JGoodies Binding vs. JSR 295

Question

What is the practical difference between JGoodies Binding and JSR 295, Beans Binding? They both seem to be intended for the same purpose and get their job done (with slightly different approaches). JGoodies Binding is more mature, but JSR 295 is eventually getting part of JDK in Java 7.

Using a standard part of JDK is surely preferable to using a separate library for the same function, but are there other factors to consider? Are there yet some other alternatives? Choosing between these is pretty irreversible architectural decision...

Trihedral

It'd be nice to add link (binding.dev.java.net) to JGoodies -- I wasn't familiar with the project, perhaps others weren't either. – Chibcha

@Chibcha A better link for JGoodies is to the download site at jgoodies.com/downloads/libraries I've used JGoodies Binding on a previous Swing project to separate the model and GUI, to good effect. Highly recommended. – Edith

Answer 1

Just use JGoodies, as it is mature and works. There are certainly ideas from the JGoodies framework being incorporated into the JSR, but as it is not there at this time yet, the options are limited.

The current state seems to be that the JSR will not even get into JDK 7, so we have to wait for JDK 8. Alex Miller has a great page which provides a nice overview about the things which will go in jdk7 and which won't. http://tech.puredanger.com/java7

Beans Binding has a red NO to it, so...

Hooray, JGoodies.

Cheers

Vassallo

Mark Reinhold stated at Devoxx '08 talk that JSR 295 will not be included in Java 7. If you watch the video (available at Parley's) he says that there is not enough consensus on how to do binding to include it at this time. – Shelba

Could you be more specific? JSR295 isn't slated for Java 7 but neither is JGoodies. Why does that make JGoodies better? I understand the maturity issue, but JSR295 doesn't work? or are the features less usable? – Samanthasamanthia

For some reason JSR295 seems to be dead - the latest version is 1.5 years old - while JGoodies Binding seems to be well alive. This makes JGoodies more attractive from developer point of view. Additionally, having tried both, JGoodies is noticeably easier to use. – Trihedral