Bean Builder is a simple builder that demonstrates the new persistance mechanism. The new persistance scheme is a text based mechanism that allows for the long term storage and reconstruction of Java Bean object graphs.
Bean Builder is also a demonstration of the following technologies:
Watch The Swing Connection for upcoming articles about how Bean Builder implements these technologies.
The Bean Builder requires JDK 1.3 beta or later to be installed in order to run.
You can get an early access of the JDK 1.3 from the Java Developer Connection.
http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/earlyAccess/j2sdk13/
You will need to register if you are not already a member of the JDC. Registration is free.
To install Bean Builder,
The guide directory contains the User Guide and the Tutorial for the Bean Builder.
Make sure that you have access to a local distribution of JDK 1.3 beta or later. You must use a JDK 1.3 beta or later since the archiver and event adapter generation requires API that was introduced in 1.3
The runnit script takes a single argument which is the root to the JDK 1.3 distribution. If the root is not specified then default values are used.
For Solaris, the shell script is called runnit and the default root used is /usr/local/java/jdk1.3/solaris.
For the PC, the batch file is called runnit.bat and the default root is assumed to be c:\jdk1.3.
An instance of JPanel is the root of the object hierarchy. This JPanel is using absolute positioning as it's layout manager.
The builder was not designed for building a menu tree. All behavior associated with components on the "Menu" tab is unsupported. A newer release may address this.
Creating instances of components from the "Containers" tab is undefined with the exception of JScrollPane.
You can drop a Scrollable component such as JList, JTable and JTree in a JScrollPane and the component will be added correctly to the JScrollPane container delegate. However, The Scrollable component will be inaccessible for creating interactions with other components in the design panel.
The selected bounds of a Scrollable components in a JScrollPane will display the resizing handles relative to the parent JScrollPane rather than the Design Panel. This is a known bug.
Editing a text field PropertyEditor could cause an exception if the value is not commited. Pressing the enter key after entering a new value will set that property on the bean. If the value has not been commited then an exception may occur when the property panel is loaded with properties from another object. This is a known bug.
The Swing BeanInfo classes in dt.jar for JDK 1.3 Beta does not have a complete set of information. Specifically, the short descriptions for the components are not complete and some icons may be missing. This omissions don't affect the functionality of the builder and will be fixed with JDK 1.3.
There is no separation between a design representation and the actual application being designed. The archive created will reflect the actual state of the application at the time it was archived. This means that if the app is tested and runtime properties are changed an archive snapshot will represent the current state.
Tutorial for Bean Builder - Step by step instructions to become versed in the features of Bean Builder
Bean Builder User Guide - Describes the UI
Please direct all comments and questions to java-beans@java.sun.com
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