What's New in 2.1
Version 2.1 contains a number of new features, changes and bug fixes. GUI Commands 2.1 is a free upgrade for version 2.0 license holders.
New Features
Version 2.1 brings the following new features:
New Annotions – The annotations @ActionCommand_ and @SwingWorkerCommand_ have been added for creating commands directly from existing methods.
New DEBUG Mode – You can now activate a debug mode for command groups. When active groups display missing members in red.
New Delegate Features – Delegates now support both DelegatingToggleCommands and DelegatingToggleGroups.
Configuration Converter – A new utility has been added for converting old 1.1.x configuration files to the new 2.x format.
Other Changes
- Improved documentation especially covering binding, delegates and expansion points.
- Delegates have been improved and simplified.
- Added SwingWorkerCommand finished(..), failed(..) and cancelled(..) convenience methods.
- Commands now support simplified monitoring of container properties.
For a full list of changes please read the Change History.
What's New in 2.0
GUI Commands 2.0 is a major redevelopment of the original GUI Commands. Starting with a clean slate I've been able to rework the API and add new features that were not possible in the previous version. Some of the key features of version 2.0 are:
New Architecture – The new architecture makes GUI Commands much easier to use and provides much greater scope for customisation. In particular commands can now create arbitrary components instead of just buttons and menu items.
No more XML – All properties are loaded using standard Java ResourceBundles. This has greatly simplified
internationalization and made the configuration files far less verbose.
CommandContainers – In the original version the CommandManager had too many responsibilities. This
has now been spit into separate configuration loading, command conatiner and settings components.
Binding – the new version supports dynamic binding between commands and their containers. Where as previsously you needed to provide the command manager (in its container role) on construction, they are now found at runtime based on the component heirarchy. There is now no difference between developing a single or multiple frame application.
New Group Implementation – CommandGroups have been reimplemented and now provide builder interfaces for
runtime construction and modification. The new builder APIs make dynamic menu and toolbar generation
extremely easy.
Delegates – Delegating commands have been completely revamped, are simpler to use, and have many bug fixes.
Glasspane Integration – The new command container architecture has allowed for very simple integration of swing workers and glasspane functionality.
The Version 2 License Change
The above features combined with the desire to never work on a Struts application again (yes, I'm a Tapestry fan) have led me to release GUI Commands under a commercial licence. The license contains a free for non commercial use clause, but is no longer open source. Version 1 of the library is still available under the Apache license.
