A Tour of the IDE

When you start the IDE for the first time, several things happen simultaneously:

The Main Window

The window at the top of the screen is referred to as the "main window." It is the command center for the IDE. In the main window, you can find the menu bar, several toolbars, the component palette, and the workspace buttons (Editing, GUI Editing, Browsing, Running, and Debugging). From the menus, you have access to all the top-level windows in the IDE, such as the Source Editor, the Properties window, the debugger window, the Options window, and the Project Settings window.

The Help menu gives you access to online help, a tutorial that familiarizes you with the IDE, and a link to the User's Central site where you can get information on updates and pointers to Java resources. From the Help menu, you choose Submit Feedback to send questions or comments about the IDE to the development team.

Menus and Toolbars

You can activate the most commonly called commands in the IDE from the main menu bar and the various toolbars in the main window. Each toolbar provides a group of related commands:
System Commands for opening a new template, saving open files, and opening the Object Browser and Explorer windows
Edit Commands for editing source code
Data Commands that enable you to find or view information
Build Commands for compiling or building
Debug Commands for setting a breakpoint, adding a watch, getting trace information, and other common debugging commands
Form Commands for opening the Component Inspector, displaying the grid in the Form Editor, and switching from design mode to test mode

At the left side of each toolbar and the component palette is a drag bar. Use the drag bars to reposition the toolbar and the palette.

Component Palette

In the right half of the main window, you can see the component palette with its numerous tabs for various AWT, Swing, and JavaBeans components, along with a selection of layout managers and border styles. As you become familiar with customizing the IDE, you will see how to add components and additional tabs to the palette.

Workspaces

A workspace is a set of windows that are related to performing a particular task. From the main window, you can open the default workspaces: Editing, GUI Editing, Browsing, Running, and Debugging. When the IDE is first started, the Editing workspace is opened. You can customize the workspaces to fit your needs.

To continue the tour of the IDE, see Workspaces for descriptions of the top-level windows in each workspace.

See also
Key Concepts

Legal Notices