Windows Programming Using Java

The topic mainly concerns those programmers or developers who wish to deal with Java programming language on Windows XP or Windows Vista.

This section will discuss Windows programming using Java and other detailed information related to the concept.

What is Windows Programming

Although the answer to this question always seems improper, Windows programming is the type of programming that commonly relates to performing programming on the Windows OS platform. Thus a Windows program is that program that gets executed on Windows. Windows Programming using Java relates to the Java programming on Graphical User Interface and provides a user-friendly environment for the user. A user finds to work with Java more friendly and in a great way. In simple words using and executing Java programs on Windows OS defines Windows programming.

Windows Programming with Java

Windows Programming with Java is the utilization of the CPU, its registers, and other hardware and software devices to use and execute the task. In Java, it has libraries that support the Windows OS.

Java Windows Programming Technique

Since the introduction of the Java programming language, there arose several Windows programming techniques, which are explained below:

• Using Java on Windows 32 API via Java Native Interface and C language.
• Using Windows command-line interface as well as accessing batch files via JRE, Process classes and ProcessBuilder.
• Java and Windows object-based scripting, centered around the use of VBScript, Windows Script Host (WSH), and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
• Interoperability of Java with COM that includes hosting of ActiveX controls in Swing containers using JacoZoom

In order to learn and execute Java codes on Windows, one should have clear concepts of Java and its implementation that would include OOPS concept understanding. For graphics programming, there are three sets of Java APIs.

Java APIs

Currently, there exist the following three sets of Java APIs for performing graphics programming:

1) Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT): The concept of such API came into existence in JDK 1.0, in which several AWT components become obsolete as well as should be replaced by newer Swing components.

2) Swing API: A more comprehensive set of graphics libraries that enhances the AWT. This API was introduced as part of Java Foundation Classes (JFC) after the release of JDK 1.1. After the introduction of JDK 1.1, Swing API came as a part of JFC (Java Foundation Classes). It consists of Java2D, Accessibility, Swings, Internationalization, and Pluggable Look-and-Feel Support APIs. From JDK 1.2, JFC has been integrated into core Java.

Note: The latest JavaFX, which was integrated into JDK 8, is meant to replace Swing.

It is interesting to perform Java programming on Windows if one has clear Java concepts. In the Java programming language, there are few things that need to be set in order to execute Java code:

• Internet Browser: Any web browser such as Google Chrome or Mozilla for downloading necessary Java code execution tools.
• Java Development Kit: A complete kit that contains JRE and JVM and provides an environment for executing Java code.
• Set path: Need to set the environment variable to get started with Java.

3) Tool/IDE for executing Java code: Need to have Notepad++, Eclipse, IntelliJ, or Netbeans IDEs that allow a user to write and execute programs.

For using Java on GUI, there are a number of GUI frameworks available. Let's discuss each of them in brief.

Java GUI Frameworks

Below are some of the best Java Graphical User Interface Frameworks that are in fame among Java developers too:

Java FX

It is the latest GUI framework that is used for making interactive and latest GUI applications for its users. It is an open-source and next-generation client application platform that supports Java applications which are desktop-based, mobile-based, and embedded systems. To build JavaFX applications, any of the following options can be used:

• Using JavaFX SDK
• Using maven or Gradle for downloading required modules from Maven Central.

AWT

An acronym for Abstract Window Toolkit is a foundation of JFC (Java Foundation Classes) and a standard API that provides GUI for the Java programs. AWT is the original and independent Java platform that is used for windowing, graphics, and user-interface widget toolkit. With this, AWT carries its native user interface components, graphics tools, robust event-handling model, layout manager, and many more.

To learn more about Java AWT, visit https://www.javatpoint.com/java-awt of Java tutorial.

Java Swings

It is also part of Java Foundation Classes and is used for the development of Window based applications that are built on top of AWT plus written in the Java programming language. It is a lightweight Java GUI toolkit with a strong set of widgets. When a beginner begins to learn Java, the concept of the Swing is one of the requirements. Although Java Swings is based on AWT, there are differences between them also like AWT components are platform-dependent on the other hand, Java Swings components are platform-independent.

To learn more about Java Swings, visit https://www.javatpoint.com/java-swing of Java tutorial.

SWT

It is an acronym for the Software Widget Tool is a graphic widget tool used with Java applications. Stephen Northover developed SWT at IBM, and at present, it is maintained by the Eclipse foundation. In order to display the GUI elements, SWT access the native GUI libraries of the OS via Java Native Interface (JNI). It is a free and open-source tool that is distributed by Eclipse under Eclipse Public Foundation. It is a widget toolkit that offers quality and portable access to the user interface.

Apache Pivot

An open-source platform is used to build rich web applications in Java programming language and was released under the Apache License 2.0. Within its architecture, its classes are divided into the following categories:

• Core classes: Core classes are those which enable the other category classes to function.
• WTK classes: The classes that provide user interface elements like buttons and lists, and these classes are built as per the MVC (model-view-controller) architecture.
• Web classes: The classes that enable communication with remote computers.
• Charts: the software engineer uses charts in order to build interactive charts.
• Tools: They are used for providing utility functionality.

SwingX

Based on Java Swings, which is an extension that is used by the swing team (known as folks) for creating rich components for technologies they are working upon. SwingX is a light weighted tool and highly customizable, which means SwingX is customized in a simple method.

Hibernate

A well-known Java framework that makes it easy for the Java applications to interact with the database. It is a complete Java object-relational mapping (ORM) and persistence framework that enable the developer the mapping plain old Java objects to relational database tables. The main objective of hibernate is data persistence that refers to the creation of the information and is used by the application ought to outlast its generator method. Hibernate maps the Java objects with the database tables efficiently and allows retrieval of the data via database queries. Therefore, hibernate saves much time and effort for the developers for their projects.

To know and learn more about Hibernate in Java, visit our https://www.javatpoint.com/hibernate-tutorial tutorial.

JHipster

It is also a popular Java framework that was released in the year 2013 that gave the concept of Spring Boot and then introduced Angular and React front-end frameworks. This framework gets combined with Angular, react as well as Bootstrap on the client-side in order to provide full-stack designs. After combining with several tools, it offers numerous choices for the consumer and server-side to build different DevOps.

All these Java frameworks are Windows supportable and can be used for Windows programming using Java. Apart from these discussed Java frameworks, there exist more frameworks also.