Designing Forms

See Also

The Forms Designer provides you with a dynamic way to visually create forms for your applications. You can turn a two-dimensional form into source code that is based on the Windows Foundation Classes for Java (WFC). The Forms Designer contains Rapid Application Development (RAD) features, such as code generation and code completion, that provide quick syntax analysis, debugging information, and other tools for:

• Creating a form and specifying the alignment and formatting without having to write Java code.
  
  
• Managing the Toolbox containing WFC, ActiveX, and custom controls.
  
  
• Adding controls to a form by dragging WFC and ActiveX controls onto it. The Forms Designer generates the appropriate Java source code.
  
  
• Adding event handlers to controls.
  
  
• Formatting forms to position and size your forms and controls by dragging their handles and objects visually without having to write Java code.
  
  
• Setting properties with the Properties window without having to write Java code. Properties include form elements such as color, size, position, and font.
  
  
• Creating menus for your form through the addition of a single WFC control.
  
  
• Code generation synchronization for visual representation of code changes and form views.
  
  
• Writing or modifying Java code for a form and viewing the results in the Forms Designer.
  
  
• Authoring WFC controls for your forms.