Jigloo SWT/Swing GUI Builder for Eclipse and WebSphere

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Current version: 3.1.2
released Mar 18th 2005 (ViewPart support; JGoodies FormLayout support; Custom layout support; more event-handling options; improved code-parsing; round-trip code generation; visual inheritance; fast navigation between code and form editor; highly-customizable code parsing and code generation; many bugs fixed; many new features).

Introduction

Note: Jigloo is free for non-commercial use, but purchase of a Professional License is required for commercial use (after successfully evaluating Jigloo).

CloudGarden's Jigloo GUI Builder is a plugin for the Eclipse Java IDE and WebSphere Studio, which allows you to build and manage both Swing and SWT GUI classes.

Jigloo creates and manages code for all the parts of Swing or SWT GUIs as well as code to handle events, and shows you the GUIs as they are being built. Jigloo parses java class files to construct the form that you use when designing your GUI (round-tripping), so it can work on classes that were generated by other GUI builders or IDEs, or hand-coded classes. It can also convert from a Swing GUI to a SWT GUI and vice-versa.

Jigloo is straightforward, fast, powerful, easy to use and fully integrated with Eclipse. It can lead to substantial time-savings for GUI development and maintainance tasks.

Jigloo is highly-customizable: the parts of your code which Jigloo will parse can be restricted, and the classes which are instantiated when Jigloo parses your code and constructs the Form editor can be specified using patterns. The code generated by Jigloo can also be customized, and existing code can be re-arranged to follow the preferred style (eg, using getters for GUI elements, or separating elements by blank lines, braces or tagged comments).

Custom classes can be added to forms, and JavaBeans with Customizers and custom properties are supported. In addition, Jigloo supports visual inheritance - it can design classes which extend other custom classes, which may be public, abstract or non-public. Navigation between code and form editors is very easy - with Jigloo highlighting the relevant section of code when the form editor has focus, or the relevant form element when the code editor has focus.

Components are added, layouts changed etc, by selecting from a palette, or by options in the right-click context menus. They can be resized and dragged about in the form editor and in the outline view, and their properties, layout constraints and event handlers can be changed easily in a properties editor. Multi-selection of components makes widespread changes easy to perform. Class-changing (eg, from a Composite to a Group, a combo-box to a text field, or to any custom class) can also save design time. The GUI can be "previewed" or run using editor actions.

A basic knowledge of the Swing and SWT components is useful, but not essential - and the javadoc can be easily accessed (by a right-click option) directly from the GUI editor.


What's in a name?
1) Jigloo = Jig + gloo - because a jig is used to hold pieces together while being assembled - with glue, or
2) Jigloo = J + igloo - because if you can't think of anything better, then start your Java project with a J, and an igloo is a cool building.


Features and Requirements

Eclipse: 2.1.*, 3.0, 3.01, 3.1M1 - M5a
Java: 1.3, 1.4 or 5.0
Platforms:

Windows, Linux (gtk) and Mac OSX. (On a Mac, only SWT GUIs can be built). It has not been tested on other platforms, but may perform successfully on them

The Jigloo GUI builder offers the following features:

Basic:


Code Handling:
Layout:
Advanced:
 
Screenshot

Below is a screenshot of Jigloo (click on it for the full-sized image in a new window), being used (in a Windows platform). In the GUI editor, the "FlowerShop" example is being edited in a maximized Jigloo editor - a JLabel inherited from FlowerShop's superclass (ShopFrame) is highlighted with a black-and-blue border (the blue parts can be grabbed with the mouse to drag the component), and it's properties, layout, layout constraints and event handlers are shown ready for editing in the "GUI Properties" editor. The Java source code is shown below the form editor (the source code can also be aligned to the right of the form editor, or can be in a separate tab inside the editor). The tree view of the whole form is shown in the "Outline" view on the right-hand side.




Download
/Update and Installation

LICENSE TERMS:

By downloading, installing and using Jigloo you are agreeing to the following license terms:
  • Jigloo SWT/Swing GUI Builder is free for NON-COMMERCIAL use only.
  • "Commercial use" is defined as use by an employee of a  business, corporation or institute (including academic institutes) to carry out the work for which they are employed. (Note: students of academic institutes are NOT defined as commercial users, unless they are being employed by their institute to carry out work which requires Jigloo).
  • If Jigloo is used (after a successful evaluation period) for the work of any business, corporation or institute, a Professional License must be purchased for each employee using Jigloo.
  • The code must not be disassembled or reverse engineered, or copied in any way.
  • This software is provided AS IS and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed.
Notes about licensing:

o If you are using Jigloo at work, and your boss does not know you need a license (or what a great deal Jigloo is) please let them know! Today.

o If you are the boss, and think Jigloo is too cheap to be any good, please let us know and we'll raise the price ;-)

o Supporting Jigloo (under the terms of the license) will lead to more improvements, faster - thank you.

Note: If you are using Jigloo with Java 1.3, or on a Mac with Eclipse 2.1, or inside WebSphere, after downloading Jigloo you will also need the
xml.jar
file (see below), which you will need to place inside the plugins/com.cloudgarden.jigloo_n.n.n folder.


Installation with Eclipse's Update Manager

You can use the Update Manager in Eclipse to download Jigloo - just open it (under "Help->Software Updates") and create a new Site Bookmark for:  http://cloudgarden.soft-gems.net/update-site/  The installation is managed for you with the Update Manager


Manual Installation

IMPORTANT: If you have installed any of the 3.1.0 pre-release, make sure you start Eclipse using the command "eclipse -clean -vmargs -Xmx300m" so that the Jigloo plugin spec is re-loaded. You only need to do this once, then you can go back to your usual way of starting Eclipse. Alternatively you can remove the eclipse/configuration file.

If you wish to do a manual install, you can download and extract Jigloo from a zip file:

Jigloo plugin for Eclipse (using Java 1.4 or 5.0)
jigloo312.zip (1.9 MB) **
Older version (uses .form files, doesn't parse java code)
jigloo272.zip (1.0 MB)
Extra file for running under Java 1.3 (for Webshpere or Mac OSX and Eclipse 2.1) - place inside the com.cloudgarden.jigloo_n.n.n folder
xml.jar (1.2 MB) **

Then, shut down eclipse, extract the jiglooNNN.zip file into your eclipse installation folder - the "com.cloudgarden.jigloo_n.n.n" folder should end up inside the "plugins" directory. If upgrading from a previous release, you will need to delete that folder (eg, delete "com.cloudgarden.jigloo_1.0.0" if upgrading from version 1.0.0), so that there is only one com.cloudgarden.jigloo_n.n.n plugin folder. Then start Eclipse as usual.


Note: ** Alternate download locations:
If the above download links do not work, try these links:
xml.jar
jigloo312.zip


Examples

You can create examples using Eclipse's "New" wizard - in Eclipse, choose "File->New->Other" and under "GUI Forms" you will see an "Examples" section.


Documentation

It is recommended you look at the "Quick Start" section in the Jigloo documentation before using Jigloo in earnest. Also, please read the FAQs, which address some common questions/problems. The
"Jigloo GUI Builder User's Guide" is contained in the Jigloo plugin - after you install Jigloo, open up the "Help->Help Contents" menu and go to the entry for "Jigloo GUI Builder Guide".

If you will be running SWT applications inside Eclipse, it is important that you read the "Preparing your project to use the SWT classes" part of the "Getting Started" section of the "Jigloo GUI Builder Guide".


Purchasing a Professional license for Jigloo versions 2 & 3

The Professional License for Jigloo versions 2 & 3 costs $75 USD for a single-user license. A single license allows one developer, or employee of a company or institution, to use Jigloo as part of their work. It is valid for all bug-fix and minor releases of Jigloo versions 2 and 3 (eg, version 2.7.2, 3.0.1, 3.1.0 etc, but not 4.0.0).

For volume purchases, purchases by bank transfer, invoices or other questions, please contact jigloo@cloudgarden.com

You may purchase Professional Licenses using your credit card via the PayPal site.


Note for Non-US users: You can still use PayPal, but you need to open a PayPal account to do so. To open an account, you can go to the following page on the PayPal site: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_international-register and then come back to this page to purchase a license.

If you do not wish to use PayPal, you may mail a check (preferrably in US dollars) payable to "Jonathan Kinnersley" to:

Jonathan Kinnersley
938 19th Ave,
Seattle WA
98122 USA


Reporting Bugs and Requesting Features

If you have problems with Eclipse 3 not recognizing Jigloo, move or delete the eclipse/configuration folder and restart Eclipse, or try the "-clean" startup parameter for Eclipse. Also, please read the FAQs, which address some common questions/problems.

To report bugs or request new features, please use the "Jigloo" section of the Cloudgarden Discussion Forums. Before reporting a bug or problem, please search the forums to see if it has been reported already.