Declarative vs fluent

Mateu supports two main ways of building UIs in Java.

Declarative

In the declarative style, you describe the UI with:

  • classes
  • fields
  • methods
  • annotations

Best for

  • forms
  • CRUD screens
  • fast development
  • simple UIs

Fluent

In the fluent style, you build the UI with Mateu’s Java API.

Best for

  • custom layouts
  • advanced composition
  • fine-grained control

Recommendation

Start with the declarative style.

Use the fluent style when you need more control.