[visit link]

JDNC rocks and SwingX Rocks, and you can see samples above.
.V

There''s a new mailinglist over at Yahoo! Groups for Java Desktop Network Components (JDNC).

The charter reads as follows:

The Java Desktop Network Components (JDNC) Developers Group is a forum to ask questions or share tips and tricks about Sun''s Java Desktop Network Components project. You''re also more than welcome to announce your JDNC addon or JDNC powered application to the list.

If you''re interested in JDNC, you may wonna sign up and help the discussion get going.

More @ [visit link]

I was glad to see an article that talked about using Java as more than a server-side technology. Ultimately the Java community will need a response to the work that Microsoft is doing on Longhorn to deploy Rich Internet Applications. Smart client-side components that can handle their own input-validation, data-fetching and the like are an obvious and necessary part of that. JNDC delivered as applets would appear to fulfill that role. The fact that the same components can also be used in standalone applications deployed using WebStart validates the approach further.

However IMHO neither of these really fulfill the requirements of a RIA. WebStart applications live very clearly outside the browser, and JNDC applets are really just very useful building blocks that can be assembled into an application. I would like to see a role for Java as a language for developing the applications themselves, applications that can be easily deployed over the web, applications that interface to the user through the browser.

The fact that this approach does not recieve much attention is probably because it is unlikely to work with all the major browsers. However this is not sufficient reason to discount it; Microsoft have a strategy that will initially deliver an enhanced experience only to those prepared to upgrade to XAML-capable browsers. If Sun is serious about JDS, or just Linux-based desktops in general, then surely there is a significant enough community for whom having Java work closely with the browser is a viable approach to RIA.

Considering the specific case of Mozilla, I think it sad that I have seen virtually nothing from Sun about making Java a viable language for developing Mozilla applications (although maybe Sun contributes to the Blackwood and JREX projects behind the scenes?). RIA would appear to be one place where the Java and open-source communities could really come together and make a big difference.

Please don''t feed the troll (Gerald Bauer) who is a well known NUT with OCD and hates everything and anything Sun. Just let him vent and move on.

There's no need to wait until Sun and Amy Fowler unveils Java Desktop Network Components (JDNC). You can use free, open source alternatives today such as Vexi, Luxor, SwiXml and so on. See the Open XUL Alliance online @ [visit link] for more.

I think the JDNC is a great idea and I look forward to testing it out and providing feedback.

I have a request that has been echoed by others in the Java.NET forums: please make the _feel_ of these components more Windows-like or at least ensure it is easy to override the Java _feel_. Here''s an example of why this is important to me: I''m using Scott Violet''s (?) treetable3 in production in a limited MS Project-like timesheets application. When the CTO was testing my nice Java/JTreeTable and it didn''t select/edit like Excel would I received one of those condescending looks that says, "your software is crap". That hurts.
Maybe the Sun Swing _feel_ is smarter, better, more efficient, etc... but please consider mimicking the more familiar click/select/edit/drag&drop feel of Windows.
Thank you.

Amy makes an important point that for large APIs, javadocs are not easy to reference, and not easy to use as a learning reference. Something breaks down. There''s nothing wrong with a large API and I don''t think the solution is scaling down the API. The solution is a better reference. That was my goal when I built ashkelon.sourceforge.net. It is javadocs implemented as a web app on top of a relational database, which allows me to search javadocs, cross-reference javadocs. Furthermore, the color-coded, styled dhtml user interface makes for a clearer user interface that actually works for me.

when jndc will be out ?