Managing the Beans Palette

You can modify the beans palette at any time from the Visual Composition Editor and in any of the following ways:

To resize the palette, drag the sizing handle on the right side of the palette. If you choose not to resize the palette and some of the beans are not visible, you can access the beans by using the scroll buttons that appear at the top and bottom of the palette.

To change the icon size on the palette and the Beans List, open the palette pop-up and select Show Large Icons. This is a toggle option with the default set to small icons (16x16). The large icons are 32x32.

To reorder the beans within a category, or move a bean to another category:

  1. From the palette pop-up or the Bean pull-down, select Modify Palette.
  2. From the Palette list, drag the bean to the position or category you desire.
  3. Click OK.

If you have a category with many beans, you can group common beans using separators. To add a grouping separator to a category:

  1. Select the category.
  2. Select Add Separator and VisualAge adds a separator to the end of the category.
  3. Select the new separator line and drag it to the desired location.

To remove a separator line, select the separator and then click Remove.

You may need to refresh the palette to view the following changes:

To refresh the palette, select Refresh Palette from the palette pop-up.

Adding a Category to the Palette

  1. From the palette pop-up, select Modify Palette, and the Modify Palette window appears.
  2. From the Palette group box, select New Category and a new category item appears highlighted in the list.
  3. Enter the name for your new category in the highlighted region.
  4. Enter or click OK.

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Related concepts
Beans Palette
Object Serialization in VisualAge

Related procedures
Composing Beans Visually

Related references
Modify Palette Window
Refresh Palette

Adding a Bean to the Palette

To add beans to any category on the beans palette:

  1. From the palette pop-up, select Modify Palette, and the Modify Palette window appears.
  2. Select the bean type.
  3. Under Palette, select a category for the new bean.
  4. Select Add to Category and click OK. The Visual Composition Editor adds the bean to the category on the beans palette.

To add beans from a project to any category on the beans palette:

  1. From the palette pop-up, select Add Bean from Project, and the Modify Palette window appears.
  2. From the Available beans pane, open the project in the drop-down list and select the project that contains the beans you want to add to the palette.
  3. Select the beans, by selecting the check boxes.
  4. Under Palette, select a category for the new beans.
  5. Select Add to Category and click OK. The Visual Composition Editor adds the beans to the category on the beans palette.


Add Bean from Project

You can also add class or serialized files from .jar files to the palette by following the import SmartGuide from the File menu. The Modify Palette window that appears contains an Available beans list, where you select the beans you want to add to the category you select, or create, in the Palette list.


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Note:If you designate an icon for the bean in the Information pane of the BeanInfo class, it is used for the palette entry. Otherwise, a default icon is used.


Related concepts
Beans Palette

Related procedures
Deleting a Bean or Category from the Palette

Related references
Modify Palette Window
BeanInfo Page
Add Bean from Project