Visual composition is the creation of object-oriented program elements by manipulating graphical representations of components. VisualAge provides a powerful tool, the Visual Composition Editor, that enables you to visually construct applications, applets, and reusable beans.
In the Visual Composition Editor, you select and place beans to create graphical user interfaces (GUIs). These GUIs can include VisualAge beans, imported beans, and beans you create yourself. By following a few guidelines, you can design versatile beans that you can reuse in many compositions. VisualAge also enables you to use nonvisual beans to perform the business logic and data access.
Development using visual composition can include the following steps:
Visual Programming Fundamentals
How Classes and Beans Are Related
Visual, Nonvisual, and Composite Beans
Free-Form Surface
Beans Palette
Adding Beans in the Visual Composition Editor
Property Sheets
Setting Tabbing Order
Tearing Off Properties
Layout Managers in Visual Composition
Working with Beans Visually
Composing Beans Visually
Adding the IBM Java Examples project
Setting a Layout Manager during Visual Composition
Managing the Beans Palette
Setting the Tabbing Order
Tearing Off Properties
Opening the Property Sheet for a Bean
Visual Composition Editor
The Menu Bar in Visual Composition
Properties
Pop-Up Menus for the Visual Composition Editor