Previous | Next | Trail Map | Creating a User Interface | Table of Contents


Overview of UI Elements

This lesson gives an overview of what the Java environment provides to help you create a user interface (UI). The information in this lesson is applicable to both applets and applications. For addition information on applet UI resources, see the [not-yet-written applet UI page, which will cover attributes and sound].

Graphical UI Components

Applets and applications commonly present information to the user (and invite the user's interaction) using graphical UI components. We provide many standard graphical UI components such as buttons, lists, menus, and text areas. We also provide containers (such as windows and menu bars) and higher-level components (such as a dialog for opening or saving files).

Sound

All our sound-playing capabilities are either platform-dependent or applet-specific. [point to further info]

Properties

For information that applets and applications need to save even when they're not running, you can use properties. [point to further info]

Standard Input and Output

Standard input and output are the old-fashioned way of presenting a user interface. They're still useful for testing and debugging applications, as well as for functionality that's not aimed at the typical end-user. See Input and Output Streams for information on using standard input and output.


Previous | Next | Trail Map | Creating a User Interface | Table of Contents