Release 5.2 of Substance look-and-feel made a few visual changes to the Raven Graphite skins, but these did not address the overall usability of these skins – especially the contrast between the background and the controls, and the background / foreground contrast of text components.
The latest drop of version 5.3dev (code named Reykjavik) features significant overhaul of both Raven Graphite skins, aiming to address the contrast usability issues raised by the users.
Here is a screenshot of a sample application under the Raven Graphite skin in the latest stable 5.2 release:
And here is the same application under the 5.3dev drop:
Here is another screenshot of the same application under the old Raven Graphite visuals:
and the new visuals under the latest 5.3dev drop:
The main changes are:
Removing the watermark that contributed significant visual noise
Darker border color for controls, bringing more delineation to check boxes and radio buttons
Darker background color for text components, resulting in better readability
The same changes were made for the Raven Graphite Glass skin. Here is the sample application under the stable 5.2 release:
and here is the same application under the latest 5.3dev drop:
In addition to the visual changes above, the Raven Graphite Glass skin has removed the glass arc gradient from the toolbars and added a two-tone separator to delineate the title bar / menu bar from the rest of the application content.
To illustrate the visual difference in a larger content, here is a screenshot of a big UI under the stable 5.2 release (click to see the full-size view):
and the same application under the 5.3dev branch:
If you want to take the new visuals for a spin, click on the WebStart button below and change the skin to Raven Graphite and Raven Graphite Glass from the “Skins” menu:
You’re more than welcome to take the latest 5.3dev drop for a spin and leave your comments.
Concluding the series on adding animations to enable rich interactivity expected from modern Swing applications, here is what we have seen so far:
Part 1 – adding simple animation behavior to such scenarios as component appearance (fade in), rollovers and window disposal (fade-out) using built in and custom class attributes and setters.
Part 2 – adding animated load progress indication while the application is loading data.
Part 3 – loading the album art matching the specific search string and asynchronously displaying the associated images.
Part 4 – scrolling the album covers showed in the container and adding animations to the scrolling.
Run the org.pushingpixels.onyx.DemoApp class, passing your Amazon key as the only parameter to this class, adding the Amazon, Trident and Onyx classes to the classpath
If all went right, you should see the main application running and displaying Sarah McLachlan albums as in this video:
I hope you enjoyed this series. If you’re interested in adding rich animations to your Swing applications, you’re more than welcome to explore Trident and Onyx and report any bugs and missing features in the project forums and mailing lists.
After adding such animation effects as fading, translucency, load progress, asynchronous load of images and smooth scrolling in the application window connected to the Amazon backend, it’s time to talk about more complex transition scenarios. In this entry i’m going to talk about displaying larger album art and scrollable track listing when the specific album is selected, along with a complex transition between selected albums. This code is part of the Onyx project which aims to provide blueprints for animated Swing applications powered by the Trident animation library.
Here is a screenshot that illustrates the detailed view of the selected album (and you can view the videos in the first part of this series):
The full sources of this view are in the SVN repository, and i’m going to talk about the full transition scenario that is played when the user selects a specific album. This scenario has six steps:
(Relevant when the details window already shows album art) – collapse the album art component and track listing component to fully overlap.
(In parallel with step 1) – load the new album art from the Internet (based on the URL returned from the original Amazon E-commerce request).
(After steps 1 and 2 have both completed) – set the loaded album art on the album art component. This may also cause resizing the album art if it cannot fully fit in the available space.
(In parallel with step 3) – set the list of album tracks on the track listing component.
(After steps 3 and 4 have both completed) – cross fade the old album art to the new album art.
(After step 5 has been completed) – move the album art component (that displays the new album art) and the track listing to be displayed side by side.
To implement this complex timeline scenario, the code uses the rendezvous timeline scenario provided by Trident. Timeline.RendezvousSequence allows simple branch-and-wait ordering. The rendezvous scenario has a stage-like approach. All actors belonging to the same stage run in parallel, while actors in stage N+1 wait for all actors in stage N to be finished. The RendezvousSequence.rendezvous marks the end of one stage and the beginning of another.
Here is how the code looks like:
/**
* Returns the timeline scenario that implements a transition from the
* currently shown album item (which may be null) to the
* specified album item.
*
* @param albumItem
* The new album item to be shown in this window.
* @return The timeline scenario that implements a transition from the
* currently shown album item (which may be null) to
* the specified album item.
*/
private TimelineScenario getShowAlbumDetailsScenario(final Item albumItem) {
TimelineScenario.RendezvousSequence scenario = new TimelineScenario.RendezvousSequence();
// step 1 - move album art and track listing to the same location
Timeline collapseArtAndTracks = new Timeline(this);
collapseArtAndTracks.addPropertyToInterpolate("overlayPosition",
this.overlayPosition, 0.0f);
collapseArtAndTracks.setDuration((int) (500 * this.overlayPosition));
scenario.addScenarioActor(collapseArtAndTracks);
// step 2 (in parallel) - load the new album art
final BufferedImage[] albumArtHolder = new BufferedImage[1];
TimelineSwingWorker loadNewAlbumArt = new TimelineSwingWorker() {
@Override
protected Void doInBackground() throws Exception {
URL url = new URL(albumItem.getLargeImage().getURL());
albumArtHolder[0] = ImageIO.read(url);
return null;
}
};
scenario.addScenarioActor(loadNewAlbumArt);
scenario.rendezvous();
// step 3 (wait for steps 1 and 2) - replace album art
TimelineRunnable replaceAlbumArt = new TimelineRunnable() {
@Override
public void run() {
albumArt.setAlbumArtImage(albumArtHolder[0]);
}
};
scenario.addScenarioActor(replaceAlbumArt);
// step 4 (in parallel) - replace the track listing
TimelineRunnable replaceTrackListing = new TimelineRunnable() {
@Override
public void run() {
trackListingScroller.setAlbumItem(albumItem);
}
};
scenario.addScenarioActor(replaceTrackListing);
scenario.rendezvous();
// step 5 (wait for steps 3 and 4) - cross fade album art from old to
// new
Timeline albumArtCrossfadeTimeline = new Timeline(this.albumArt);
albumArtCrossfadeTimeline.addPropertyToInterpolate("oldImageAlpha",
1.0f, 0.0f);
albumArtCrossfadeTimeline.addPropertyToInterpolate("imageAlpha", 0.0f,
1.0f);
albumArtCrossfadeTimeline.addCallback(new Repaint(this.albumArt));
albumArtCrossfadeTimeline.setDuration(400);
scenario.addScenarioActor(albumArtCrossfadeTimeline);
scenario.rendezvous();
// step 6 (wait for step 5) - move new album art and track listing to
// be side by side.
Timeline separateArtAndTracks = new Timeline(this);
separateArtAndTracks.addPropertyToInterpolate("overlayPosition", 0.0f,
1.0f);
separateArtAndTracks.setDuration(500);
scenario.addScenarioActor(separateArtAndTracks);
return scenario;
}
This scenario uses the full capabilities offered by the Trident timeline scenarios which allow combining multiple timeline scenario actors in a parallel, sequential or custom order. There are three core types of timeline scenario actors, all used in this code:
To create a custom timeline scenario, use the following APIs of the TimelineScenario class:
public void addScenarioActor(TimelineScenarioActor actor) adds the specified actor
public void addDependency(TimelineScenarioActor actor, TimelineScenarioActor... waitFor) specifies the dependencies between the actors
The rest of the code is pretty straightforward. It defines the components for album art and track listing, as well as the float position of the overlay between them (during the collapse / expand steps):
/**
* Component that shows the album art.
*/
private BigAlbumArt albumArt;
/**
* Component that shows the scrollable list of album tracks.
*/
private TrackListingScroller trackListingScroller;
/**
* 0.0f - the album art and track listing are completely overlayed, 1.0f -
* the album art and track listing are completely separate. Is updated in
* the {@link #currentShowAlbumDetailsScenario}.
*/
private float overlayPosition;
When these components are added, we make sure that the album art is displayed on top of the track listing (during the collapse stage). In addition, we install a custom layout manager that respects the current value of the overlayPosition field:
Container contentPane = this.getContentPane();
contentPane.setLayout(new LayoutManager() {
@Override
public void addLayoutComponent(String name, Component comp) {
}
@Override
public void removeLayoutComponent(Component comp) {
}
@Override
public Dimension minimumLayoutSize(Container parent) {
return null;
}
@Override
public Dimension preferredLayoutSize(Container parent) {
return null;
}
@Override
public void layoutContainer(Container parent) {
int w = parent.getWidth();
int h = parent.getHeight();
// respect the current overlay position to implement the sliding
// effect in steps 1 and 6 of currentShowAlbumDetailsScenario
int dim = BigAlbumArt.TOTAL_DIM;
int dx = (int) (overlayPosition * dim / 2);
albumArt.setBounds((w - dim) / 2 - dx, (h - dim) / 2, dim, dim);
trackListingScroller.setBounds((w - dim) / 2 + dx,
(h - dim) / 2 + 2, dim, dim - 4);
}
});
contentPane.add(albumArt);
contentPane.add(trackListingScroller);
contentPane.setComponentZOrder(trackListingScroller, 1);
contentPane.setComponentZOrder(albumArt, 0);
The overlayPosition is changed in steps 1 and 6 of the main transition scenario, and the public setter revalidates the container causing the layout:
/**
* Sets the new overlay position of the album art and track listing. This
* method will also cause revalidation of the main window content pane.
*
* @param overlayPosition
* The new overlay position of the album art and track listing.
*/
public void setOverlayPosition(float overlayPosition) {
this.overlayPosition = overlayPosition;
this.getContentPane().invalidate();
this.getContentPane().validate();
}
Finally, the scenario itself is created and played when the mouse listener installed on the album overview component detects a mouse click and calls the setAlbumItem API:
/**
* Signals that details of the specified album item should be displayed in
* this window. Note that this window can already display another album item
* when this method is called.
*
* @param albumItem
* New album item to show in this window.
*/
public void setAlbumItem(Item albumItem) {
if (this.currentShowAlbumDetailsScenario != null)
this.currentShowAlbumDetailsScenario.cancel();
this.currentShowAlbumDetailsScenario = this
.getShowAlbumDetailsScenario(albumItem);
this.currentShowAlbumDetailsScenario.play();
}
Note how we first cancel the currently playing scenario – this handles quick subsequent selections by the user, reversing the currently playing scenario in the middle.
One last thing to note in the transition scenario:
// step 5 (wait for steps 3 and 4) - cross fade album art from old to
// new
Timeline albumArtCrossfadeTimeline = new Timeline(this.albumArt);
albumArtCrossfadeTimeline.addPropertyToInterpolate("oldImageAlpha",
1.0f, 0.0f);
albumArtCrossfadeTimeline.addPropertyToInterpolate("imageAlpha", 0.0f,
1.0f);
albumArtCrossfadeTimeline.addCallback(new Repaint(this.albumArt));
albumArtCrossfadeTimeline.setDuration(400);
Note that this timeline is created on the child album art component. After the new album art has been loaded and scaled (in step 3), we initiate the cross-fading timeline on another object – which is fully supported by Trident timelines.
The rest of the code in this package is very similar to the code examples showed earlier, including custom painting that respects the alpha values, fading out on dispose, translucent window etc.
The final code sample shows how the album details panel is shown. Here, we use a separate translucent Window placed alongside the bottom edge of the main application window:
currentlyShownWindow = new DetailsWindow();
// place the details window centered along the bottom edge of the
// main application window
Point mainWindowLoc = mainWindow.getLocation();
Dimension mainWindowDim = mainWindow.getSize();
int x = mainWindowLoc.x + mainWindowDim.width / 2
- currentlyShownWindow.getWidth() / 2;
int y = mainWindowLoc.y + mainWindowDim.height
- currentlyShownWindow.getHeight() / 2;
currentlyShownWindow.setLocation(x, y);
currentlyShownWindow.setOpacity(0.0f);
currentlyShownWindow.setBackground(new Color(0, 0, 0, 0));
currentlyShownWindow.setVisible(true);
currentlyShownWindow.setAlbumItem(albumItem);
Timeline showWindow = new Timeline(currentlyShownWindow);
showWindow.addPropertyToInterpolate("opacity", 0.0f, 1.0f);
showWindow.setDuration(500);
showWindow.play();
What happens here?
Create a new window and position it in the required location.
Set its opacity to 0.0 (it will be gradually faded in).
Set its background to a fully transparent color – allowing the collapse / expand stage to show the underlying window.
Sets the album item, initiating the transition scenario described above.
Creates and plays the timeline that fades in this window.
After adding such animation effects as fading, translucency, load progress and asynchronous load of images in the application window connected to the Amazon backend, it’s time to talk about smooth scrolling of the display results. In this entry i’m going to talk about loading the album art matching the specific search string and asynchronous display of the associated images. This code is part of the Onyx project which aims to provide blueprints for animated Swing applications powered by the Trident animation library.
Here is a screenshot that illustrates the search results displayed as album art (and you can view the videos in the first part of this series):
The album items can be scrolled with right / left arrow keys, as well as by using the mouse wheel.
The base implementation of the layout does not use animations on the scrolling, but lays out the groundwork. It starts off by having the list of all album items, and the position of the currently leading item:
public class Stage2Components extends Stage1LoadingProgress {
/**
* The list of album overview components. Each component added with
* {@link #addOverviewComp(Item, ActivationCallback)} is added to this list.
*/
List comps;
/**
* Indicates which album overview component is displayed at the left edge of
* this container. Note that while this specific class (in its
* {@link #scrollToNext()} and {@link #scrollToPrevious()}) operate on the
* integer values, the animated scrolling will result in fractional values
* of the leading position.
*
*
* At the beginning the value is 0.0 - displaying the first entry in
* {@link #comps} at the left edge. When scrolling to the next album, the
* value will become 1.0 (effectively pushing the first album over the left
* edge). If the scrolling is animated, this value will be gradually
* interpolated from 0.0 to 1.0.
*
*
*
* This value is respected in the {@link #doLayout()} to provide the
* seamless scroll animation.
*
*/
float leadingPosition;
In this class, the leadingPosition will only have discrete integer values – immediate scrolling. However, we define is as float for the animation purposes (see below).
The constructor of this class creates the list for holding the album items, as well as registering relevant mouse wheel listener, input map and action map:
/**
* Creates the new container that can host album overview components.
*/
public Stage2Components() {
super();
this.comps = new ArrayList();
// register the mouse wheel listener for scrolling content
this.addMouseWheelListener(new MouseWheelListener() {
@Override
public void mouseWheelMoved(MouseWheelEvent e) {
if (e.getWheelRotation() > 0) {
// next
scrollToNext();
} else {
// previous
scrollToPrevious();
}
}
});
// create the key input maps to handle the scrolling
// with left / right arrows
InputMap inputMap = new ComponentInputMap(this);
inputMap.put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke("RIGHT"), "right");
inputMap.put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke("KP_RIGHT"), "right");
inputMap.put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke("LEFT"), "left");
inputMap.put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke("KP_LEFT"), "left");
// create the relevant action map
Action rightAction = new AbstractAction("right") {
@Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
// next
scrollToNext();
}
};
Action leftAction = new AbstractAction("left") {
@Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
// previous
scrollToPrevious();
}
};
ActionMap actionMap = new ActionMap();
actionMap.put("right", rightAction);
actionMap.put("left", leftAction);
// and register the maps
this.setInputMap(WHEN_IN_FOCUSED_WINDOW, inputMap);
this.setActionMap(actionMap);
}
Next, a method to add a single album to this container:
/**
* Adds the specified album item to this album container.
*
* @param albumItem
* Description of the album item from the Amazon backend.
* @return Thew matching album overview component.
*/
public synchronized AlbumOverviewComponent addAlbumItem(Item albumItem) {
AlbumOverviewComponent comp = new AlbumOverviewComponent(albumItem);
this.comps.add(comp);
this.add(comp);
return comp;
}
And the implementation of discrete scrolling:
/**
* Scrolls the albums to show the next album.
*/
protected void scrollToNext() {
if (this.leadingPosition < (this.comps.size() - 1)) {
this.leadingPosition++;
revalidate();
}
}
/**
* Scrolls the albums to show the previous album.
*/
protected void scrollToPrevious() {
if (this.leadingPosition > 0) {
this.leadingPosition--;
revalidate();
}
}
The layout itself (triggered by the calls to revalidate() above) is quite simple – computing the X position of each album item based on the current leadingPosition:
@Override
public synchronized void doLayout() {
if (comps.size() == 0)
return;
for (int i = 0; i < this.comps.size(); i++) {
float delta = i - this.leadingPosition;
// compute the left X based on the current leading position
int x = 10 + (int) (delta * (AlbumOverviewComponent.DEFAULT_WIDTH + 10));
this.comps.get(i).setBounds(x,
(getHeight() - AlbumOverviewComponent.DEFAULT_HEIGHT) / 2,
AlbumOverviewComponent.DEFAULT_WIDTH,
AlbumOverviewComponent.DEFAULT_HEIGHT);
}
}
Finally, to prevent the album items painting too close to the main container edges we clip the matching graphics in the paintChildren:
Now it’s time to add the scrolling animation to the mix. With the groundwork laid out already, the implementation is quite simple.
public class Stage3AnimatedScrolling extends Stage2Components {
/**
* Contains the target leading position - this is the index of the album
* which should appear at the left edge once the current
* {@link #scrollTimeline} is done. Note that the user scrolling can be done
* in the middle of the current scrolling animation. In this case, the field
* is updated with the new target index.
*/
int targetLeadingPosition;
/**
* The scroll timeline. Note that the user scrolling can be done in the
* middle of the current scrolling animation. In this case, the current
* timeline is cancelled, and a new one is created - this allows quick
* scrolling with multiple mouse wheel / arrow events.
*/
Timeline scrollTimeline;
The targetLeadingPosition allows us to handle multiple consecutive scrolling requests (user quickly scrolling the mouse wheel) without having multiple timelines “competing” to scroll the album items.
The constructor doesn’t do anything special:
/**
* Creates the new container that can animate the album scrolling.
*/
public Stage3AnimatedScrolling() {
super();
this.targetLeadingPosition = 0;
}
Now we get to the “meat” of this class – adding the scrolling animations. First, we override the scrolling methods from the super class to update the target position:
Where the scrollContents cancels the existing timeline (if necessary), and plays a new one:
/**
* Scrolls the contents of this container.
*/
private synchronized void scrollContents() {
if (this.scrollTimeline != null) {
// cancel the playing scroll timeline
this.scrollTimeline.cancel();
}
// and dynamically create a new one to change the
// leading position
this.scrollTimeline = new Timeline(this);
this.scrollTimeline.addPropertyToInterpolate("leadingPosition",
this.leadingPosition, this.targetLeadingPosition);
this.scrollTimeline.setDuration(250);
this.scrollTimeline.setEase(new Spline(0.7f));
scrollTimeline.play();
}
Canceling the old timeline makes sure that we will not have multiple timeline updating the leadingPosition field. And the targetLeadingPosition field holds the final value of the leadingPosition – or at least until the user makes an additional scrolling request.
Finally, we have a public setter so that the Trident engine can change the value of the leadingPosition field:
/**
* Sets the new value for the leading position. This is called from
* {@link #scrollTimeline}.
*
* @param leadingPosition
* The new value for the leading position.
*/
public void setLeadingPosition(float leadingPosition) {
this.leadingPosition = leadingPosition;
revalidate();
}
}
Here we have seen how to scroll the album covers showed in the container and how to add animations to the scrolling. The next entry is going to talk about displaying larger album art and scrollable track listing when the specific album is selected.
