JDIC (JDesktop Integration Components) project incubates many useful desktop features. In the recent months, we have been working closely with the J2SE team to incorporate some of the exciting features from JDIC into the next J2SE release (J2SE 6.0, code named Mustang). Check out the JDIC Inclusion Into J2SE section of my blog Where's JDIC Going? for a briefing of JDIC's feature inclusion into J2SE.

Both the Tray Icon API (org.jdesktop.jdic.tray.*) and Desktop component (org.jdesktop.jdic.desktop.*) will be included in Mustang. These two sets of APIs will be added under the java.awt package. Here are more details: 

• Feature: API to add a Java application to a system's app-launching panel/toolbar 
  Bug ID: 4310333. This feature started as the JDIC Tray Icon API.

• Feature: API to launch desktop helper applications 
  Bug ID: 6255196. This feature started as the JDIC Desktop component. Post your comments to the discussion thread.

The main functionality of these features in J2SE will be similar to the one in JDIC, although the APIs in these features will be reviewed and revised to ensure they fit nicely with the rest of the J2SE APIs. 

The feature inclusion shows the potential reward in contributing to the JDIC project: if you work on a useful desktop feature within JDIC, one day it may be included in every copy of J2SE!

Questions & Answers

Q: Will you remove those packages from JDIC after the inclusion in Mustang? 
A: We won't do that in the near future. Since there will still be a lot of people using J2SE 1.4 or 1.5, we'll keep them within JDIC, but mention their availability in Mustang and suggest a migration.

Q: If you keep them in JDIC, how will you maintain the code?
A: Afterwards, these features in JDIC will be in maintenance mode.

Q: Where should I report bugs after the Mustang inclusion, J2SE or JDIC?
A: It depends on where you find the bug. Raise it to J2SE through the "normal" bug database if it happens to J2SE, and to JDIC if you are using JDIC releases. If a bug reported to JDIC also happens to J2SE, we'll report it to J2SE as well.

Q: What other JDIC components will be included in later J2SE releases after Mustang?
A: As the next step, we are working closely with the J2SE team to incorporate the JDIC Browser component (package org.jdesktop.jdic.browser) into a future release of J2SE after Mustang.