should take you in the right direction.

Michael E 2009-10-19 20:20:13

Answer 2

+12 A:

try {
    // Set the Look and Feel of the application to the operating
    // system's look and feel.
    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
}
catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
}
catch (InstantiationException e) {
}
catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
}
catch (UnsupportedLookAndFeelException e) {
}

That should set the Look and Feel to the system look and feel. You would do this before any of your GUI code. For example, in your main method.

If you want to learn more about Look and Feels, I would check out the Java Tutorial on them, as suggested by carwash.

Thomas Owens 2009-10-19 20:20:17

Implied in this answer is *use Swing for controls*. This is the conventional Java wisdom and the official Sun package, and no one can be blamed for advising it. However, you will not get native controls and the faked-up ones will not fool anyone. Sun should have accepted SWT when Eclipse offered it to them for free. As it is, Sun only offers widgets (Swing and AWT) that are not suited for desktop client apps, and as a result they have almost none and seem to have kind of dropped Swing other than keeping it limping along.

DigitalRoss 2009-10-20 04:01:09

I use Swing and I'm "fooled by the faked-up" controls. Explain how Swing does not look and act like Windows if you use this code.

Thomas Owens 2009-10-20 10:54:22

It sucks on Macs, quite badly, in fact.

AlBlue 2009-10-21 10:56:41

@Thomas Owens, OK, how about the file chooser on windows. It looks different, does keyboard focus different, doesn't create directories the same way, doesn't cd to a created directory, selects the file when I type return rather than entering the selected directory, does selection differently, doesn't respect system font configuration, and doesn't follow the system icon convention.

DigitalRoss 2009-10-25 16:26:05

DigitalRoss: I don't see a difference between the two, when you use the system look and feel.

Thomas Owens 2009-10-25 16:59:20

Answer 3

A:

You'd do something like:

UIManager.setLookAndFeel("com.sun.java.swing.plaf.windows.WindowsLookAndFeel");

(Which of course works only on Windows.) The result looks and feels reasonably native. More info e.g. here.

Jonik 2009-10-19 20:20:46

This would only work on Windows. If you were on a different system, an `UnsupportedLookAndFeelException` would be thrown.

Thomas Owens 2009-10-19 20:22:21

Note that OP said "I only plan to target windows users". And yeah, I did omit the try-catch to focus on the main point. (It's a checked exception so compiler would remind anyone who forgot it from real code :)

Jonik 2009-10-19 20:29:58

Answer 4

+4 A:

See here: Java™ Tutorials: How to Set the Look and Feel

try {
    // Set System L&F
    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} 
catch (UnsupportedLookAndFeelException e) {
   // handle exception
}

carwash 2009-10-19 20:20:59

Answer 5

+2 A:

You have to use Windows look and feel.

You can specify it at the command line:

java -Dswing.defaultlaf=com.sun.java.swing.plaf.windows.WindowsLookAndFeel MyApp

Or in code

UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());

Here are the details: How to set the look and feel

OscarRyz 2009-10-19 20:21:03

Answer 6

A:

Your should use native Look&Feel

St.Shadow 2009-10-19 20:21:06

Answer 7

+7 A:

Everyone else has posted Swing things, so I'm going to play Devil's advocate and mention SWT.

SWT is a widget toolkit produced by the Eclipse foundation. It is a thin wrapper over the system's native GUI... for Windows, OSX, and various flavors of *nix (Linux, AIX, BSDs?, etc...).

This is the opposite route that Sun's JFC/Swing took, which draws its own components.

R. Bemrose 2009-10-19 20:25:33

I'm curious as to what the advantage of using SWT over Swing is, outside of Eclipse RCP development. I believe most OSes are covered by UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName(), so why would I want to bring in an external library for this purpose?

Thomas Owens 2009-10-19 20:27:58

I haven't done a lot of desktop app development, but the major advantage is that it uses the OS's native rendering library rather than drawing its own components like Swing does.

R. Bemrose 2009-10-19 20:29:40

Good high level SWT vs Swing here: http://www.developer.com/java/other/article.php/10936_2179061_2/Swing-and-SWT-A-Tale-of-Two-Java-GUI-Libraries.htm

Smalltown2000 2009-10-19 20:37:02

Well, why would anyone want Swing? It comes with all the bugs particular to Swing, and none of the advantages specific to each OS. When you use SWT, you make optimal use of the OS GUI facilities, and your applications don't "look" like they belong in the OS. They _belong_ in the OS.

Daniel 2009-10-19 21:18:57

Hmm, let's see. I could use Swing, which entirely tries to fake up a native-appearing widget, but never works exactly right and sometimes doesn't even work close to right. It usually looks like the last release of the native OS, except when it looks like two releases past. OR, I could use SWT, which would, what-an-amazing-idea, ACTUALLY CALL THE NATIVE WIDGET, which is faster, more reliable, what the user is expecting, and always looks exactly like the running OS release, because it IS the running OS release.

DigitalRoss 2009-10-20 03:43:04

Answer 8

+1 A:

It's strange no one has mentioned JGoodies yet.

The JGoodies Windows look&feel focuses on a precise emulation on Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000 in the following areas: menus, icons, colors, borders, fonts, font sizes, insets, and widget dimensions. It honors the screen resolution (96dpi vs. 120 dpi) to adjust sizes, insets, and widget dimensions. (Source)

antispam 2009-10-21 09:20:43

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Getting java applications to look native on windows - how?

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