GUI - is this bad practice?

[keo]

I have to write a GUI without an IDE.

Is this bad practice: Make a new regular class for the GUI, define each component of the GUI as a variable. Set the properties in the constructor, then let methods access it easily.

Or do I have to make things static.. as when I use the example at the bottom of this page: Java BorderLayout Example I'm not sure on how to divide it into multiple methods, instead of just one.

Thanks for your help.

[sunde887]

Either is probably fine, however; I prefer to go with a more oo approach and use variables that are instantiated by the constructor, then provide getters and setters so other classes can make changes and get the current states of components.

[j2me64]

there are many patterns how to create a gui. one i like is this one: the components used in the gui are declared as variables. inside the class there is method createGUI() that initialize/instatiate the variables and returns a jpanel with all components for the gui. inside the main() method there is only the call to new yourclass.createGUI(); which adds the jpanel to the top-level component. this pattern is very flexible. if the top-level component is a applet the jpanel will be added to the applet and if it is a frame the jpanel is added to the frame.

[Fubarable]

I have to write a GUI without an IDE.

Is this bad practice: Make a new regular class for the GUI, define each component of the GUI as a variable. Set the properties in the constructor, then let methods access it easily.

I'd only make as variables those fields that I need a reference to in the class. For instance, if I have a JTextField whose text changes depending on the state of the object, then it needs to be an instance field of the class. If I have a JLabel whose text never changes, then it is declared and added inside of a method or constructor and it is not visible to the class.

Or do I have to make things static.. as when I use the example at the bottom of this page: Java BorderLayout Example I'm not sure on how to divide it into multiple methods, instead of just one.

The only things static are things that should be static. For instance if I have a class Player, and I need a variable in this class to keep track of total number of Player objects, then this variable is static. Or if I have a constant, it is usually final static. Everything else should probably be instance. The example you show is just a quick and dirty example of how to use borders but and puts all in the main method, something you should not do in anything but the most simple of programs (say a 20 line program).