Appendix. Porting a legacy application
You’ve seen how Griffon can be used to create desktop applications from scratch, and you’ve had a lot of fun while doing so. Sadly, all isn’t fun and giggles when it comes to dealing with existing Java-based applications, because you can’t go back in time and begin the project with Griffon as the starting tool. But as the saying goes, hope dies last, and there’s hope for solving this problem. No, it’s not a time machine, no matter how much we long for a TARDIS; rather, it’s a set of tips and features that can ease the transition from a full Java Swing application to a Griffon-enabled one.
Let’s begin with the visible aspect of an application.
You might recall that back in section 4.6, we discussed two options that allow you to adapt a legacy view into a Griffon application without changing the source of the existing view classes: the ability to wrap a Swing GUI Builder (formerly Matisse) view into a Groovy view script, or use the Abeille Forms Designer plugin if your views rely on AFD. Here’s a quick summary of both approaches.