SwingStates: adding state machines to the swing toolkit

This article describes SwingStates, a library that adds state machines to the Java Swing user interface toolkit. Unlike traditional approaches, which use callbacks or listeners to define interaction, state machines provide a powerful control structure and localize all of the interaction code in one place. SwingStates takes advantage of Java’s inner classes, providing programmers with a natural syntax and making it easier to follow and debug the resulting code. SwingStates tightly integrates state machines, the Java language and the Swing toolkit. It reduces the potential for an explosion of states by allowing multiple state machines to work together. We show how to use SwingStates to add new interaction techniques to existing Swing widgets, to program a powerful new Canvas widget and to control high-level dialogues. ACM Classification: D.2.2 [Design tools and Techniques]: User Interfaces; H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: User Interfaces – Graphical User Interfaces....

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: UIST
• Authors: Caroline Appert, Michel Beaudouin-Lafon
• Keywords: Java Swing User, State Machines, UIST 2006, User Interfaces