Fundamentals of Java Programming
Master Java GUI Rapid Application Development (RAD) with NetBeans IDE: Swing Palette controls (JFrame, JButton, JTextField, JRadioButton, JComboBox, JOptionPane), OOP principles, type casting (Integer.parseInt, Double.parseDouble), control structures, and board-level GUI projects.
NetBeans IDE & Rapid Application Development (RAD)
NetBeans is an integrated development environment (IDE) for Java that enables Rapid Application Development (RAD). Rather than coding hundreds of lines of UI geometry manually, developers visually drag-and-drop Swing components onto a JFrame form.
Design View
Interactive canvas where buttons, text boxes, and labels are dropped and positioned.
Source View
Java code editor where event handling code (e.g. btnCalculateActionPerformed) is written.
Swing Palette
Provides drag-and-drop UI components categorized into Containers, Controls, Menus, and Windows.
Properties Window
Configures component properties: text, font, background, enabled.
Swing GUI Controls, Properties & Methods
| Component | Key Properties | Essential Methods | Primary Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| JLabel | text, font, foreground, icon | getText(), setText(String) | Displays non-editable descriptive titles or status labels |
| JTextField | text, editable, columns | getText(), setText(String), setEditable(boolean) | Single-line alphanumeric user input (e.g. name, marks) |
| JPasswordField | echoChar (default '*') | getPassword() returns char[] | Masked secret credential input |
| JTextArea | lineWrap, wrapStyleWord, rows, columns | getText(), setText(String), append(String) | Multi-line text input/output (e.g. student report card, address) |
| JButton | text, enabled, mnemonic | setEnabled(boolean), setText(String) | Clickable action triggers (Calculate, Submit, Clear, Exit) |
| JRadioButton | selected, text, buttonGroup | isSelected(), setSelected(boolean) | Mutually exclusive single choice (e.g. Gender Male/Female) |
| JCheckBox | selected, text | isSelected(), setSelected(boolean) | Independent multi-select choices (e.g. Hobbies, Facilities) |
| JComboBox | model, selectedIndex | getSelectedItem(), getSelectedIndex(), addItem() | Drop-down selection list (e.g. Stream Science/Commerce) |