Java Swing - separation between GUI and coding?

Question

I've always worked with web application and that's what I like to do. For my OOP course my professor decided to "impose" me the use of Java. I've always used java to make console application so that's not a problem.

What is the problem? The problem is I've never developed a GUI for desktop application so I was looking for tutorials. I've found some very interesting tutorial but there is something that I can't find there.

Ok, let me explain. As a support framework to write my thesis I've used the Flex 3 version of PureMVC. Flex 3 has something really cool: you can separate your interface structure from your interface "coding". You write the structure in mxml which is an HTML-like language and you can even add style using a CSS-like language. When you add events, you write in a separate class (in AS3) the coding for that event.

Is there something similar for Swing? Or if not Swing is there for Java a GUI library that allows it?

EDIT: Thanks for your answers, I'm still evaluating your solutions.

Answer 1

You could try something like Swing JavaBuilder. It lets you define your GUI's components and layout in YAML, separating the layout definition from the "code" parts. Have a flick through the docs to see if it sounds like what you're looking for.

(Disclaimer: I've heard of this library and thought it sounds like a good idea, but haven't used it yet since I've always coded Swing "by hand").

Answer 2

There's nothing exactly like that for Swing that I know of. Java is code, not markup, so it's going to be different from your HTML/CSS/Flex experience.

Swing was conceived in the late 90s; it's unrealistic to expect it to conform with a 2010 notion of the way UIs are to be built.

You can have L&F that can be swapped out, but it's not like CSS.

The closest thing you'll find to Flex in the Java world is JavaFX. I don't think it's setting the world on fire. The adoption rate isn't what its creators would like.

I'd recommend sucking it up for this course and getting through it.