Apple Retina Display Support in Java JDK 1.7 for AWT / Swing
I just became aware that AWT / Swing under Java JDK 1.7 (as of JDK 7u15) does not support Retina displays on Apple Macbook Pros. Netbeans, for example, is nearly unbearable to use for more than a few minutes running on a Retina display and using JDK 1.7.
This has been somewhat addressed in a StackExchange question here, and quoting one specific post:
Apple's Java 6 JRE will support HiDPI, however it is not currently supported by Oracle's Java 7 JRE. It also doesn't work under the latest dev builds of Java 8. Swing and JavaFX apps are blurry on a Retinia MacBook. This is why IntelliJ still runs under Java 6.
My question is more specific than what is asked by the OP of the above thread.
My employer of less than a month uses Swing in all of its applications. For several reasons we are interested in migrating to Java 7 from Java 6. Within the last several days, another developer (who is on Windows), moved our platform over to Java 7. As I'm running a retina Macbook Pro, I noticed the issue when I pulled the latest stable branch of our code.
I am new to Java with less than a year of experience in the community, hence my question: Will the Java community be fairly responsive to this issue moving forward, or should a substantial delay be anticipated (months to a year or more) before Swing in Java 7 is compatible with Apple Retina displays?
Answer
Java 7u40 Early Access now supports HiDPI (Retina) displays, as shown by this changelog. So retina support is now available on:
- Java 6
- Java 7u40ea or greater
- Java 8