Eclipse Cookbook

8.2. Creating an SWT Application

Problem

You want to create a new SWT application.

Solution

Import the SWT classes, create an SWT shell, and add the widgets you want to use to that shell. Then use the shell’s open method to display it.

Discussion

In this example, we’re going to create an SWT window and display text in it. To follow along, create a new Java Eclipse project named FirstSWTApp. Add a class, FirstSWTClass, in the org.cookbook.ch08 class. We’ll need to import the SWT classes:

package org.cookbook.ch08;

import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.*;
               import org.eclipse.swt.*;
        .
        .
        .

In the main method, you create a new SWT Display object, and you use that object to create a Shell object that corresponds to an SWT window. Here are some of the most popular Shell methods:

void addShellListener(ShellListener listener)

Adds the listener to the collection of listeners who will be notified when operations are performed on the shell

void close( )

Closes the shell

void dispose( )

Disposes of the operating system resources associated with the shell

Rectangle getClientArea( )

Returns the shell’s client area

boolean isDisposed( )

Returns true if the shell has been disposed, false otherwise

void open( )

Opens the shell on the screen

void setLocation(int x, int y)

Sets the shell’s location (measurements are in pixels)

void setText(String s)

Sets the shell’s titlebar text

void setSize(int width, int height)

Sets the shell’s size

We’ll customize the shell by setting its title and size using the setText