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Trail: Creating a GUI with JFC/Swing
Lesson: Using Swing Components
Using Swing Components
Using Top-Level Containers
The JComponent Class
Using Text Components
Text Component Features
The Text Component API
How to Use Various Components
How to Make Applets
How to Use Buttons, Check Boxes, and Radio Buttons
How to Use the ButtonGroup Component
How to Use Color Choosers
How to Use Combo Boxes
How to Make Dialogs
How to Use Editor Panes and Text Panes
How to Use File Choosers
How to Use Formatted Text Fields
How to Make Frames (Main Windows)
How to Use Internal Frames
How to Use Labels
How to Use Layered Panes
How to Use Lists
How to Use Menus
How to Use Panels
How to Use Password Fields
How to Use Progress Bars
How to Use Root Panes
How to Use Scroll Panes
How to Use Separators
How to Use Sliders
How to Use Spinners
How to Use Split Panes
How to Use Tabbed Panes
How to Use Tables
How to Use Text Areas
How to Use Text Fields
How to Use Tool Bars
How to Use Tool Tips
How to Use Trees
How to Use HTML in Swing Components
How to Use Models
How to Use Icons
How to Use Borders
Solving Common Component Problems
Home Page > Creating a GUI with JFC/Swing > Using Swing Components
How to Use Models

> Most Swing components have models. A button (`JButton`), for example, has a model (a `ButtonModel` object) that stores the button's state — what its keyboard mnemonic is, whether it's enabled, selected, or pressed, and so on. Some components have multiple models. A list (`JList`), for example, uses a `ListModel` to hold the list's contents, and a `ListSelectionModel` to track the list's current selection.

> You often don't need to know about the models that a component uses. For example, programs that use buttons usually deal directly with the `JButton` object, and don't deal at all with the `ButtonModel` object.

> Why then do models exist? The biggest reason is that they give you flexibility in determining how data is stored and retrieved. For example, if you're designing a spreadsheet application that displays data in a sparsely populated table, you can create your own table model that is optimized for such use.

> Models have other benefits, too. They mean that data isn't copied between a program's data structures and those of the Swing components. Also, models automatically propagate changes to all interested listeners, making it easy for the GUI to stay in sync with the data. For example, to add items to a list you can invoke methods on the list model. When the model's data changes, the model fires events to the `JList` and any other registered listeners, and the GUI is updated accordingly.

> Although Swing's model architecture is sometimes referred to as a Model-View-Controller (MVC) design, it really isn't. Swing components are generally implemented so that the view and controller are indivisible, implemented by a single UI object provided by the look and feel. The Swing model architecture is more accurately described as a separable model architecture. If you're interested in learning more about the Swing model architecture, see A Swing Architecture Overview, an article in The Swing Connection.

### An Example: Converter

> This section features an example called Converter, which is an application that continuously converts distance measurements between metric and U.S. units. You can run Converter ( download JDK 6). Or, to compile and run the example yourself, consult the example index.

> As the following picture shows, Converter features two sliders, each tied to a text field. The sliders and text fields all display the same data — a distance — but using two different units of measure.

> The important thing for this program is ensuring that only one model controls the value of the data. There are various ways to achieve this; we did it by deferring to the top slider's model. The bottom slider's model (an instance of a custom class called `FollowerRangeModel`) forwards all data queries to the top slider's model (an instance of a custom class called `ConverterRangeModel`). Each text field is kept in sync with its slider, and vice versa, by event handlers that listen for changes in value. Care is taken to ensure that the top slider's model has the final say about what distance is displayed.

> When we started implementing the custom slider models, we first looked at the API section of How to Use Sliders. It informed us that all slider data models must implement the `BoundedRangeModel` interface. The `BoundedRangeModel` API documentation tells us that the interface has an implementing class named `DefaultBoundedRangeModel`. The API documentation for `DefaultBoundedRangeModel` shows that it's a general-purpose implementation of `BoundedRangeModel`.

> We didn't use `DefaultBoundedRangeModel` directly because it stores data as integers, and Converter uses floating-point data. Thus, we implemented `ConverterRangeModel` as a subclass of `Object`. We then implemented `FollowerRangeModel` as a subclass of `ConverterRangeModel`.

### For Further Information

> To find out about the models for individual components, see the "How to" pages and API documentation for individual components. Here are some of our examples that use models directly:

> - All but the simplest of the table examples implement custom table data models.
> - The color chooser demos have change listeners on the color chooser's selection model so they can be notified when the user selects a new color. In ColorChooserDemo2, the `CrayonPanel` class directly uses the color selection model to set the current color.
> - The DynamicTreeDemo example sets the tree model (to an instance of `DefaultTreeModel`), interacts directly with it, and listens for changes to it.
> - ListDemo sets the list data model (to an instance of `DefaultListModel`) and interacts directly with it.
> - SharedModelDemo defines a `SharedDataModel` class that extends `DefaultListModel` and implements `TableModel`. A `JList` and `JTable` share an instance of `SharedDataModel`, providing different views of the model's data.
> - In the event listener examples, ListDataEventDemo creates and uses a `DefaultListModel` directly.
> - Our spinner examples create spinner models.
> - As you've already seen, the Converter example defines two custom slider models.

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