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Question 1 | Can i use some / all of the code in Substance? |
Answer | Substance is released under BSD license. You are free to modify any part of the code as long as you mention the original license in the source code / the runnable distribution. |
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Question 2 | Can i create my own look-and-feel on top of Substance? |
Answer | The code is written having this is mind. Most of the classes / functions are protected and not final, so you will be able to subclass them. This has not been tested, however. In case you see some method / class that is not accessible and you'd like to use, feel free to contact me. |
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Question 3 | What is the policy for backwards binary and visual compatibility? |
Answer | The binary compatibility is intended to be complete for the supported
properties and API. Other classes (such as
SubstanceImageCreator or
SubstanceCoreUtilities ) are subject to change at any time. In case you are writing a Substance
plugin and wish to use non-API functions, contact me so I will know about the functionality that
you intend to use. The visual compatibility is much less enforced. From time to time you may see
additional UI elements added on top of the existing components. |
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Question 4 | Is it possible to backport Substance to 1.4? |
Answer | The current capabilities of tools such as
Retrotranslator and
Retroweaver do not support
the new JDK-5.0 classes and functions that Substance uses (among them are
MouseInfo and
PointerInfo ). In addition, a lot of UI-related bugs were fixed
in JDK 5.0. See this
article for more detailed explanation. |
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Question 5 | I like some of the features, but the jar size is too big. How can i get a smaller runnable? |
Answer | In short - if you like the features, you pay the price. In long - you
have a number of options:
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Question 6 | Scrolling and moving windows leaves the watermark in inconsistent state. Is it a bug? |
Answer | No, it's by design. Swing does not repaint the component on every event
while scrolling or moving the windows / frames / dialogs. Try it and watch the CPU go berserk. As by default the
Substance watermarks are screen-bound, you may (and will) experience the watermark inconsistency. Here are
some things you can do:
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Question 7 | I use an image-based watermark in my application / applet and don't see it. Is it a bug? |
Answer | By default, all Substance watermarks are screen-bound
(also true under multiple screens). This is in order to enable smooth and seamless operation
of applications that use multiple frames / dialogs. In addition, this allows to blend
Substance-based applications on desktops with matching backgrounds. Specifically for image-based
watermarks this may present a visual problem if the specified (local or remote) image is smaller
than the screen (one or both dimensions). In this case the image is not enlarged and is centered
in the middle of the screen. Unless your application is situated properly, the visual result
is "no watermark". In order to amend the situation you will need to provide a larger image.
Two notes:
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Question 8 | I don't like Substance. |
Answer | That's not really a question. If you don't like it, you can either help improve it by suggesting additional features in the forums and mailing lists, or use any other core or third-party look-and-feel. Here is an excellent list of all currently available third-patry LAFs. |
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Question 9 | I requested the Project Owner / Developer / Content Developer role in this project. Why did you reject my request? |
Answer | Look-and-feel in general and Substance in particular require fairly advanced knowledge of Swing. This is not a playground / sandbox for experimenting with Swing - Substance aims to be a production-quality alternative to core and other third-party LAFs. As you wouldn't want a total stranger to be a part of your production team, you need first to establish yourself a worthy addition to this (or any other) project. You can start by requesting the Observer role, suggest new features, learn Substance codebase and propose ways to implement new features. After you show your skill and the will to stick with this project, you can expect a serious thought invested in answering the request for the Developer role. In addition, there is no need for Content Developer role in this project since I'm quite capable of maintaining a static HTML site by myself. The Project Owner role is granted only after certified analysis by three independent doctors that shows that the requester is in a lucid state of mind. |
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Question 10 | Are there any known issues in Substance? |
Answer | See the known issues documentation. If you find an issue not mentioned in the above document, you can report it in either issue tracker, mailing lists, forums or direct mail to {kirillcool [@at@] yahoo [.dot.] com}. |
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Question 11 | How can i use Substance on Mac and still have the standard Mac application toolbar? |
Answer | Use AWT menus. Thanks to Werner Randelshofer for the answer. |
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Question 12 | I use animated GIFs as icons on internal frames and the CPU usage goes berserk (100% maxed out). Some parts of the application do not get repainted at all. What do i do? |
Answer | When an animated GIF is set as an internal frame icon, the entire
desktop pane is repainted on the GIF frame sequencing - not only the icon, not only the frame title pane
and even not only that internal
frame. Since Substance is much more CPU-intensive than Metal / Windows (it is partially addressed
with the image caching), this results in severe CPU bottlenecks and refresh glitches on some controls.
The call to The best advice is to not use animated GIFs as icons. Thanks to Martin Clifford for pointing out this issue. |
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Question 13 | What's going on with my cell renderers? |
Answer | By design, Substance provides default renderers for trees, tables and lists that provide the following functionality:
Item 2 is available only on default renderers
( |
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Question 14 | Is there proper support for custom tab components in Mustang? |
Answer | No. Since Substance minimum requirement is JDK 5.0, and the API to work with custom tab components is available only in 6.0, Substance doesn't provide any special support for custom tab components. |
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Question 15 | I remove all references to my frame and Substance doesn't free the resources associated with this frame. |
Answer | This is a known problem and will be
fixed in version 4.0. A workaround for
this is to call dispose() method on the frames.
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Question 16 | Can i use Substance only for some parts of my UI? |
Answer | No. Substance in particular, and Java look and feels in general are not designed to be installed in the "mix and match" fashion. |
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