Java

Java tip: How to add zebra background stripes to a JList

Dave_Nadeau — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:01:51 -0800

Zebra stripes are subtle alternating stripes painted behind list items in a graphical user interface (GUI). They improve the readability of wide and long lists, but the JList class in Java's Swing doesn't support them. This tip shows how to extend JList to add zebra background stripes.

Java tip: How to add zebra background stripes to a JTable

Dave_Nadeau — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:05:47 -0800

Table zebra stripes are alternating subtle background stripes painted behind the table's rows in a graphical user interface (GUI). They improve the readability of long rows in wide tables, but the JTable class in Java's Swing doesn't support them. This tip shows how to extend JTable to add zebra background stripes.

Java tip: How to add zebra background stripes to a JTree

Dave_Nadeau — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:09:01 -0800

Zebra stripes in a graphical user interface (GUI) are subtle background stripes painted behind the rows of a hierarchical list, or tree. They improve the readability of wide tree rows, but the JTree class in Java's Swing doesn't support them. This tip shows how to extend JTree to add zebra background stripes.

Java tip: How to get a web page

Dave_Nadeau — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 08:19:27 -0800

The starting point for building a link checker, web spider, or web page analyzer is, of course, to get the web page from the web server. Java's java.net package includes classes to manage URLs and to open web server connections. This tip shows how to use them to a get text, image, audio, or data file from a web server.

Java tip: How to get CPU, system, and user time for benchmarking

Dave_Nadeau — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:38:32 -0700

Performance optimization requires that you measure the time to perform a task, then try algorithm and coding changes to make the task faster. Prior to Java 5, the only way to time a task was to measure wall clock time. Unfortunately, this gives inaccurate results when there is other activity on the system (and there always is). Java 5 introduced the java.lang.management package and methods to report CPU and user time per thread. These times are not affected by other system activity, making them just what we need for benchmarking. This tip shows how to use them to benchmark your application.

Java tip: How to list and find threads and thread groups

Dave_Nadeau — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 10:38:14 -0700

Java's threads are essential for building complex applications, but thread control is split across several classes in different packages added at different times in the JDK's history. This tip shows how to connect these classes together to find threads and thread groups, and get thread information.

Java tip: How to read files quickly

Dave_Nadeau — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:05:33 -0800

Java has several classes for reading files, with and without buffering, random access, thread safety, and memory mapping. Some of these are much faster than the others. This tip benchmarks 13 ways to read bytes from a file and shows which ways are the fastest.

Java tip: Use gradient backgrounds to add interest and polish to a user interface

Dave_Nadeau — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:25:56 -0700

Java's Swing components have a constant background color used to fill the entire component area. To add interest, contrast, and polish to a user interface, override the component's background painting and add a gradient to smoothly vary the color across the background. This tip shows how and demonstrates the effect.