Use SWT for Data Entry

The Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) is the open source windowing toolkit that drives Eclipse. Written in Java with JNI (Java Native Interface) classes calling native windowing APIs, SWT lets you write native GUI applications using Java. Unlike Java AWT (Abstract Window Toolkit), it lacks the "peer" layer that prevents AWT from taking advantage of a full range of widgets. Unlike Java Swing, SWT does not perform all painting operations within its own library. For this reason, SWT looks like any native windowing application, and the performance is excellent. In this article, Gervase Gallant looks at a common use of window applications—to present rows and columns of database tables. The first data entry screen he presents is a simple data table that allows a user to view and select a row for editing. In the second screen, the author deals with the issue of updating multiple text and button fields bound to a single row of data.

To compile or run any SWT code, you must pass a Java property that locates the runtime libraries. On Windows, for example, you could install to C:\SWT and set this property like so: - Djava.libary.path=c:\SWT

However, you must ensure other native libraries in your application, like a database driver, are not using this property.

Of course, swt.jar needs to be in the Java classpath. You may also wish to include jface.jar from the Eclipse distribution to take advantage of the JFace library.

Client-side GUIs can be powerful and speedy by SWT For Data Entry.

http://www.dataentryindia.com

Category Posted: General