Introduction

WebObjects lets you create (or borrow!) reusable components that you can use as building blocks for applications. Some components are as simple as a string whose text, color, and font size can be set dynamically. Others are as sophisticated as a component that displays an enterprise object's contents in a table, allowing the user to view and edit the fields.

Using the buttons on the left, you can examine several different types of reusable components­simply click the one you want to see. The documentation that appears in the righthand frame has these sections:

Example
Displays the component and, where possible, lets you interact with it to test its operation.
Description
Starts by explaining the purpose of the component. For more complex components, set up instructions are also included. Following the introductory text is a list of the component's attributes with an explanation of each.
View Source
Displays two buttons that let you view the source code for the current example page or for the reusable component itself. Viewing the example source shows you how to embed the component in your work. Viewing the component source lets you see the implementation of the component itself.

When you click one of these buttons, a new browser window opens displaying three frames, one each for the template, declarations, and script files.

Now that you know how to run these examples, go explore, and then write some of your own!

If you create some useful or instructive components, you might consider packaging them­and examples of their use­in the format used by this example framework. Download this documentation to see how it's done.

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