Java GUI Swing Model Explanation

Question

I've been working with Swing for a while now but the whole model/structure of JFrames, paint(), super, etc is all murky in my mind. I need a clear explanation or link that will explain how the whole GUI system is organized.

Answer 1

The same happened to me. Actually to this day I don't quite get 100% how all it works.

Swing is a very flexible framework - perhaps too flexible. With flexibility comes a lot of abstraction and with abstraction comes confusion. :)

I've found the following articles worth reading. They helped me to better understand the big picture of Swing.

• A Swing Architecture Overview

• The process of installing a UI delegate, which is just this image:

  

They explain quite well how the model and the delegate work. It always drives me mad when I see those JLabel, LabelUI, ui.update, etc.

Answer 2

Have you looked at the Java Swing Tutorial (click here)? It does a pretty good job of covering the basics of developing Swing applications.