The Application Foundation Classes (AFC) were a graphical framework for building Java

Java (programming language)

Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

-based graphical user interface

Graphical user interface

In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...

s (GUIs), developed by Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 and shipped as part of the Microsoft SDK for Java. AFC was based on the Abstract Window Toolkit

Abstract Window Toolkit

The Abstract Window Toolkit is Java's original platform-independent windowing, graphics, and user-interface widget toolkit. The AWT is now part of the Java Foundation Classes — the standard API for providing a graphical user interface for a Java program.AWT is also the GUI toolkit for a...

 (AWT), but its architecture made it easier to extend components to better fit user needs.

AFC components were announced to be cross-platform, but they worked better with Microsoft Java Virtual Machine

Java Virtual Machine

A Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...

, and support on non-Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 platform was problematic.

History

The release of AFC (along with J/Direct

J/Direct

J/Direct was a technology included in some versions of Microsoft's Java Virtual Machine, which allowed direct calls into the Windows API. J/Direct was specific of Microsoft's Virtual Machine, in replacement of the standard Java Native Interface ....

 (instead of JNI), and WFC), was part of an effort by Microsoft to gain leadership on the growing Java

Java (programming language)

Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

 community.

With the release of Java Foundation Classes

Java Foundation Classes

The Java Foundation Classes are a graphical framework for building portable Java-based graphical user interfaces . JFC consists of the Abstract Window Toolkit , Swing and Java 2D. Together, they provide a consistent user interface for Java programs, regardless whether the underlying user interface...

, interest for AFC dropped, and they later were no longer maintained.