Preamble

One of the most useful applications for J/Link is to write user interface elements for Mathematica programs. Examples of such elements would be a progress bar monitoring the completion of a computation, a window that displays an image or animation, a dialog box that prompts the user for input or helps them compose a proper call of an unfamiliar function, or a mini-application that leads the user through the steps of an analysis. These types of user interfaces are distinct from what you might write for a Java program that uses Mathematica in the background in that they "pop up" when the user invokes some Mathematica code. They do not replace the notebook front end, they just augment it. In this way, they are like an extension of the palettes and other specialty notebook elements you can create in the front end.

Mathematica with J/Link is an extremely powerful and productive environment for creating user interfaces. The complexity of user interface code is ideally suited to the interactive line-at-a-time nature of J/Link development. You can literally build, modify, and experiment with your user interface while it is running.