Docker is best suited for running services vs. applications that have GUIs. However, it is possible to run applications that have X11 based GUIs on Docker using x11vnc. It is a rather complex topic.

Let's start with the basics, HelloWorldSwing.java

mkdir apps
cat <<\EOF > apps/HelloWorldSwing.java
import javax.swing.*;        

public class HelloWorldSwing {
    private static void createAndShowGUI() {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("HelloWorldSwing");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        JLabel label = new JLabel("<html><div style='font-size: 100pt'>Hello World</div></html>");
        label.putClientProperty("JComponent.sizeVariant", "large");
        frame.getContentPane().add(label);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                createAndShowGUI();
            }
        });
    }
}
EOF

OK, we have a Java program. Now we need to compile it.

docker run -v$(pwd)/apps:/apps --name javac.app openjdk:7-jdk-alpine javac /apps/Hello/HelloWorldSwing.java

Now for the fun part. Let's bring up a Docker container running x11vnc and Java 8. We'll use Java 8 from Azul Systems vs. OpenJDK.

First we need to create some files:

mkdir profile.d
cat <<\EOF > profile.d/javac.sh 
#!/bin/sh

export PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/openwin/bin:/usr/dt/bin:/opt/kde4/bin:/opt/kde3/bin:/opt/gnome/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sfw/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/zulu-8-amd64/jre/bin
EOF

cat <<\EOF > xsession
#!/bin/bash
# ~/.Xclients, start my programs.

xterm -ls -geometry 190x70+80+30 &

echo Starting Window Manager...

exec lwm >> ~/.lwm-errors 2>&1

# eof
EOF

cat <<\EOF > Dockerfile
FROM debian:jessie-slim

RUN     apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 0x219BD9C9
RUN     echo "deb http://repos.azulsystems.com/debian stable  main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/zulu.list
RUN     apt-get -qq update
RUN	apt-get install -y vim net-tools netcat
RUN	apt-get install -y x11vnc xvfb
RUN	apt-get install -y lwm
RUN	apt-get -yq install zulu-8; true

RUN	mkdir /root/.vnc

COPY	xsession /root/.xsession
RUN	chmod +x /root/.xsession

ADD	profile.d /etc/profile.d

EXPOSE  5900
EOF

cat <<\EOF > rungui 
#!/bin/bash
docker build -t debian:gui --build-arg REBUILD=${RANDOM} . 2>&1 | tee build.out

#docker rm -f gui.app
docker run -d -p 3000:3000 -p 3000:3000/udp -p 5900:5900 -v$(pwd)/apps:/root/apps --name gui.app debian:gui init
docker exec -it gui.app su - -c 'x11vnc -forever -nopw -create'
EOF
chmod +x rungui

Let's start the Docker container where the app lives:

./rungui

We'll need a VNC viewer. I like this one:

http://tigervnc.org/

For testing, we can just disable all the security and passwords in the VNC viewer. Then connect to the Docker container. Note: you must use the IP address of the host running the Docker engine. If this is a VM, the network interface must be bridged or port forwarding of 5900 must be used.

At this point you will have a shell running in an xterm. Just execute the program using the java command:

cd apps/Hello
java HelloWorldSwing