Name: vi73552 Date: 04/25/99


Swing provides NO method to set the Colors (or other properties)
of the ScrollBar button and ComboBox button. Not even via
UIDefaults. (In fact, there are lots of properties on lots
of different JComponents that cannot be set. The highlights
and shadows on many JComponents such as JButton, for example.)

setOpaque(false) on JScrollBar and JComboBox don't even work.

This, in my opinion, is a design bug, not an enhancement.
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I know you're really not supposed to get involved in serious
discussions without a support contract, but you did respond,
and I do appreciate your suggestions, but I must point out
that there's still a problem so that it might be fixed. So
you've given me the opportunity to rant...

I feel this is not a duplicate of bug 4108855, by the way,
as I'm pointing out more than just that setOpaque() is ignored.
I'm pointing out there NO WAY to set colors, IN ADDITION to
setOpaque().


I am using these properties, but they work for the scroll bar
track and the thumb slider widget, NOT for the "scroll" buttons.
It appears to me the L&F is ignoring my wishes.

Try this out on the "windows" L&F. You will find that the scroll
bar "up", "down", "left" and "right" arrow scroll buttons, and the
Combo Box drop-down arrow button, still do not change their colors.
They still seem to be using color System.control, with associated
highlight and shadow colors. (I set the properties *after* I set
the L&F.) And setOpaque(false) on the containing components should,
in IMO, ripple down to setOpaque(false) on the sub-components.

While we're at it, I also set properties "Button.background" and
"Button.foreground", and they work for the basic colors, but they
do not appear to work for the highlights and shadows. The button
edges still appear to use System colors. The edges of quite a
few swing components seem to do the same thing. Are the edges
part of the L&F (as I suspect,) or are they borders I can
manipulate? Are there "properties" in UIDefaults I can use for
borders? I cannot find any...

And then, there's also no way to set the disabled colors for
JButtons. This is true of quite a few swing components.

Oh, how I wish all the Swing components were consistent. Some
let me set the margins, some not (JLabel.) SOme let me set
the edges, some don't. Some let me access sub-components
(like the scroll track and thumb,) some don't. Some let me
set the disabled colors, some don't. And so it goes. Is
anyone responsible for the "Big Picture," or is each Swing
component developed in a vacuum?

>
> You can find other properties in files BasicComboBoxUI.java
> and BasicScrollBarUI.java (.../javax/swing/plaf/basic)

Hmmm... are there really any properties I can set with these
classes that will affect the sub-component buttons? I don't
see any. SO far, with the windows L&F, the only option I
appear to have is to get access to the buttons themselves
and manipulate them.

---Mark

 
(Review ID: 56977)
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