Name: rmT116609 Date: 04/14/2003


DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUEST :
Current layout managers are hard to learn and requires a lot of code to set up screens with many fields. The latest addition to J2SE, SprintLayout, is very difficult to master. We need a user-friendly easy-to-learn layout manager, which doesn't require a lot of code, in order to get more good folks writing GUI applications.

JUSTIFICATION :
Please include the TableLayout as found on the Swing Connection in the next major update of J2SE. Even complex screens are easily coded by hand from a GUI sketch on paper. Since so many developers and end-users are familiar with tables, everyone can quickly determine which columns and rows to define in order to built any screen. It's tiersome to always have to include the TableLayout.jar and to ensure that every end-user gets his or her own copy in order to use the applications we deliver.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
I suggest that the TableLayout is included as-is. However, I would expect that it could be optimized to work faster and more effeciently if included in the core API.
Currently, TableLayout isn't in the J2SE.

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
Currently, one has to download and use the TableLayout.jar, which can be found on the Swing Connection.
(Review ID: 184069)
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