Jigloo SWT/Swing GUI
Builder for Eclipse and WebSphere
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).
IntroductionNote: 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.
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