Netbeans GUI Builder

Question

I have a rather large application. I have used the Netbeans GUI builder for most of the GUI work. Now that the project is starting to get large, I was wondering if this was advisable. Is it best to create the GUI's by hand so that I can have greater control over them? Is it advisable to stay away from the GUI builder or stick with it. Could you share some of your experience?

Thanks

EDIT:

See this is why I asked this question. It seems like different people all have their opions. Mine personally is that it works nice for small projects, but when things start to get complex, the GUI editor can be a hassle to use.

Answer 1

Absolutely, doing it by hand it preferred. The GUI Builder is handy for prototypes and quick throwaway code. Anything that is going to be maintained, customized or complex will be much less of a headache long-term if you do it by hand.

Answer 2

I like the Swing GUI builder and I do use it in a large project.

Really simple dialogs I just code "by hand".

When changing/creating more complex ones I prefer the GUI builder because I can immediately see how the form/dialog will look like.

Once you get the hang of the GUI builder I don't feel I have less control over it than when coding by hand.