Options Window: Advanced Options: GUI Builder Settings
See Also
Advanced GUI Builder settings enable you to adjust how the IDE's
GUI Builder displays form information,
to adjust the layout grid size, and to assign specific editors for
certain property types.
You can access the GUI Builder settings in Advanced Options by
choosing Tools > Options from the main menu and clicking Advanced Options
in the Options window.
In the left pane, expand the Editing node and select GUI Builder.
- Some of the following properties are only available in Advanced Options.
To switch between views, click the Advanced Options or Basic Options
buttons in the Options window.
General GUI Builder Properties
- Assistant in Designer. If selected, the GUI Builder Assistant is displayed in design view.
- Connection Border Color. Color of component selection
border during connection mode.
- Drag Feedback Color. Color of target container during
dragging.
- Form Designer Background. Background color of the Form
Designer pane.
- Form Designer Border Color. Color of the boxes around a
designed component.
- Guiding Line Color. Color of the placement guidelines
displayed when moving a component.
- Automatic Resource Management. Determines whether properties files for internationalization
strings are generated automatically.
- Selection Border Color. Color of the boxes around a
component that mark it as selected.
- Selection Border Size. Size (in pixels) of the boxes
around a component that mark it as selected.
- Palette in Toolbar. If selected, the Add Mode button
appears
in the GUI Builder toolbar. You can click this button to select any of
the Palette window's components from the menu that is displayed.
- Use Indentation Engine. If selected, the Java Source
Editor's indentation engine is used when generating Java code. If
unselected, the GUI Builder's simpler (but faster) indentation is used.
Regenerating code for large forms can be slow using the Java Source
Editor's indentation engine.
Expert GUI Builder Properties
- Apply Grid to Position. If selected, the position of
components is snapped to the grid if a grid is used. The grid is used
for forms that use AbsoluteLayout or Null Layout, and for JLayeredPane
and JDesktopPane components.
- Apply Grid to Size. If selected, the size of components
is snapped to the grid if a grid is used.
- Property Editor Search Path. List of packages used
to search the property editor to use in the GUI Builder. For example,
to use an alternate Color property editor, create ColorEditor
and add its full package name to the beginning of the Property Editor
Search Path. ColorEditor is then used when the Color property is
edited.
- Event Variable Name. The name of the variable
generated in the signature of the event handler method for the event
object. For example, evt is the variable name in private
void button1ActionPerformed (java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt).
- Fold Generated Code. If selected, the generated code is folded in
the Source Editor.
- Generate Mnemonics Code. If selected, the IDE generates
special mnemonics code using org.openide.awt.Mnemonics. This
option enables you to define labels and button mnemonics using the &
character in the text property instead of setting the text and
mnemonics properties separately.
- The generate mnemonics code property is only useful for forms
being developed for use in the IDE.
To avoid problems with uncompilable code, activating this option should
be avoided.
- Grid X. Size of the grid in the x axis for AbsoluteLayout,
Null Layout, JLayeredPane, and JDesktopPane.
- Grid Y. Size of the grid in the y axis for AbsoluteLayout,
Null Layout, JLayeredPane, and JDesktopPane.
- Layout Generation Style. Determines the type of code generated.
Advanced layout features may require additional libraries.
- Listener Generation Style. Determines how the code
for component events and their handlers is generated. All of the
options produce functionally equivalent code, but each option has
different performance qualities. There are three options:
- Anonymous Innerclasses. One anonymous innerclass
is generated for each event. This option might have negative impact on
performance and memory of the application, since a lot of classes that
must be loaded and kept when the form is executed.
- One Innerclass. One common innerclass is
generated for the whole form. This innerclass implements all necessary
listeners and dispatches all events to the attached event handlers. The
resulting code is less compact and slightly less efficient, but the
anonymous innerclasses are eliminated. This option is particularly
suitable for large forms with many components and event handlers.
- Main Class. The form's main class implements the
listeners. No special innerclass for events is generated. This is the
most efficient option, but it does not work well with all types of
forms. This option should only be used if the form class does not
declare any listener implementation that could interact with events
that are generated by components in the form.
- Local Variables. If selected, the variables generated for the
components on the form are declared as local variables in the
initComponents() method. If unselected, the variables are declared as member
fields of the class.
- Variables Modifier. The access modifier for variables
generated for components on the form.
-
See Also
- Basic GUI Builder Settings
- About Java GUIs
- Using the Options Window
Legal Notices