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The Model-View-Controller Architecture

Swing has adopted the (highly successful) Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture.

MVC is a commonly-used pattern for Graphical User Interfaces:

• Each component has three characteristics:
  • its contents, or state.
  • its visual appearance
  • its behavior (reaction to events)
• These characteristics are represented by:
  • The model, which stores the contents/state, and has no user interface
  • The view, which displays the contents;  there can be more than one view for a model.
  • The controller, which handles user input.

Model-View-Controller Interactions

Example

For example, take a very simple component, a button:

• The model stores the content:
  • Whether the button is currently pushed in or out, active or inactive, etc.
  • The text to be displayed (if any)
• The view displays the representation of that content:
  • The visual indication of the button's state (in or out, active, etc.)
  • The text (if any), clipped if doesn't fit within the confines of the visual representation.
• The controller handles the user input events:
  • Mouse clicks
  • Keystrokes

and translates them into any appropriate changes in the model and/or view.

This page was last modified on 02 October, 2007