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Resource-Based GUIs Vs. Code Generators In Java
Java Fan writes, "There is a good debate about GUI generation tools for Java going on at theserverside.com: 'Almost every platform has a visual designer that serializes the GUI to resources (some XML, some proprietary binaries) and then attaches it to the controller at runtime. Apple has had this for years with Interface Builder, Vista has a similar philosophy now as well. Java developers though are left with either hand coding of GUIs or potentially messy and brittle code generators. Neither of which promote good MVC separation. In fact they tend to encourage violations unless you are a very disciplined coder.' Personally, I am partial to BuoyBuilder as a great solution to this issue."
In theory, I'm not against the use of a GUI builder as long as it provides a way to use all of the layout managers that are available. I've just never seen one that could scale in complexity to the needs of a real world application. Sooner or later, the functionality requirements drive GUI elements to be created based on configuration settings and/or business rules. That is where you hit the wall with the GUI builder.
I'm not sure how they released without some sort of GUI building tool. I haven't used Java in awhile, but I remember coming up with Shakespearean-esque curses to describe what I thought of GridLayout and their buddies.
Is there an accepted good builder now? The article seems to imply this is far from a solved problem. (10 years later!)
..don't panic
Cost is irrelevant. Quality is the only measure.
That's the ivory tower answer, and from a certain perspective it's true and from a certain perspective it's not.
The last Java shop I worked in wouldn't pay for any development tools. Good tools that were free (as in beer) or close to it were at a premium.
Neither of which promote good MVC separation. In fact they tend to encourage violations unless you are a very disciplined coder.
I don't mean to sound all high and mighty, but if you aren't a disciplined coder, then you're not very serious anyway. You can pre-plan the MVC design to your hearts content, but it takes discipline to stay within the boundaries of the original design. Especially since if you don't then you create one of the worst anti-patterns ever, making you wish you'd just written one monolithic chunk of procedural code because bugs/changes would be doable.