In this tutorial, I will be explaining how to change the default Metal theme for Swing applications. First of all, Look and feel aka LaF can help you change your GUI into something way better than the original one, Just Follow these steps and see how it works.
1-Create a simple GUI using a third-party application or a text editor, Here is the GUI we will be using.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Test extends JFrame {
public Test() {
initComponents();
}
private void initComponents() {
// JFormDesigner - Component initialization - DO NOT MODIFY //GEN-BEGIN:initComponents
menuBar1 = new JMenuBar();
menu1 = new JMenu();
menuItem5 = new JMenuItem();
menuItem4 = new JMenuItem();
checkBoxMenuItem1 = new JCheckBoxMenuItem();
menuItem3 = new JMenuItem();
menu2 = new JMenu();
menuItem6 = new JMenuItem();
tabbedPane1 = new JTabbedPane();
panel1 = new JPanel();
scrollPane1 = new JScrollPane();
textPane1 = new JTextPane();
button1 = new JButton();
button2 = new JButton();
button3 = new JButton();
scrollPane2 = new JScrollPane();
textArea1 = new JTextArea();
scrollPane3 = new JScrollPane();
tree1 = new JTree();
progressBar1 = new JProgressBar();
radioButton1 = new JRadioButton();
checkBox1 = new JCheckBox();
panel2 = new JPanel();
panel3 = new JPanel();
Container contentPane = getContentPane();
contentPane.setLayout(null);
{
{
menu1.setText("text");
menuItem5.setText("text");
menu1.add(menuItem5);
menuItem4.setText("text");
menu1.add(menuItem4);
menu1.addSeparator();
checkBoxMenuItem1.setText("text");
menu1.add(checkBoxMenuItem1);
menuItem3.setText("text");
menu1.add(menuItem3);
}
menuBar1.add(menu1);
{
menu2.setText("text");
menuItem6.setText("text");
menu2.add(menuItem6);
}
menuBar1.add(menu2);
}
setJMenuBar(menuBar1);
{
{
panel1.setLayout(null);
{
scrollPane1.setViewportView(textPane1);
}
panel1.add(scrollPane1);
scrollPane1.setBounds(15, 15, 665, scrollPane1.getPreferredSize().height);
button1.setText("text");
panel1.add(button1);
button1.setBounds(15, 45, 300, button1.getPreferredSize().height);
button2.setText("text");
panel1.add(button2);
button2.setBounds(325, 45, 140, 23);
button3.setText("text");
panel1.add(button3);
button3.setBounds(470, 45, 210, 23);
{
scrollPane2.setViewportView(textArea1);
}
panel1.add(scrollPane2);
scrollPane2.setBounds(15, 75, 665, 175);
{
scrollPane3.setViewportView(tree1);
}
panel1.add(scrollPane3);
scrollPane3.setBounds(15, 260, 140, 150);
progressBar1.setValue(40);
panel1.add(progressBar1);
progressBar1.setBounds(160, 260, 520, 20);
radioButton1.setText("text");
panel1.add(radioButton1);
radioButton1.setBounds(160, 290, 100, radioButton1.getPreferredSize().height);
checkBox1.setText("text");
panel1.add(checkBox1);
checkBox1.setBounds(265, 295, 165, checkBox1.getPreferredSize().height);
{
Dimension preferredSize = new Dimension();
for(int i = 0; i < panel1.getComponentCount(); i++) {
Rectangle bounds = panel1.getComponent(i).getBounds();
preferredSize.width = Math.max(bounds.x + bounds.width, preferredSize.width);
preferredSize.height = Math.max(bounds.y + bounds.height, preferredSize.height);
}
Insets insets = panel1.getInsets();
preferredSize.width += insets.right;
preferredSize.height += insets.bottom;
panel1.setMinimumSize(preferredSize);
panel1.setPreferredSize(preferredSize);
}
}
tabbedPane1.addTab("text", panel1);
{
panel2.setLayout(null);
{
Dimension preferredSize = new Dimension();
for(int i = 0; i < panel2.getComponentCount(); i++) {
Rectangle bounds = panel2.getComponent(i).getBounds();
preferredSize.width = Math.max(bounds.x + bounds.width, preferredSize.width);
preferredSize.height = Math.max(bounds.y + bounds.height, preferredSize.height);
}
Insets insets = panel2.getInsets();
preferredSize.width += insets.right;
preferredSize.height += insets.bottom;
panel2.setMinimumSize(preferredSize);
panel2.setPreferredSize(preferredSize);
}
}
tabbedPane1.addTab("text", panel2);
{
panel3.setLayout(null);
{
Dimension preferredSize = new Dimension();
for(int i = 0; i < panel3.getComponentCount(); i++) {
Rectangle bounds = panel3.getComponent(i).getBounds();
preferredSize.width = Math.max(bounds.x + bounds.width, preferredSize.width);
preferredSize.height = Math.max(bounds.y + bounds.height, preferredSize.height);
}
Insets insets = panel3.getInsets();
preferredSize.width += insets.right;
preferredSize.height += insets.bottom;
panel3.setMinimumSize(preferredSize);
panel3.setPreferredSize(preferredSize);
}
}
tabbedPane1.addTab("text", panel3);
}
contentPane.add(tabbedPane1);
tabbedPane1.setBounds(10, 10, 700, 450);
{
Dimension preferredSize = new Dimension();
for(int i = 0; i < contentPane.getComponentCount(); i++) {
Rectangle bounds = contentPane.getComponent(i).getBounds();
preferredSize.width = Math.max(bounds.x + bounds.width, preferredSize.width);
preferredSize.height = Math.max(bounds.y + bounds.height, preferredSize.height);
}
Insets insets = contentPane.getInsets();
preferredSize.width += insets.right;
preferredSize.height += insets.bottom;
contentPane.setMinimumSize(preferredSize);
contentPane.setPreferredSize(preferredSize);
}
pack();
setLocationRelativeTo(getOwner());
}
private JMenuBar menuBar1;
private JMenu menu1;
private JMenuItem menuItem5;
private JMenuItem menuItem4;
private JCheckBoxMenuItem checkBoxMenuItem1;
private JMenuItem menuItem3;
private JMenu menu2;
private JMenuItem menuItem6;
private JTabbedPane tabbedPane1;
private JPanel panel1;
private JScrollPane scrollPane1;
private JTextPane textPane1;
private JButton button1;
private JButton button2;
private JButton button3;
private JScrollPane scrollPane2;
private JTextArea textArea1;
private JScrollPane scrollPane3;
private JTree tree1;
private JProgressBar progressBar1;
private JRadioButton radioButton1;
private JCheckBox checkBox1;
private JPanel panel2;
private JPanel panel3;
public static void main(String args[]){
new Test().setVisible(true);
}
}
And here is how it looks like:
As you can see, our GUI is using the default look and feel which is 'Metal'. In the next step we will change the Look and feel theme to another one that is called "Nimbus" which is cross-platform and will work on any operating system the same way, And i think it's the best one available with jdk (There are some LaFs that isn't officially supported, I'll post them later). Ok the next step is using the UIManager to change our look and feel as follows:
try{
UIManager.setLookAndFeel("com.sun.java.swing.plaf.nimbus.NimbusLookAndFeel");
}
catch(Exception e){
System.out.println("Nimbus isn't available");
}
After editing the main for example to change the look and feel, it should look like that:
public static void main(String args[]){
try{
UIManager.setLookAndFeel("com.sun.java.swing.plaf.nimbus.NimbusLookAndFeel");
}
catch(Exception e){
System.out.println("Nimbus isn't available");
}
new Test().setVisible(true);
}And here is the same GUI after changing the LaF to 'Nimbus':
And here are some demo applications' screenshots for Nimbus:
If you don't like Nimbus, Here are some of the LaF's included in the latest jdk:
GTK+ [com.sun.java.swing.plaf.gtk.GTKLookAndFeel] [OS That supports GTK only]
Motif [com.sun.java.swing.plaf.motif.MotifLookAndFeel]
WindowsXp [com.sun.java.swing.plaf.windows.WindowsLookAndFeel] [Windows Only]
If you want to know more about LaF:
How to Set the Look and Feel (The Java™ Tutorials > Creating a GUI With JFC/Swing > Modifying the Look and Feel)
note: I'll be posting more cool LaF themes if and only if i find users that are interested about it.
Have fun
Edited by Deadlock, 13 April 2010 - 02:35 PM.
