Main Window
The Main Window opens when Forte for Java is launched and remains open as long as Forte for Java is running. The Main Window can be viewed as the control center of the IDE. Most important operations and commands are accessible from this window. The Main Window can be broken into four separate groups of controls: the menus, the toolbars, the workspace tabs, and the status line.
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Menus and toolbars
A listing of all menu items and toolbar operations is given in Main Window Menus and Toolbars, and specific operations are mentioned in pertinent sections. Menu items and toolbar tools are context sensitive: they may be dimmed, depending on which window is currently active or which object is selected. Menu entries and toolbars can be re-ordered and customized. Keyboard shortcuts are shown in their corresponding menu items. See Customizing menus and toolbars for more information.
Component Palette
The Component Palette (shown in the right half of the figure above) is a special toolbar used in conjunction with the Form Editor to visually build forms. It consists of several tabs, each housing standard components and layouts.
Workspaces
Forte for Java uses the concept of workspaces to manage windows and tools. On the lower left corner of the Main Window are five workspace tabs: Editing, GUI Editing, Browsing (unless the Object Browser is not installed), Running, and Debugging (unless there is no Debugger installed). Each workspace contains a set of opened windows appropriate to specific stages of the development cycle. Clicking on each of these tabs "flips" between each workspace. By default, the IDE automatically switches to the GUI Editing Workspace when you open up a visual form, to the Running Workspace when you execute an application, and to the Debugging Workspace when you initiate a debugging session. For more information on managing workspaces, see Workspaces.
Contextual menus
Many of the commands available in Forte for Java are available through contextual menus.
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