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Rich User Interface Seminar
Added by Sven Beauprez, last edited by Stephan Janssen on Apr 15, 2005  (view change)


Most of us are used to work with Java on the server side and ignored or neglected Java at the client side. A lot happened in the last few years to make development for the client side in Java more appealing and to make the user interfaces more attractive.

The XUL frameworks play an important role to make the developer's and graphical designer's life a lot easier. XUL, which stands for XML User interface Language, was brought to everybody's attention in the late nineties when it was introduced with the Mozilla browser. Since then a lot of Java implementations of XML-based User interface Languages appeared, of which JellySwing, Thinlet, XUI and SwingML are the best known. To make life even easiers, some of the above frameworks even allow you to define the style in a seperate file, just as CSS does for HTML. There is only one bad thing about these frameworks, they are not interoperable, there is no universal accepted standard for XUL as there is for HTML or XHTML for example. You can not reuse the XML you wrote for one of the frameworks with another framework, they all define their own XML User interface Language.

The most heard complaint about client side applications in Java is that they are so ugly. This is one of the biggest misconceptions about Swing! The only problem is that it takes a lot of effort to make a good look and feel for Java applications. To make life easier, on javatoo.com you can find look and feels that you can easily incorporate in your own applications. Applications build with the look and feel of JGoodies or Skin Look And Feel look a lot better than when you use the standard look and feel!

Another approach is to build rich internet applications by taking advantage of the fact that a lot of people have the Flash plugin installed in their browser and that SWF can be dynamically generated on the server side by tools like OpenLaszlo or by using Flex. Both make use of XML based User interface Language, but here the XML is generated or written on the server side and compiled and send to the client to be executed by the Flash plugin in the browser.

Last but not least, there are new efforts like JDIC, which can be used to access native compontents (access to the browser, the tray, etc...) from within Java applications, and JDNC, which provides richer components, a higher level API and a XML User interface Language. These can greatly simplify development of Java desktop clients.

In this workshop, we will try to show the latest innovations in the above areas.

09:30 - 10:00 Registration
10:00 - 11:00 Thinlet - Koen Roevens
Click [here] for presentation.
11:00 - 12:00 OpenLaszlo - Jo Wyns and Koen Van der Auwera
12:00 - 12:45 Sandwich Lunch
12:45 - 13:45 Spring-RCP - Peter De Bruycker
13:45 - 14:45 XUI - Luan O'Carroll and Val Cassidy
14:45 - 15:00 Break
15:00 - 16:00 Eclipse RCP - Dirk Baeumer
Click [here] for presentation.
16:00 - 17:00 Skin Look And Feel - Frédéric Lavigne

RUI Seminar Pictures
(view as slideshow)
       
  Koen Roevens doing the Thinlets talk.   Sven doing the intro with his eyes closed.   150+ BeJUG attendees.
 
       
  Full house !   Presentation are (again) being recorded like at JavaPolis :)   Jo (Lazslo) Wyns in Action
 
       
  Koen (Lazslo) struggling with the microphone.... sorry ;)   How to get Rich with Spring RCP by Peter De Bruycker ;-)   Learning RUI by example
 
       
  Luan O'Carroll introducing the XUI framework.   A XUI application demo by Val Cassidy   Eclipse RCP BY Dirk Baeumer (IBM)
 
           
  Skin Look And Feel by Frederic Lavign (sorry for the resolution but my camera battery was empty :(        
 

ruiEclipseRCP (BeJUG)
ruiOpenLaszlo (BeJUG)
ruiSLAF (BeJUG)
ruiSpringRCP (BeJUG)
ruiThinlet (BeJUG)
ruiXUI (BeJUG)

Good idea,

some more pointers/stuff to talk about maybe:

(also: JGoodies has a lot more to offer then just the looks, the great forms-layout component surely deserves his own slot if you ask me)

any rough date estimation already?

Posted by Marc Portier at Jan 16, 2005 03:20 | Permalink

Spring-RCP is also on our list with potential topics/speakers . Never heard of GlazedLists though...

The event will probably take place in the beginning of March...

Posted by Sven Beauprez at Jan 16, 2005 05:16 | Permalink

Just for completion because too far away for being potential speakers

  • Isomorphic San Francisco
  • Nexaweb Massachusetts
    Seems to be a growing community of developers using Flash combined with Java in France. I have contacted them for a speaker.
Posted by Robin Mulkers at Jan 17, 2005 05:22 | Permalink

Not immediately something to do with Java, but a must have for a polished UI: icons!
Here are some links to great looking icons:

Posted by Sven Beauprez at Jan 17, 2005 07:17 | Permalink

In reply to a mail by Gerald Bauer:
When I was writing the overview, I've tried to be as complete as possible. But when you list some example products/frameworks/libraries, there is always one that you 'forget'. If you have some interesting links, feel free to add them as a comment! That is one of the big advantages of having a wiki .

Posted by Sven Beauprez at Feb 17, 2005 04:13 | Permalink

Anybody out there who has experience with WidgetServer (WiSer) ?
This is a Java/XML server-side GUI-framework which enables an application to run as either
- a monolithic application with a Swing GUI,
- a client/server application with a thin Swing client,
- or as an application with a rich Web client based on HTML and JavaScript

Posted by Stephan Janssen at Feb 20, 2005 06:40 | Permalink

Any plans for a talk about Eclipse RCP ? Looks very interesting.

Posted by . at Feb 23, 2005 09:07 | Permalink

Bram,

I've been trying to contact you the last few weeks, but all the mails I sent bounced . Can you mail me directly? (see my profile for my mail address)

Posted by Sven Beauprez at Feb 23, 2005 11:07 | Permalink

Sorry. when I have to leave my address on the net, I always use an alias email that I let expire after a few weeks, to avoid spam.

My real address is in your mail, or you can use the one in my profile, but that one will bounce in a couple of weeks

Posted by . at Feb 23, 2005 17:13 | Permalink

Don't forget IBM's recent entry into the Rich Client area, with SWT/JFace/Eclipse - based Workplace Client Technology.
With it's built-in relational database (Cloudscape), replication technology and EJB container, it could become the platform-independent desktop of the future!
You can find out more about it at:
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/wct-architecture/
and a redpaper at:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/RedbookAbstracts/redp3884.html?Open

Posted by Daniel Dumas at Feb 24, 2005 15:13 | Permalink

There is still place in this workshop and if we can find an experienced (belgian) developer who knows the inner workings of Eclipse RCP very well (preferably core developer/committer) then we would definitely consider a presentation about this! I already started searching and talked to Bram about this also, but haven't found a good speaker yet...

Posted by Sven Beauprez at Feb 25, 2005 16:10 | Permalink

I found it a worthwhile workshop. Especially the talks by Dirk Bäumer on Eclipse RCP, Frédéric Lavigne on L&F's, and the XUI guys from Ireland and the OpenLaszlo guys from Belgium.

Posted by anonymous at Mar 24, 2005 12:02 | Permalink

Nice to here you liked it! Speakers like to know if they are on the right track! Constructive criticism is also welcome of course, this enables the speakers (and BeJUG in general) to do an even better job in the future...

Posted by Sven Beauprez at Mar 24, 2005 17:04 | Permalink

It is 'nice to hear' of course

Posted by Sven Beauprez at Mar 24, 2005 17:19 | Permalink
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