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Synth Look and Feel 292
Synth Look and Feel
synth is a skinnable Java look and feel, which is configured with an XML property file.
According to Sun, goals for synth were:
• Enable to create custom look without writing any code.
• Allow appearance to be configured from images.
• Provide the ability to customize the look of a component based on its named properties.
• Provide a centralized point for overriding the look of all components.
• Enable custom rendering based on images, or user-defined SynthPainters.
History
synth is available beginning with version J2SE 5.0 of Java (see Java version history).
Java SE 6 Update 10 release and newer contain Nimbus, a cross-platform Look and Feel implemented with Synth.
However, for backwards compatibility, Metal is still the default Swing look and feel. [1]
Architecture
Synth is a skinnable look and feel in which all painting is delegated to the components, without having to write any
code (see Synth Look and Feel).
However synth does not provide a default look, and components that are not defined in the synth XML file will not
be painted. It is however possible to assign a default style to all other widgets, and customize styles for some specific
widgets only.
Example
The following XML declaration defines a style named textfield and binds it to all text fields. The defaultStyle allows
to set a default font, foreground and background colors to all other widgets.