Graphic Java 2, Volume 2: Swing (3rd Edition)

Swing Hacks (Hacks)

Core Java(TM) 2, Volume II--Advanced Features (7th Edition)

Swing, Second Edition

Hardcore JFC: Conquering the Swing Architecture

Jfc And Swing

Core Swing: Advanced Programming

Format: Paperback
Author: Kim Topley
ReleaseDate: 20 December, 1999
Publisher: Pearson Education
Rating:

Very good, rather specialized, advanced book
I suspect Kim Topley could write two or three additional books with a similar level of detail on other advanced Swing topics, and it was sensible not to write 2500 pages all at once. This book was wisely focused on selected advanced Swing topics, rather than trying to be comprehensive.

_If_ the focus topics (everything you might want to know about text components, table cell renderers and editors, drag-and-drop, undo/redo) are of interest to you, you won't find a better text anywhere, explicitly including all the Swing tutorials available on the Web. This is not a Swings basics book, but it _is_ an excellent how-to, and often why-to, book. Lots of code examples, lots of explanation.

Let me repeat: This is not a Swing basics book. The emphasis is not on how to apply the stock JFC components, but rather on how to customize, modify and extend the JFC components. For example, instead of just saying "JFC drag-and-drop support is limited primarily to raw text", Topley shows you how to implement support for d-d of whatever data types you are interested in. Actual d-d data interchange representations are not discussed, as that is highly platform- and datatype-specific.

Very limited Scope

If you want to write your own components, data validators, etc, this book has nothing to tell you. This book covers only a very few topics:
mainly tables and editors. If you are curious about traversal, find some other book.

Using the book I was able to figure out tables sufficiently to write streaming autosorting tables and custom renderers. Thankfully there are is plenty of example code which is much more eloquent than the rather rambling text.

It says 'Advanced'
When you are done with that, jump into this book for 'advanced' information on Swing for doing real applications. If you are a newby Swing programmer, get OReilly's Java Swing book for all the gory low level details. The undo chapter alone is outstanding, providing the best explaination of any book I've looked at.