Create UI based on HashTable

[zoe]

Hi, For development of an application, i have to create a stub for another application. The interface for this application is predefined, so can't touch that. Everything has to run in a Windows environment, i use Eclipse as an IDE.

What have is the following. On several places in my application, the stub is to be called. Data-transfer between the applications is done by a packed Hashtable. Every object in the table, is a String.
On a certain moment within the interfacing, a go() method is called.

What i need to do, is give an implementation to this method so it opens a Window where i can edit the values in this Hashtable. The contents of this Hashtable is not the same on every call so i have to create a UI on the fly, where every key in the Hashtable is displayed by a label and every value in the Hashtable is displayed as a textbox with content.
After this i have to refill the Hashtable with the values entered or changed in the UI.

All interactions with the Hashtable i can manage myself, but creating a UI is another piece of cake. Which package do i use, awt or swing? How do i create a window which i fill with the neccesary labels and textboxes? My knowledge of creating UI in Java is not sufficient to do it in a little amount of time, don't have the time to study all i need to know either, so.... Any help is welcome!
Thanks.

[hardwired]

Code:

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.List;
import javax.swing.*;

public class EditDialog implements ActionListener {
    JDialog dialog;
    Hashtable<String,String> hashtable;
    List<JLabel> labelList = new ArrayList<JLabel>();
    List<JTextField> fieldList = new ArrayList<JTextField>();

    public EditDialog(Hashtable<String,String> hashtable) {
        this.hashtable = hashtable;
        showDialog();
    }

    private void showDialog() {
        boolean modal = false;
        dialog = new JDialog(new JFrame(), "Edit Dialog", modal);
        dialog.setDefaultCloseOperation(JDialog.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
        Container cp = dialog.getContentPane();
        cp.add(getDataFields());
        cp.add(getButtonPanel(), "Last");
        dialog.setSize(500,400);
        dialog.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        dialog.setVisible(true);
    }

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
        saveEdits();
        dialog.dispose();
    }

    private void saveEdits() {
        Set keys = hashtable.keySet();
        Iterator it = keys.iterator();
        while(it.hasNext()) {
            String key = toString(it.next());
            String value = getValueFor(key);
            hashtable.put(key, value);
        }
    }

    private String getValueFor(String s) {
        for(int j = 0; j < labelList.size(); j++) {
            JLabel label = (JLabel)labelList.get(j);
            if(label.getText().equals(s)) {
                return ((JTextField)fieldList.get(j)).getText().trim();
            }
        }
        return null;
    }

    private JScrollPane getDataFields() {
        JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
        GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc.insets = new Insets(2,2,2,2);
        gbc.weighty = 1.0;
        Set keys = hashtable.keySet();
        Iterator it = keys.iterator();
        while(it.hasNext()) {
            Object key = it.next();
            Object value = hashtable.get(key);
            addRow(key, value, panel, gbc);
        }
        return new JScrollPane(panel);
    }

    private void addRow(Object key, Object value, Container c,
                        GridBagConstraints gbc) {
        int alignment = JLabel.RIGHT;  // LEFT, CENTER
        JLabel label = new JLabel(toString(key), alignment);
        labelList.add(label);
        JTextField tf = new JTextField(toString(value));
        fieldList.add(tf);
        gbc.weightx = 0.10;   // relative width of labels
        gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.NONE;
        gbc.gridwidth = GridBagConstraints.RELATIVE;
        gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.EAST;
        c.add(label, gbc);
        gbc.weightx = 1.0;
        gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        gbc.gridwidth = GridBagConstraints.REMAINDER;
        gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.WEST;
        c.add(tf, gbc);
    }

    private String toString(Object o) {
        return (o instanceof String) ? (String)o : o.toString();
    }

    private JPanel getButtonPanel() {
        JButton button = new JButton("save edits");
        button.addActionListener(this);
        JPanel panel = new JPanel();
        panel.add(button);
        return panel;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Hashtable<String,String> ht = new Hashtable<String,String>();
        Random r = new Random();
        for(int j = 0; j < 12; j++)
            ht.put(getString(r), getString(r));
        new EditDialog(ht);
    }

    private static String getString(Random r) {
        String s = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
        int length = 5 + r.nextInt(11);
        int start = r.nextInt(s.length() - length);
        return s.substring(start, start+length);
    }
}