The JBuilder integrated development environment provides a single window that is equipped to handle the large majority of development functions. This window is called the AppBrowser. From the AppBrowser you can create, edit, and manage files and projects, visually design visual features, and compile, debug, and run your applications.
The AppBrowser has several panes and panels designed for performing its functions. These elements are shown below.
These elements of the AppBrowser perform the following functions:
AppBrowser element | Description |
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Main menu bar | Provides access to many menus, such as File, Edit, Search, Run, and Wizards. |
Main toolbar | Composed of small toolbars grouped by functionality. Buttons on the toolbar provide shortcuts to commands. |
Project pane | Displays the contents of the project currently selected from the project drop-down list. The project tree can be navigated and manipulated without opening files. |
Project toolbar | Contains a drop-down list of currently open projects and buttons for adding and removing files, closing the project, and refreshing the project files in the project pane. |
Structure pane | Contains icons, sort options, and error display. Supports JavaDoc @todo tags. The structure pane shows the structure of the file currently selected in the content pane. For a Java file, this structure is displayed in the form of a tree showing all the methods, properties, and events defined in the file. The structure pane provides a drill-down feature. Double-click a class or interface to see its ancestor. Other file types may have their structure displayed differently.
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Content pane | Where open files are viewed. Each open file has a tab that displays the file name (file tab) and tabs at the bottom for its different available views (file view tabs). |
File view tabs | Allow you to change the view of the content pane to source, design, Bean, or doc view. |
File tabs | Display the names of open files. Only the file tabs of the active project are shown. To view an open file, select its file tab. |
Message pane | A tabbed display area for messages from subsystems, such as designers, search results, and compiler, debugger, and runtime processes. The message pane is visible when these subsystems are activated. It also houses the debugger user interface. |
Status bars | Keep you updated on any processes and their results. There are three status bars. The main status bar is displayed at the bottom of the AppBrowser window. The file status bar is displayed at the bottom of the open file in the source view of the content pane. The message status bar is displayed at the bottom of the message pane, above the message tab. |
The AppBrowser can be customized using the OpenTools API.
You can use the UI designer to design your application visually.
To view a file in the UI designer, select the Design tab at the bottom of the content pane. The design view for the file is displayed and the component palette, available only in the design view, appears at the top of the content pane.
To create a UI, drag and drop components from the component palette in the content pane or in the structure pane on the appropriate node. The resulting code is automatically generated and inserted into your file. Use the Inspector to adjust the properties of the components you choose.
When you run the debugger, it appears in the message pane. Multiple debugging sessions are displayed as tabs along the bottom of the AppBrowser.
To use the debugger, select Run|Debug Project.
Keyboard shortcut | Action |
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Ctrl+Tab | Moves forward in rotation order to the next AppBrowser pane. The rotation order is project pane, structure pane, content pane, message pane tab, and message pane text area. |
Shift+Ctrl+Tab | Moves backwards in rotation order to the previous AppBrowser pane. |
Up/down arrows | Moves the selection cursor up and down in a tree. |
Enter or left/right arrows | Project and structure pane - expands and collapses top level tree node branches. |
Enter | Project pane - opens a selected source file and places cursor in Source view. This is equivalent to a double-click. Structure pane - drills down into the superclass or interface of the selected class. This is equivalent to a double-click. |
For more information, see the "Navigating and searching in the AppBrowser" topic in "The JBuilder environment" chapter of Building Applications with JBuilder.