User's Guide
Introduction
The User's Guide introduces you to JBuilder's integrated development environment (IDE). It explains how to use JBuilder's IDE to manage projects and files, edit source code and text in the AppBrowser, visually design a user interface, and compile, debug, and run your programs.
The User's Guide contains the following chapters:
- The JBuilder environment
Introduces the main window and its menus, the various modes and features of the AppBrowser window, and the wizards to help you automatically generate code.
- Creating and managing projects
Explains how to create and manage projects and files in JBuilder and how to use the AppBrowser to perform management tasks. Also introduces the wizards JBuilder provides to simplify creating projects and files.
- Working with code
Describes how to use the AppBrowser to navigate to and edit files, including how to perform basic editing tasks. It also explains how to record keystrokes and set editing options, such as changing JBuilder's keystrokes to emulate your favorite editor. This chapter also describes automatic ways to generate code.
- Designing a user interface
Explains how to design a user interface using JBuilder's visual design tools. Discusses using layout managers and presents a tutorial on creating a UI with nested layouts. Also explains how to attach code to a component's event handlers, and gives specific examples of how to hook up common events to UI elements, such as menus and tool bar buttons.
- Compiling Java programs
Discusses the difference between Make and Rebuild. Explains how to set compiler options and compile your project.
- Using the Debugger
Explains how to use JBuilder's integrated Debugger to find and fix errors in your program. Describes the entire debugging process for applets and applications, discusses the types of bugs you may encounter, and explains how to examine the values of program variables to uncover bugs.
- Tutorial: Building a simple text editor
Steps you through building a working Java application from start to finish. This tutorial shows you how to use the visual design tools, together with the source code editor, to build a simple text editor that is capable of reading, editing, and writing simple text files. The sample program is able to set the text font and color, as well as the background color of the text editing region. This tutorial demonstrates how to code many of the common event handlers for using menus and dialogs.
- Error and warning messages
Describes the kinds of errors and warnings that can occur when compiling, debugging, or running JBuilder applets and applications.
- Glossary of JBuilder and Java terms
Defines terms used in JBuilder and Java.
- JBuilder menus
Describes the menus in JBuilder, including pull-down menus on the main window and context menus within other windows and panes.
Other books in JBuilder's documentation set
Special topics are covered in additional books in the JBuilder documentation set: