AWT In Java: Examples, Hierarchy & Methods

AWT in Java: AWT is a Java toolkit used for making powerful interfaces for Java applications. The full form of AWT in Java is Abstract Window Toolkit. It provides a set of classes and methods used to develop windows, buttons, menus, dialog boxes, and other major GUI components. Let us know more about AWT in Java and its uses in this article.

Table of Contents

What is AWT in Java?

Java consists of many predefined methods and frameworks, which help to make development smooth and easier. AWT in Java is a set of APIs used to make useful graphical user interface applications in Java. It is one of the older frameworks in Java. It consists of many components such as checkboxes, radio buttons, text fields, etc frequently used in applications.

It can handle user input easily and integrate with the native platforms to run smoothly. This toolkit can be imported into your Java code from java.awt package. It contains classes required to create window basd Java programs for Java applications. AWT use resources of operating system on which it is working. Its components are heavyweight.

Also Read: How to Get Input From Users in Java?

AWT in Java: Important Highlights

Let us dive into the important highlights of AWT in Java below.

AWT in Java can be imported using import using java.awt package.
AWT stands for Abstract Window Toolkit for creating Graphical User Interface (GUI) for different Java applications.
The components of AWT in Java are component, container, window, frame, dialog, canvas, panel, image, menu component, font, colors, etc.
They also manages different events such as click, hover, and other event listeners, etc.
They arrange differnent components in a proper layout with proper sizing and positioning.
They can also handle colors and fonts which help developers to customize appearance of their Java applications easily.
With the help of java.awt.graphics developers can easily draw different shapes such as Images, text and more.
It provides containers such as Panel, frames, and dialog to organize components in a proper layout.

AWT in Java: Hierarchy

The AWT components in Java are given proper order and preferences. Check the elements given below according to the hierarchy of AWT in java.

Components: Components consist of Buttons, choice, list, checkbox, input, label, list, etc which is used to make GUI elements interactive in Java.
Containers: They are the second element in the AWT library which consist s of panel, frames and dialogues which is used to organize and give proper layout to components of AWT in Java applications.
Layout Managers: They consit of Flow Layout, Border Layout, etc to arrange data inside the containers in proper space.
Event Handling: AWT can handle events such as mouse hovers, clicks, etc to respond with a particular event listener functions.
Graphics: With the help of java.awt.graphics developers can create different shapes, insert images and write texts inside the components.

AWT in Java: Are they Platform Independent?

Abstract Window ToolKits in Java are API tools used to provide various graphic interface tools for Java applications. AWT quickly adapts the platforms it is currently running on to adjust the layouts and appearance as the platform view forms. It can create uniform interfaces on different platforms, such as Windows, MacOS, Linux and other operating systems.

The components of AWT are not independent of the platform, but they can quickly integrate with the system OS to adjust their layout appearance. They can make it possible because Java applications connect with AWT using abstract APIs, which are platform-independent. These abstract APIs help AWT generate platform details and make codes portable on various platforms.

Also, the AWS libraries are written in Java language, which itself is platform-independent. Hence, due to these reasons, AWT in Java is platform independent.

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AWT in Java: Examples

Let us understand the implementation of AWT in Java using various elements such as Frame, Components, layout manager, event handling, etc.

AWT in Java: Example

import java.awt.*;

import java.awt.event.*;

public class AWT_implement{

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Create a frame (window)

Frame frame = new Frame(“AWT implementation”);

// Create a label

Label label = new Label(“Hello, AWT!”);

// Create a button

Button button = new Button(“Click Me”);

// Set layout manager for the frame

frame.setLayout(new FlowLayout());

// Add the label and button to the frame

frame.add(label);

frame.add(button);

// Handle button click using an anonymous inner class

button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {

label.setText(“Button Clicked!”);

}

});

// Handle window close event using WindowAdapter

frame.addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() {

public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) {

System.exit(0);

}

});

// Set frame size and make it visible

frame.setSize(300, 150);

frame.setVisible(true);

}

First, import the awt package using import java.awt*. Now, first, create a frame instance and then create the labels and buttons required on your applications. Set the layout using the FlowLayout method. Now, add components to frame and handle different events using the event listeners. You can also modify the size and differentiate the visibility of elements.

AWT in Java: Components and Toolkits

AWT in Java consists of many methods. Check some of the methods in AWT below.

AWT in Java: Methods
AWT toolkits	Syntax	Constructors/ Methods
AWT Label	Public class Label extends Component implements Accessible	Label(); Label(String str) Label (String str, int a)
AWT TextField	Public class TextField extends TextComponent	TextField() TextField(String text) TextField(int col) TextField(String str, int col)
AWT Button	Public class TextField extends Component implements Accessible	Button() Button(String str)
AWT Checkbox	Public class Checkbox extends Component implements ItemSelectable, Accessible	Checkbox() Checkbox(String str) Checkbox(String str, boolean state, CheckboxGroup group)
AWT Choice	Public class Choice extends Component implements ItemSelectable, Accessible	Choice()
AWT List	Public class List extends Component implements ItemSelectable, Accessible	List() List(int row) List (int row, Boolean Mode)
AWT Canvas	Public class Canvas extends Component implements	Canvas();
Action Listener	Public class ActionListenerExample Implements ActionListener	actionPerformed()
AWT Scrollbar	Public class Scrollbar extends Component implements Adjustable, Accessible	Scrollbar()
Java Mouse Listener	mouseClicked(MouseEvent x) mousePressed(MouseEvent x) mouseEntered(MouseEvent x) mouseExited(MouseEvent x)
Java ItemListener	itemStateChanged()
Java MouseMotion Listener	mouseDragged(MouseEvent x) mouseMoved(MouseEvent x)
Java KeyListener	Public interface KeyListener extends EventListener	keyPressed (KeyEvent x) keyReleased(KeyEvent x) keyTyped (KeyEvent x)
Java WindowListener	Public interface WindowListener extends EventListener	windowActivated (WindowEvent x) windowClosed (WindowEvent x) windowClosing (WindowEvent x)

AWT in Java: Examples to create Buttons using AWT toolkit

Check the implementation of AWT toolkit to create button in Java applications.

AWT in Java: Examples

import java.awt.*;

import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;

import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import java.awt.event.WindowAdapter;

import java.awt.event.WindowEvent;

public class MultipleButtonsExample {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Frame frame = new Frame(“Simple Buttons Example”);

Button button1 = new Button(“Button 1”);

button1.setBounds(50, 100, 80, 30);

// Adding action listeners to handle button clicks

button1.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

@Override

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {

System.out.println(“Button 1 clicked”);

}

});

frame.add(button1);

frame.setSize(400, 200);

frame.setLayout(null);

frame.setVisible(true);

// Using WindowListener for closing the window

frame.addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() {

@Override

public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) {

System.exit(0);

}

});

}

Output

The simple output button looks like this using AWT toolkit and event listeners. However, we can add more styles and modifications to make it look attractive.

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AWT in Java FAQs

What is AWT in Java?

AWT in Java is a set of APIs used to make useful graphical user interface applications in Java. It is one of the older frameworks in Java. It consists of many components such as checkboxes, radio buttons, text fields, etc, frequently used in applications.

How to import the AWT toolkit in Java?

AWT in Java can be easily imported from java.awt package.

Is AWT on the Java platform independent?

The components of AWT are not independent of the platform, but they can quickly integrate with the system OS to adjust their layout appearance. AWS libraries are written in the Java language, which itself is platform-independent. Hence, AWT in Java is platform-independent.

Is AWT in Java still in use?

AWT in Java consists of overhead and heavyweight components that use system resources in which they are currently running. Developers now have a better string with a swing.