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CHAPTER 1 : Overview


Introduction

This guide describes Visaj. Each area of Visaj is described in its own chapter or section and clarified with examples where needed. The major areas are:

  1. The Class Editor - Visaj's editor for creating and editing classes (page 37)
  2. Beans View - a description of Visaj's powerful Beans builder (page 55)
  3. Object Palette - the nuts and bolts of the Beans builder (page 59)
  4. The Diamond Components - what they are and how to use them (page 191)
  5. Layout Editors - for laying out the components in a container (page 69)
  6. Event Bindings - how to link objects using events (page 79)
  7. Properties - a description of Property Sheets for components (page 60)
  8. Resource Bundle Editor - how to internationalize your application (page 139)
  9. The Project Window - a description of the Visaj project window (page 147). This may not be available if you are running Visaj from within an IDE - see the Using Visaj from an IDE section on page 2.
  10. Generated Code - how to generate code and what it looks like (page 151)
  11. Configuration - how to configure Visaj (page 161)
  12. Quick Reference - the commands in Visaj at-a-glance (page 199)

Using Visaj from an IDE

If you are using Visaj from within an IDE (Integrated Development Environment), the Project Window may not be available to you. This is because the IDE may prefer to do all file handling itself. For the same reason, some of the File menu operations may also not be available. If this is the case, you will be able to perform these operations from the IDE.


Visaj

Visaj is a Java development tool which allows graphical development of the structure and interface of an application. When the graphical representation is complete, the developer can generate Java code. Not only does Visaj generate pure Java code, it is also written in Java. Both the generated code and Visaj itself are portable across all platforms which support Java 1.1 and above.

Figure  1-1 Class Editor

Development of an application with Visaj is quick and simple. The powerful Class Editor is displayed first. This is where the substance of the user interface is defined and source code generated. Apart from designing and editing your class file, buttons on the toolbar and in the menus lead you to the project window for organizing the files within your project, and to the Resource Bundle Editor for the internationalization of your application.

Figure  1-2 Visaj Project Window

Figure  1-3 Resource Bundle Editor


How To Use This Document

This document describes all the functions of Visaj. Each major feature of Visaj has its own chapter.

Chapter 3, "Visaj Tutorial", starting on page 13, leads you through the major areas of Visaj to create a simple yet functional application. Starting with this tutorial will give you a thorough grounding in the principles of Java application development with Visaj.

Other chapters serve as both a guide and reference for each aspect of Visaj. Appendix  B, "Quick Reference", starting on page 199, helps you quickly find your way around Visaj.

The list of books in Appendix  C, "Bibliography", starting on page 209, suggests some titles for further reading on particular topics relevant to application development with Visaj.

Use the table of contents and index pages to go straight to information on a particular area of Visaj.


Online Help

Online help is available from the Class Editor, the Resource Bundle Editor and the Project window in Visaj. To view the list of help topics, select "Index" from the Help menu in any of these windows. A dialog containing a list of hypertext links to help topics relevant to the current window is displayed, as shown in Figure 1-4. Double-clicking over a topic displays a separate window containing help on the selected topic, as shown in Figure 1-5. This window has three buttons at the top which allow you to move forwards and backwards through the list of help topics and to change the font of the text in the window. References to subjects covered elsewhere in the help are shown as highlighted, underlined hypertext links. Clicking over one of these displays the relevant help information.

Figure  1-4 Online Help Index Window

Figure  1-5 Help on an Individual Topic


Online User Guide

This user guide is available from Visaj in html format. Select "User Guide" from the Help menu.


Prerequisites

Visaj will run on any platform with JDK 1.1. Although Visaj is intuitive and easy to use, you will need to understand the Java language in order to be able to create a class structure for your application, to design and customize your user interface and to use the code generated by Visaj.




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