Question

I’m new to Java Swing applications and I’d like to port an old WindowsForm from C# to Java.
Now I’m wondering how can I obtain a desktop application that can be deployed to several platforms?
How can I create an installation package, for example, for Windows, Ubuntu and Mac OS?
How can I create a Desktop link to execute my application?
So, how can I obtain something similar to a WindowsForm in Java?

Answer 1

If you are new to Java, I’d suggest going through the Java tutorials. They are pretty good, and once you’ve mastered the basics you can do Creating a GUI with Swing.

Your life will probably be easier if you use an IDE with good GUI-building capabilities (similar to Visual Studio assuming that is where you are coming from). I’d recommend either Eclipse (the latest version has a decent GUI builder) or Netbeans.

The good news is that writing a cross-platform Swing GUI is fairly simple. A minimal “Hello World” Swing app is something like this:

package testswing;

import javax.swing.JFrame;

public class Basic {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        JFrame f=new JFrame("Hello World");
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.setVisible(true);
    }
}

You have a few options available for deployment:

• Package your application using Java Web Start. This is fully cross-platform and allows for single-click deployment over the web.
• Package everything into a runnable .jar file. Simple and effective, although it requires Java to be installed on the users computer and the correct file associations to be set up so that .jar is associated with the appropriate JRE.
• Create native application installers. See SO question: Java Application Installers