What's New in JFormDesigner 8.x

Custom Property Values

Support custom values for properties. You can either use subclasses of property type, or use factory classes that provide static fields or methods of property type. Right-click on property (in Properties view) and choose Custom Value from context menu. To remove custom value use Restore Default Value.

SVG Icon Options

Optionally specify custom width, height, scale factor and color mapping for SVG icons.

FlatLaf Client Properties

Added FlatLaf Client Properties to Properties view. The Client Properties category now shows, depending on component type, FlatLaf related client properties. E.g. for a JButton:

JFormDesigner annotations open sourced

Open sourced JFormDesigner annotations library under BSD license and published to Maven Central repository (groupId: com.formdev.jformdesigner artifactId: jfd-annotations version: 1.0).

Runtime Library on Maven Central

JFormDesigner Runtime Library published to Maven Central repository (groupId: com.formdev.jformdesigner artifactId: jfd-loader version: 8.3).

FlatLaf IntelliJ themes

FlatLaf IntelliJ Themes themes are now included, which adds 48 FlatLaf themes.

NetBeans look and feels

NetBeans plugin now supports different look and feels in design view, if using FlatLaf as NetBeans application look and feel.

JSVG

Built-in SVG renderer now uses JSVG instead of svgSalamander for rendering SVG images.

JGoodies Layout

Java code generator can generate code for JGoodies Layout/Forms versions 1.14 and later.

Eclipse look and feels

Eclipse plugin supports different look and feels in design view when running Eclipse in Java 17+.

FlatLaf macOS themes

FlatLaf macOS light and dark themes are now included.

SVG icons

Support using SVG images in forms for properties of type javax.swing.Icon. Uses class FlatSVGIcon from FlatLaf Extras. Requires flatlaf-extras.jar, flatlaf.jar and jsvg.jar at runtime.

BorderLayout Position

Added Position action to context menu of BorderLayout children to allow quickly change child position (center, north, south, etc.).

Multi-line in-place-editing

In-place-editing now supports editing multi-line text (if text already contains a line separator).

Ctrl+double-click on components in design view that support in-place-editing (e.g. label, button or text components) now opens dialog to edit text property.

FlatLaf

JFormDesigner now uses FlatLaf Look and Feel:

• The Stand-alone edition uses FlatLaf as application L&F and in Design view.
• The Eclipse plugin uses FlatLaf Light for light Eclipse themes, or FlatLaf Dark if Eclipse uses a dark theme, and supports FlatLaf in Design view.
• The IntelliJ IDEA plugin supports FlatLaf in Design view.
• The NetBeans plugin supports FlatLaf in Design view if NetBeans application look and feel is FlatLaf (Tools > Options > Appearance > Look and Feel). NetBeans ships with FlatLaf since version 11.3 and uses FlatLaf Light as default L&F since version 13.

Dark Mode

The Stand-alone edition and the Eclipse plugin now also support dark mode.

Properties view improved

The Properties view has following improvements:

• Modified properties are now highlighted using a light green background, which makes them easier to recognize. Selected rows use a dark green background (instead of blue).
• If Group by Defining Type or Alphabetical is selected, then read-only properties are now organized in a Read-only Properties category.
• Pressing F3 key shows editor dialog for selected row.
• Color properties now use hex format (e.g. #f2f2f2).

Window title bars in Design view

Improved window title bars in Design view for JFrame, JDialog, Frame and Dialog:

• support dark window title bars on macOS and Linux
• use Windows 11 style on Windows
• replaced image based window borders with vector graphics

IntelliJ IDEA plugin: Dark window title bars

The IntelliJ IDEA plugin (on Windows) now uses IntelliJ custom window decorations in JFormDesigner dialogs, which shows dark window title bars in dark themes. No white window title bars anymore.

IntelliJ IDEA plugin: File chooser

The IntelliJ IDEA plugin now uses IntelliJ file chooser for JFormDesigner settings import/export and license key selection.

Formatter off/on tags

Newly created Java files now include formatter off/on tags (@formatter:off and @formatter:on), which can be used by Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA formatters to exclude generated code from formatting. See Java code generator Templates preferences.

// JFormDesigner - Variables declaration - DO NOT MODIFY  //GEN-BEGIN:variables  @formatter:off
private JComboBox comboBox1;
private JButton button1;
// JFormDesigner - End of variables declaration  //GEN-END:variables  @formatter:on

SVG icons

Bitmap icons have been replaced with new modern SVG icons, which gives a nicer look, especially on HiDPI screens.

System Requirements

JFormDesigner now requires Java 11 to run, but still supports older Java versions in projects and generated code.

Older IDE versions are no longer supported and the JDeveloper plugin has been dropped.

The macOS StandAlone edition is now a universal macOS binary and includes Apple Silicon and Intel JREs.