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<meta name="author" content="Karsten Lentzsch">
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<b>General</b>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="README.html"><b>Readme</b></a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="RELEASE-NOTES.txt">Release Notes</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="LICENSE.txt">License</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/whitepaper.pdf">Whitepaper</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/visualbuilders.html">Visual Builders</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/references.html">References</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/tips.html">Tips & Tricks</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="https://forms.dev.java.net/faq.html">FAQ</a>
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<b>Tutorial</b>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/tutorial/introduction.html">Introduction</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/tutorial/quickstart.html">Quick Start</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/tutorial/basics.html">Basics</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/tutorial/building.html">Building</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/tutorial/factories.html">Factories</a>
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<b>Reference</b>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/reference/alignments.html">Alignments</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/reference/constantsizes.html">Constant Sizes</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/reference/componentsizes.html">Component Sizes</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/reference/boundedsizes.html">Bounded Sizes</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/reference/colsandrows.html">Cols & Rows</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/reference/cells.html">Cell Constraints</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/reference/groups.html">Groups</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="docs/reference/variables.html">Layout Variables</a>
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<a class="nav" href="docs/api/index.html"><b>API Docs</b></a>
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<b>Web Pages</b>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="http://forms.dev.java.net/">Project Home</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="http://www.jgoodies.com/downloads/libraries.html">Downloads</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="http://forms.dev.java.net/servlets/ProjectNewsList">Announcements</a>
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<br>:: <a class="nav" href="http://forms.dev.java.net/servlets/ProjectIssues">Issue Tracker</a>
<br>:: <a class="nav" href="http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/">More Examples</a>
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<h1>:: Readme :: Forms 1.2 RC ::</h1>
The Forms framework helps you lay out and implement
elegant Swing panels quickly and consistently.
It makes simple things easy and the hard stuff possible,
the good design easy and the bad difficult.
<p>
The JGoodies Forms requires Java 1.4 or later.
<h2>Top Questions</h2>
:: <a href="https://forms.dev.java.net/faq.html#What_are_the_main_benefits">What are the main benefits?</a>
<br>:: <a href="https://forms.dev.java.net/faq.html#commercial_use">Can I use the Forms in a commercial product?</a>
<br>:: <a href="https://forms.dev.java.net/faq.html#How_to_get_started">How to get started?</a>
<br>:: <a href="https://forms.dev.java.net/faq.html#Where_do_I_get_support">Where do I get support?</a>
<br>:: <a href="https://forms.dev.java.net/faq.html#How_to_report_a_problem">How to report a problem?</a>
<h2>Distribution Contents</h2>
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<td><tt>forms-1.2.0rc.jar</tt></td>
<td> </td>
<td>the library jar </td>
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<td><tt>LICENSE.txt</tt></td>
<td> </td>
<td>the license agreement</td>
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<td><tt>README.html</tt></td>
<td> </td>
<td>this readme file</td>
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<td><tt>RELEASE-NOTES.txt</tt></td>
<td> </td>
<td>Release Notes</td>
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<td><tt>build.xml</tt></td>
<td> </td>
<td>ANT build file</td>
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<td><tt>default.properties</tt></td>
<td> </td>
<td>ANT default build properties</td>
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<td><tt>docs/api</tt></td>
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<td>JavaDocs directory</td>
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<td><tt>src/core</tt></td>
<td> </td>
<td>Java sources for the library core</td>
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<td><tt>src/extras</tt></td>
<td> </td>
<td>Java sources for useful extensions</td>
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<td><tt>src/test</tt></td>
<td> </td>
<td>Java sources for unit tests</td>
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<td><tt>src/tutorial</tt></td>
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<td>Java tutorial sources</td>
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<h2>Open Issue</h2>
There's a weakness in the FormLayout that may require an API extension.
Components that span multiple columns or rows do not affect
the column width or row height resp.,
but can in some cases expand the container.<br>
I'm looking for a means to let the layout grid honor these components
that is both powerful and easy to understand.
See the <a href="docs/faq.html#3.5">FAQ</a> for details and a workaround.
<h2>Acknowledgements</h2>
The Forms project has been financed by Johannes Riege,
and customers of the
<a href="http://www.jgoodies.com/products/index.html">JGoodies Swing Suite</a>.
It is only with their money that I can provide, maintain, and improve
this library at no charge.
<p>
FormLayout has been inspired by Mullet&Sano's grid system,
Daniel Barbalace's TableLayout, Daniel Michalik's HIGLayout,
and Doug Stein's GridBagLayout. The concept of dialog units
stems from Microsoft user interface implementations.
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(c) 2008 JGoodies
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