BuoyBuilder 1.1, a tool for building graphical user interfaces (GUIs) as well as for "wiring up" connections between objects in your application, has been released. We are firm believers in serializing GUI objects and are very much opposed to code generation. BuoyBuilder is our attempt to bring such a tool to the Java world. BuoyBuilder:

• is based on the Buoy Toolkit to simplify Java Swing development
• allows you to configure Buoy Widgets in your UI
• allows you to connect references in your "controller" objects to Widgets
• allows you to connect Widget events to action methods in your objects
• allows you to serialize the interface to an xml file and recall it with one line of code.

Version 1.1 enhancements include:

• Widgets and Inspector windows no longer have menu bars on Windows OS
• added support for proxy objects
• added commercial license support
• added helpful tooltips to new project wizard
• improved validation in inspector windows
• improved BSplitPane inspector and fixed BSlider action inspector to have the correct events listed
• improved layout in some inspectors
• added support for multi-line tooltips
• added "Controller" tab to Widget window

BuoyBuilder is provided under the Open Software License and is also available under a commercial license. Contact sales@94-west.com for licensing details.

Java is very past-due for a tool like this. Every year GUIs are expected to be more complicated and native looking, yet java developers are expected to either hand-code their Swing GUIs or use code generators that can produce messy code and do not promote a clean controller-view design pattern. Other frameworks like gtk+, Apple Cocoa, and even the up-coming Vista already have the idea of designing GUIs using a drag-and-drop tool, serializing it to some sort of resource, and dynamically attaching it to a controller at runtime. This allows the developer to design their GUI without code in mind and the freedom to write their controller independent of how a tool generates code around it. I used this tool for a few projects and was amazed how quickly I was able to crank out beautiful GUIs and even more amazed how clean my controllers became. Rather than implementing 20 action listener interfaces I could just write simple functions and have the framework call me when a certain action occurred. Rather than searching through generated code to get a reference to a widget, it is automatically injected into my controller at runtime. And the best part was localization was a snap and almost hidden thanks to a utility they have. A big plus is when an existing GUI has to change. Rather than hacking swing code to move a button around or gambling with a code generator to regenerate your GUI and hope it doesn’t mangle your code you just load the serialized GUI into the tool, make your changes and save. During that process your controller code is never touched. I highly recommend anyone doing swing development check this tool and the Buoy framework out. It can really make a difference both in time saved and design clarity when managing java Swing application.

Very impressive! Great job !