The GUI Builder is a WYSIWYG visual editor for creating Java dialogs, property sheets and wizards. With the GUI Builder you can add, arrange, or edit user interface controls on a panel, and then preview the panel to verify that the layout behaves the way you expected. You can use the panel definition in a dialog, insert panels into property sheets and wizards, or arrange the panels in splitter panes, deck panes and tabbed panes.
The Resource Script Converter converts Windows user interface elements into a form usable by Java programs. With the Resource Script Converter you can process Windows resource scripts (RC files) from your existing Windows applications and produce definitions of dialogs, property sheets and wizards that can be displayed in Java.
Underlying these two tools is a new technology called the Panel Definition Markup Language, or PDML. PDML is based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and defines a platform-independent language for describing the layout of user interface elements. Once your panels are defined in PDML, you can use the runtime API provided by the Graphical Toolbox to display them. The API displays your panels by interpreting the PDML and rendering your user interface using the Java Foundation Classes.
Defining user interfaces in PDML creates some additional benefits. Because all of a panel's information is consolidated in a formal markup language, the tools can be enhanced to perform additional services on behalf of the developer. For example, both the GUI Builder and the Resource Script Converter are capable of generating HTML skeletons for the panel's online help. The tools scan the PDML markup for a panel and automatically determine what help topics are required. Anchor tags for the help topics are built right into the help skeleton, which frees the help writer to focus on developing appropriate content. The Graphical Toolbox runtime environment automatically displays the correct help topic in response to a user's request.
In addition, PDML provides tags that associate each control on a panel with a property on a Java bean. Once you have identified the bean classes that will supply data to the panel and have associated a property name with each of the appropriate controls, you can request that the tools generate Java source code skeletons for the bean objects. At runtime, the Graphical Toolbox automatically transfers data between the beans and the controls on the panel that you identified.
The Graphical Toolbox runtime environment provides support for event handling, user data validation, and common types of interaction among the elements of a panel. The correct platform look and feel for your user interface is automatically set based on the underlying operating system, and the GUI Builder lets you toggle the look and feel so that you can evaluate how your panels will look on different platforms.
GUI Builder. Three
windows are displayed when you invoke the GUI Builder for the first time,
as shown below.
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Figure 1. GUI Builder window. |
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Figure 2. Properties window. |
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Figure 3. Toolbox window. |
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Resource Script Converter.
The Resource Script Converter consists of a two-paned tabbed dialog as
shown in Figure 4. On the Convert pane you specify the name
of the Microsoft or VisualAge for Windows RC file that is to be converted
to PDML. You can specify the name of the target PDML file and associated
Java resource bundle that will contain the translated strings for the panels.
In addition, you can request that online help skeletons be generated for
the panels, generate Java source code skeletons for the objects that supply
data to the panels, and serialize the panel definitions for improved performance
at runtime. The Converter's online help provides a detailed description
of each input field on the Convert pane.
Figure 4. Resource Script Converter. |
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