How can I use eclipse to build a GUI? (I want to use only swing/awt and no other packages)

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I usually write java code using a simple text editor and .bat files to compile and run. I'm not used to IDEs like Eclipse or Netbeans and as a result every GUI I've made so far has been written by hand.

Questions:

  • Can I use eclipse to build a GUI easily (e.g. drag-drop features)?

  • Can this generated code use only the basic java packages (swing, awt) and not any other package provided by the IDE?

I'm saying this because -correct me if I'm wrong- from what I have read so far, I understand that Eclipse and other IDEs use their own packages (to achieve better layouts for example). I would like to avoid this dependency and if possible copy-paste the code generated by Eclipse and then work in the simple way I'm used to.

Thanks in advance.

[edit]
Having tried it for a couple of days, I can now say that WindowsBuilder is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for all your replies.

5 Answers
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