commercial software
JFormDesigner
Vendor:
FormDev Software GmbH
Email:
Website:
http://www.formdev.com/idea/
Buy link:
http://www.formdev.com/buy/
License:
license url
Description:
Advanced Swing GUI designer.
Its outstanding support for JGoodies FormLayout, GroupLayout (Free Design), TableLayout
and GridBagLayout makes it easy to create professional looking forms.
Key features
- GroupLayout (Free Design) support
GroupLayout support brings
the "Free Design" paradigm to IntelliJ IDEA (as in NetBeans GUI
Builder; formerly Project Matisse). You can lay out your forms by
simply placing components where you want them. Visual guidelines
suggest optimal spacing, alignment and resizing of components. This
makes it easy to design professional-looking GUIs.
- JGoodies FormLayout and TableLayout support
These open-source layout managers allow you to design high quality forms.
- Advanced GridBagLayout support
The advanced GridBagLayout support allows the specification of horizontal
and vertical gaps (as in TableLayout).
- Column and row headers
The column and row headers (for grid-based layout managers) show
the structure of the layout and allow you to insert or delete
columns/rows and change column/row properties.
It's also possible to drag and drop columns/rows
(incl. contained components and gaps).
- IDE plug-ins and stand-alone application
JFormDesigner is available as IDE plug-ins for IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse
and JBuilder and as stand-alone application.
- Localization support
Localizing forms using
properties files has never been easier. Specify a resource bundle name
and a prefix for keys when creating a new form and
then forget about it. JFormDesigner automatically puts all strings into
the specified resource bundle (auto-externalizing).
- Java code generator or runtime library
Either let JFormDesigner generate Java source code for your forms
(the default) or use the open-source (BSD license) runtime library to
load JFormDesigner XML files at runtime. Your choice.
- Generation of nested classes
The Java code generator is able to generate and update nested
classes. You can specify a class name for each component in your
form. This allows you to organize your source code in an
object-oriented way.
Downloads: 30809
Rating:
Participated in rating: 50
| 4.0.8. |
50.4155. |
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Download
|
6939.58. |
2010-05-21 00:26:43 |
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| 4.0.7.2. |
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Download
|
6879.36. |
2009-10-28 11:35:47 |
. |
| 4.0.6. |
40.3436. |
85.9999. |
Download
|
6868.07. |
2009-06-15 20:04:16 |
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| . |
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Recent change notes:
Comments:
If this had been around 10 years ago Java on the desktop might be a very different story. Even so it's here now.
I've heard Matisse is pretty good too, but last time I tried Matisse it wasn't even close to how easy, clean and seemingly bullet proof this is.
1) Doesn't support refactorings(not even basic ones such renaming) which creates a mess with .java files and .jfd files. This is actually a major stopper for us buying the plugin. Maybe that is what Two-way code generation is about in the Roadmap notes???
The 2 files should definitely be in sync.
2) I think that the View/Model(Design/Code) windows should be one just like in Matisse in order to avoid confusion. Other than that and the comment above it beats Matisse hands down, especially with the Code Generator Templates feature.
3) Maybe a forum and/or wiki should exists in the company's web site in order to express such comments and/or find/request answers to common questions other than reading the manual or sending a corporate e-mail.
4) Maybe provide a bit more details in the roadmap. e.g what do you mean by form templates? I think that since you also have a runtime the designer could be used for creating printable views of complex UIs(which contain JSCrollPanes, JTabbed Panes, etc) which can be printed using a Swing printing library such as J2PrinterWorks. Also they could be easily customised by customer and the .xml files loaded at runtime(No recompilation needed). Would that be possible?
Overall, it seems to be one of the best plugins I've used in IDEA(and I've used a lot) and would be the best GUI Builder if it didn't lack refactoring support
e.g. if I rename class in IDEA and there are strings in dictionary referenced via classname, then IDEA can't find it in *.jfd files
there is no such problem with Netbeans forms
Support is also excelent. I had a problem which was caused by an IntelliJ EAP buid but it was resolved immediately.
Your reproach is wrong. I guarantee you that none of these comments and ratings were made by me, our company or our partners. Anyhow, I wonder what your motivation was to blame us with words like "desperate" or "pathetic". And why post as anonymous and not sign your comment?
Karl Tauber
FormDev Software GmbH
BEAT MATISSE!!!!
this is war....
There also seems to be no open source license (for free) for open source projects like many other projects do (IntelliJ, JIRA, Confluence, etc.).
From a functionality point of view - I love it.