The components are organized in categories. Click on a category header to expand or collapse a category.

You can add a new component to the form in following ways:

Select a component in the palette, move the cursor to the Design or Structure view and click where you want to add the component.

Select Choose Bean , enter the class name of the component in the Choose Bean dialog, click OK, move the cursor to the Design or Structure view and click where you want to add the component.

To add multiple instances of a component, hold down the Ctrl key ( Mac : Command key) while clicking on the Design or Structure view.

The component palette is fully customizable. Right-click on the palette to add, edit, remove or reorder components and categories. Or use the Palette Manager .

Palette Manager ¶

This dialog allows you to fully customize the component palette. You can add, edit, remove or reorder components and categories.

Choose Bean ¶

You can use any component that follows the JavaBean specification in JFormDesigner. Select Choose Bean in the palette to open the Choose Bean dialog.

Here you can search for classes. Enter the first few characters of the class you want to choose until it appears in the matching classes list. Then select it in the list and click OK.

Following pattern kinds are supported:

Wildcards: "*" for any string; "?" for any character; terminating "<" or " " (space) prevents implicit trailing "*"

Camel case: "JB" for classes containing "J" and "B" as upper-case letters in camel-case notation, e.g. JButton or JideButton ; "DaPi" for classes containing "Da" and "Pi" as parts in camel-case notation, e.g. DatePicker

The matching classes list displays all classes that match. It is separated into up to three sections:

History matches: classes found in the history of last used classes. If the search field is empty, the complete history is displayed. To delete a class from the history, select it and press the Delete key or right-click on it and select Delete from the popup menu.

Project matches: classes found in the Classpath specified in the current Project .

Palette matches: classes found in the palette.

Use Filter Classes are hidden if they do not match the filter. E.g. if the JavaBean filter is active and the class is not public or does not have a public constructor. Show Interfaces Includes interfaces in the list of matching classes.

The Is Container check box allows you to specify whether a bean is a container or not.

If you select Add to palette category , the component will be added to the palette category specified in the following field. Click the New button to create a new category for your components if necessary.

Stand-alone : Use the Classpath button to specify the location of your component classes. Add your JAR files or class folders.

IDE plug-ins : The classpath specified in the IDE project is used to locate component classes.

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