CPSC-102: Computing and Algorithms II
Programming Assignment 5
Summer 1998
In this programming assignment, you will demonstrate your knowledge of
graphical user interfaces by revising the
video database program from Programming
Assignment 4 to incorporate a graphical user interface.
New Requirements
For this assignment, you should add a graphical user interface to your
book database program. All user input and program output should be
conducted through a graphical interface. (Thus, you should never need
to use the System.in and System.out objects,
except for debugging purposes.)
All previous functionality in Programming
Assignment 4 should be available and functional through the
graphical user interface. It
should be possible to perform any and every function possible in
Programming Assignment 4 in your new version.
You may use any of the standard Java AWT components, in any
combination you wish, in order to implement your GUI. You should use
the Java 1.1 event model (i.e. the one presented in class) to
interface these components with your application code. Your program
should be an application, not an applet.
Your program will be graded not only on correctness, but on the
appropriateness of your design and its ease of use. It should be
fairly obvious to a semi-intelligent person (such as your instructor)
how to use the interface: which buttons perform which actions, which
fields contain which information, and so on. This does not
mean that your GUI needs to be artistically beautiful (indeed,
sometimes beautiful GUIs are terribly difficult to use). However, it
does mean that components should be layed out in a manner that allows
a reasonable user to figure out how to use the program with a minimum
of effort.
Submitting Your Program
Before 11:59:59 p.m., Thursday, 17 September 1998 (11th Thursday), you
must email a single file to jhuggins@kettering.edu
containing all source code files for your program, including a file
named Prog5.java containing a main method.
In addition, you must deliver to the instructor a printout of your
program files at the start of class on Friday, 18 September 1998 (11th
Friday).
Notes
-
Start Early! The event-driven programming
model is very different from conventional sequential programming, and
it may take you awhile to understand how to organize your program.
Amidst all your final projects, please set aside some time to
work on this early.
-
Much of the information you need about the Java AWT is distributed
through the Java API; take some time to look around and explore.
You may be pleasantly surprised at some of the standard Java AWT
components which are available to you ...
-
Be aware that the submission date is the last day of class; late
submissions become extremely difficult to handle after that
date.
-
Debugging Hint: While your program should never need to use the
System.out object for its operation, you may wish to use it
for debugging purposes. For example, it may be very handy to place
println() statements inside your listener classes, so that
you can tell when events are being generated and who is handling them.
Alternatively, you may want to leave some of your old print methods
in place, so that you can compare the text-based output with your
GUI-oriented output. (Of course, these statements should be
commented out or removed when the program is complete.)
Jim Huggins
/ jhuggins@kettering.edu
last updated: 9 September 1998