Swing XML Authoring Tool 0.5.5 review

Swing XML Authoring Tool is a Swing-based authoring tool for the quick and easy development of GUI Java applications. It implement

License: The Apache License 2.0 File size: 0K Developer: SwixAT.org

0

Swing XML Authoring Tool is a Swing-based authoring tool for the quick and easy development of GUI Java applications.

It implements out-of-box a true MVC framework and uses XML to define the view (SwiXml is used as the XUL engine), BeanShell as a scripting language for the controller, and JXPath as the binding mechanism between the view and model.

Swing XML Authoring Tool provides a complete environment in which it is possible to almost write an entire Java Swing application without writing Java compiled code. The use of XPath makes it very simple to traverse the object tree of the application's business model.

It takes a lot of work to develop a Swing application, laying out and configuring GUI components, and then integrating them with the application functionality. SwiXAT addresses both of these issues by providing a framework based on a complete implementation of the MVC architectural pattern.

The benefits obtained by a such framework are the followings:

Architectural Correctness: By adopting a true MVC (Model View Controller) based framework, it is very easy to correctly implement any UI application. It's not difficult to write a Java/Swing application, but what's very difficult is to build a good, well designed Swing application, where the adoption of the MVC paradigm permits to reduce the maintenance costs, thanks to the clean separation between the view and the application logic.
Development Speed: The adoption of a framework reduces the development cost by providing out-of-box, well integrated and easy to use common features, like wizards, plugins, support for MDI interfaces, etc. Moreover, the use of XML to define the user interface, as well as the adoption of an interpreted scripting language, permits to implement the 'Code&Test' development style, where the compilation time is reduced to zero.
Code Reuse: The net separation between the view and the control logic permits to write reusable modules that can be combined in several manners. The developer is naturally induced to modularize the application and write reusable code, minimizing the effort of building new applications or adding new functionality to existing ones.
SwiXAT is all the above, and we hope you'll appreciate our effort.

Requirements:
BeanShell
Groovy

What's New in This Release:
This version adds improved support for JTable and JCheckBox components.
Support for docking panels has been added by integrating the FlexDock framework.
Support for Popup Menus was added.
The possibility to The Model can now be updated directly from the XML view by using simple XPath expressions.
The user's guide (about 90 pages of documentation and examples) has been updated with the documentation about the new features.