Rating: 
Summary: Not much more than an API listing - look elsewhere
Review: I had really hoped this book would help me w/Swing. I even checked out the O'Reilly online pages; my favorite Java book (Exploring Java) is also an O'Reilly book. However, this book (all 1200 pgs) is largely a dump of the API with some comments and small examples. There are many things I've tried to look up in the clueless index in the back and thru pages and pages of the text - to no avail. I am now back to using the online tutorials on the Sun site...and waiting to find a *good* Swing book! Look elsewhere!!
Rating: 
Summary: Not quite what I had expected
Review: I bought this book expecting that the book would make a good tutorial covering all aspects of Java Swing. I found that it does not cover all aspects of Java Swing, not even including the GridBagLayout or BorderLayout Layout Managers. It does not show how JSplitPane can be used within a JSplitPane for a complex layout using JSplitPane as it has been in another book I read. The book is a boring read and does ignite the imagination of the reader to build advanced GUI's. I regret buying the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Dry Reading but Useful
Review: Swing is a complicated technology, and large- Javax.Swing.* packages number 16, by far the largest in Java. The book is structured more as a reference than as a teaching guide, and is extremely dry reading. Definitely not for novice Java programmers. However, it does a good job in detailing the properties of each class and interface, and describing the architecture of SWING. It took me several chapters to get the hang of the general layout before I could start seeing the forest instead of the trees. And the second time through the book, I had a fairly good understanding of the SWING class models and how they work: The use of MVC Model-View-Controller architecture, default models. The authors do a poor job in explaining some of the less commonly used classes and concepts such as ToolKit, KeyStroke, Look and Feel UI. Also the examples, although good and all worked, are insufficient- especially in the event/listener area. I gave the book 4 stars only because I could develop a GUI after reading it, starting from ground 0- so that's what counts.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as advertized
Review: The book as a whole is pleasant to read and covers wide enough range of topic. One huge glaring omission is the GridBagLayout (only mentions in passing while cover other less pwerful layout managers). What's up with that?Don't hope to get much on the section on creating a custom editor kit. The book makes no mention about how to actually create alternative document structures. The on-line chapter is no help on this matter either. I wish the book will explain how ElementSpec class is used.
Rating:
Summary: Mostly a rehash of the Javadoc
Review: I really enjoyed this book. The authors really cover all the areas of SWING - JAVA 1.4. If you are new to JAVA, you might to buy a JAVA primer. This book on SWING has a lot of code which is good for experienced developer. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn advanced features on SWING. I have a message for the experienced developer: the code of the book will challenge you - it challenged me!!! Michael
Rating:
Summary: Very useful and well written.
Review: "Java Swing" is an in-depth look at the features and components of Java's popular Swing API. The much-anticipated second edition of O'Reilly's classic brings the book up-to-date with the changes made in SDKs 1.3 and 1.4. Each Swing component is covered in detail, providing information on constructors, methods, and properties. There is of course a plethora of example code clearly demonstrating how to use the various components and features. While "Java Swing" is quite a hefty book, it does not cover the Java event model introduced in JDK 1.1, the AWT layout managers, or relevant AWT components such as Component that are subclassed by Swing components. Instead references are given to pdf files containing chapters of O'Reilly's out-of-print AWT book. While this may have been an acceptable omission for the first edition in 1998, where it might be assumed that developers had some experience with AWT, I do not feel this is a valid assumption today. If you can look past the book's omissions, or if you have a companion reference covering those features, "Java Swing" has much to offer and will serve as a treasured reference. If you are unfamiliar with AWT and looking to learn how to develop user interfaces in Java, you may wish to look elsewhere first.
Rating:
Summary: Java Swing
Review: Java Swing is the definitive reference for the Graphical User Interface (GUI) Swing package that has been included in the standard distribution of the Java SDK since Java 1.2. The book is really more of a tomb, weighing in at 1200 pages, and yet none of it seems irrelevant or overly explained. If anything, one would have to complain that maybe there are details missing, but given the length of the book as is, maybe it's better that some of the details were left out. Publishers O'Reilly have obviously assembled a group of talented Java GUI designers to write this book, because the commentary is rife with real advice and coherent, practical explanations. The book does take some assumed knowledge for granted, such as basic programming skills, knowledge of Object-Oriented programming practices, and UML-style class and object relationship graphs, but I wouldn't say that this book excludes the beginner programmer in the least. Instead, it walks the fine line of being a useful book for both beginner and expert coders quite well, better than other O'Reilly publications that I've read in the past that I felt were overly explanatory. The book starts off with a little history on the Swing package, where it came from and what its relationship to the Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT) is, but then almost immediately launches into the format that it uses for the next 900 pages of the book, which is to devote an entire chapter to every major section of swing. Topics covered include: buttons, scrollbar-like components, combo-boxes, containers of every shape and size, dialogs, borders, menus, tables, trees, undo facilities, text (about 220 pages on the major text components alone,) and drag and drop. Each of these sections serves as a useful reference for when you're developing your own GUI applications. The explanations are generally more details and much deeper than those offered in the Javadoc HTML pages provided with the SDK distribution. I've personally used the book on a couple of projects that I've been working on at work, and found that the background given has been incredibly useful, not just for solving problems but for generating ideas for how things could be better. The topic separation is such that you can usually just read the chapter that deals with what you are currently doing, and not have to jump around the book looking for better explanations of the same idea. There is very little overlap in this book, which I consider to be a good thing in a reference book. The final four chapters deal with advanced topics, and a genuinely insightful and useful. Now for the minor complaints: This book is truly focused on Swing, but sometimes I felt that the focus was just a little too narrow. Mainly my issues come from the authors deciding that AWT is a separate topic from Swing. Thus, any discussions of GUI programming elements that fall under the canvas of AWT are ignored. This is unfortunate, since real-life GUI applications have no choice but to use AWT elements. What's even more unfortunate is that Swing, being built on top of AWT, relies heavily on its architecture. JComponent, the root class of 95% of Swing component, is itself derived from Container and Component, the root classes of AWT. Browsing the O'Reilly catalogue, I failed to notice a book devoted to AWT, though I think it used to exist but has since been discontinued. This leaves me wondering where a GUI programmer should go to get the details needed to do the job. The most obvious omission in my eyes - apart from a discussion of Component and Container - is the failure to properly outline the common LayoutManagers available in Swing. Layout management is a crucial task for GUI programmers, and yet the only mention of them are the new LayoutManagers introduced by Swing. These new managers, however, by no means replace the old AWT managers that are the bread and butter of GUI programming. My other minor complaint is that the book is cumbersome. This makes it a chore to use, though I fully admit that this is a very minor problem. However, I would have preferred that the publishers ship the book as a two-book set and charged a bit more for it. Negatives aside, this book is a must-have for Java Swing programmers. The book isn't perfect, but I haven't come across a better reference for the topic.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Java Swing Resource
Review: The Java Swing 2nd Edition O'Reilly book is a very good resource for learning and using Java Swing. The book covers the important and commonly used aspects of Swing without getting bogged down into the minute details you would find in the technical API specifications. The examples from the book are available on O'Reilly's website and can be downloaded from their site in one file or accessed individually. There are also brief errata available online for those last minute errors that didn't make it into the book. The book is clear about what material is covered so there should be no surprises when the latest language constructs aren't discussed. This book is not written for learning the Java language, but if you have a decent grasp of how Java works this book will not be over your head in most places. The book is focused entirely on Swing and not AWT or the 2D API of the JFC. The writing is easy to follow and the examples are clear to understand. For those who are converting from AWT to Swing there is a chapter that explains the differences and shows how to convert a few objects into Swing components. The book is aimed at learning Swing without any previous knowledge of AWT.
I highly recommend this book for any developer that wants a good resource and teaching aid for learning and developing in Swing.
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