Delphi and VB Developers, You Too Can Build Java GUIs

wo years ago, the Swiss business software maker Abacus Research AG decided to port its complete product line from Borland's Delphi to Java/Swing. The Abacus Delphi development team faced the unenviable task of rewriting hundreds of GUI applications in Swing without the aid of tools like Delphi or Visual Basic. When Abacus Research looked at the few GUI builders available at the time, it found three basic disadvantages:

1. Abacus developers found them complicated, in part because they required Swing knowledge in order to create an application. The developers wanted to create forms within minutes without Swing knowledge.
2. The tools lacked XY layout managers and the canvas-style interface that VB offered.
3. Abacus Research needed the ability to separate the UI forms from the business logic, which the third-party tools that it reviewed did not provide.

With so many applications to rewrite, time constraints, and a large number of seasoned GUI developers who had little experience in Swing, Abacus Research developed a plan to bridge the gap: writing its own Java tool that functioned like Delphi and Visual Basic and making it available to all developers under the GNU General Public License. Its solution would allow the developer to more easily separate the UI design from the rest of the application logic.