In this chapter, we present the libraries that make up the Tweek Java API. In general, we only provide a general overview of the libraries. Interested readers are referred to the Tweek Java Programmer's Reference for more comprehensive documentation.
The Tweek Java API is broken up into a collection of Java class libraries, each packaged in a unique JAR file. Programmers can choose the library or libraries they need when writing Java code that uses Tweek. It is possible to write JavaBeans that do not use any of the Tweek Java libraries, but such Beans may not be very full-featured. On the other hand, because the Tweek Java GUI is capable of loading any JavaBean, there is no reason that a fully functional Bean must be written to take advantage of Tweek services and utilities.
The GUI Library contains the heart of the Tweek Java GUI.
Indeed, this library is what contains the Tweek Java GUI, and it makes
use of all the other Tweek Java libraries to do its job. In general,
there is not much code in this library that is of interest to Bean
developers. The lone exception is the singleton
org.vrjuggler.tweek.gui.MessagePanel. This
class provides access to the message panel at the bottom of the Tweek
Java GUI layout. Tweek Bean authors can make use of this singleton to
post messages to that panel for users of the Tweek GUI to see. In most
cases, this should be the preferred method of printing status messages
rather than using System.out.print*() or
System.err.print*() simply because users of
the GUI may not have easy access to the console to see the messages
printed there. The GUI Library is found in
$TWEEK_BASE_DIR/share/tweek/java/Tweek.jar.