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General Rules for Using Swing Components

This section has general information on what Swing components have in common. It tells you about features that the JComponent class provides to most Swing components, including code on how to use these features. One day, it might also tell you how the code in programs that use Swing components differs from that in programs using heavyweight components.

What the JComponent Class Provides

Most Swing components are implemented as subclasses of the JComponent(in the API reference documentation) class, which inherits from the Component class. [somewhere, link to ui trail's discussion of Component] From JComponent, Swing components inherit the following functionality:
Tool tips.
By specifying a [non-null?] string with the setToolTip method, you can provide help to users of a component. When the cursor pauses over the component, the specified string will be displayed in a small window that appears near the component. See How to Use Tool Tips for more information.

Keyboard-generated actions.
Using the registerKeyboardAction method, you can enable the user to use the keyboard, instead of the mouse, to indicate that the component's action should occur.
Note: Some classes provide convenience methods for keyboard actions. For example, AbstractButton provides setKeyAccelerator, which lets you specify the character that, in combination with a look-and-feel-specific modifier key, causes the button's action to be performed. See How to Use Buttons for an example of using key accelerators in buttons.
The combination of character and modifier keys that the user must press to start an action is represented by a JKeyStroke object. The resulting action event is handled by a JAction object. Each keyboard action works under exactly one of two conditions: either when the actual component has the focus or when any component in its containing window has the focus.

Support for scrolling.
With the computeVisibleRect and getVisibleRect methods, you can determine what part of a component might be visible onscreen. This is especially handy for improving the performance of scrolling. [CHECK] The scrollRectToVisible method sends a message to the JComponent's parent, requesting that it display the specified area. With the setAutoscrolls method, you can specify that a component should automatically scroll when dragged, if its container is one (such as JViewport) that supports scrolling.

Properties.
With the putProperty method, you can associate one or more properties (name/object pairs) with any JComponent. For example, a layout manager might use properties to associate a constraints object with each JComponent it manages. You get properties using the getProperty method.

Application-wide pluggable look and feel.
Each Java runtime has a UIFactory object that determines the look and feel of that runtime's Swing components. Subject to security restrictions, you can choose the look and feel used by all Swing components by invoking the UIManager.setUIFactory method. Behind the scenes, each JComponent object has a corresponding ComponentUI object (created by the UIFactory) that performs all the drawing, event handling, size determination, and so on for that JComponent.

Note: If you want to change the look and feel of an individual Swing component, rather than the whole set of Swing components, you should reimplement the individual component [point to doc]. To learn about implementing a look-and-feel package, [wait for doc!].

Support for layout.
With methods such as setPreferredSize, setMinimumSize, setMaximumSize, setAlignmentX, setAlignmentY, and setInsets, you can specify layout constraints without having to write your own component.

Considerations for Using Lightweight Components

[repaint/validate considerations?]

To avoid "flashing" when lightweight components are redrawn, you need to put lightweight components in double-buffered containers. The Swing release includes two classes that you can use together to get double buffering: JPanel and JFrame. The JPanel class provides double-buffered lightweight containers. The JFrame subclass of Frame simply implements a simple drawing fix that lets JPanel work. For more information about flashing, look at Eliminating Flashing(in the Creating a User Interface trail).

[Go into how lw components differ from hw components, wrt paint and update?]

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