Java Cookbook

Changing a Swing Program’s Look and Feel

Problem

You want to change the look and feel of an application.

Solution

Use the static UIManager.setLookAndFeel( ) method. Maybe.

Discussion

If you wish to specify the entire look and feel for a program, set it with the static UIManager.setLookAndFeel( ) method; the name you pass in must be the full name (as a string) of a class that implements a Java look and feel. The details of writing a look and feel class are beyond this book; refer to the book Java Swing or the Sun documentation. But using these classes is easy. For example:

UIManager.setLookAndFeel("javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalLookAndFeel");

This must appear before you create the GUI of the program, and can throw an exception if the class name is invalid.

People sometimes like to show off the fact that you can change the look and feel on the fly. You call setLookAndFeel( ) as previously, and then call the static SwingUtilities.updateComponentTree( ) for your JFrame and all detached trees, such as dialog classes. But before you rush out to do it, please be advised that the official Sun position is that you shouldn’t! The official Java Look and Feel Design Guideline book says, on page 23 (first edition):

Because there is far more to the design of an application than the look and feel of components, it is unwise to give end users the ability to swap look and feel while [running] your application. Switching look and feel designs in this way only swaps the look and feel designs from one ...