Integration Into an Application

To integrate the Quaqua Look and Feel in an application, you need to do the following:

  1. Include the file quaqua.jar in the class path.
    If you don't need the full functionality of the Quaqua Look and Feel, you can include one of the following files instead: quaqua-filechooser-only.jar, quaqua-colorchooser-only.jar or the quaqua-menu-only.jar.
  2. Include the directory /System/Library/Java in the class path.
    In most cases, this happens automatically, if you include quaqua.jar in the class path, because quaqua.jar manifest has a Class-Path attribute that points this directory.
    /System/Library/Java is needed to generate application and file icons. If this directory is not in the class path JOptionPane icons won't display the application icon and JFileChooser will not display a large preview icon of the currently selected file.
  3. Include the files libquaqua.jnilib, libquaqua64.jnilib and libquaqua64.dylib in the library path.
    In most cases, it is sufficient to put these files in the same directory as the quaqua.jar file. In some cases you have to specify the library path explicitly using the system property "java.library.path".
    These JNI libraries are needed by the JFileChooser and by JSheet. If you need either of them, you can omit this step.
  4. Change the code of the main method according the following code snippet:

 

public class MyApplication {
     public static void main(String[] args) {

         // set system properties here that affect Quaqua
         // for example the default layout policy for tabbed
         // panes:
         System.setProperty(
            "Quaqua.tabLayoutPolicy","wrap"

         );

         // set the Quaqua Look and Feel in the UIManager
         try {
              UIManager.setLookAndFeel(
                  ch.randelshofer.quaqua.QuaquaManager.getLookAndFeel();
              );
         // set UI manager properties here that affect Quaqua
         ...
         } catch (Exception e) {
             // take an appropriate action here
             ...
         }
         // insert your application initialization code here
         ...
     }
}

Alternatively, Quaqua can be set in the UIManager using a class name String. This should be avoided, because the class name may change due to incompatible changes in the Java API.

The Quaqua Look and Feel can be customized using System properties, UIManager properties and Client properties.