Using the Component Tree

The Component Tree is a structured view of all the components in your source file and their relationships. The Component Tree interacts directly with the Component Inspector and the designers.

You use the Component Tree to,

How the Tree is organized

The Component Tree is organized into up to four sections, or sub trees.
  1. UI components and containers, such as panels, buttons, check boxes, and text fields, if any.
  2. Menus and menu items, if any.
  3. Data access components, if any.
  4. Other JavaBeans components such as dialogs.

Sections that do not have components are not displayed.

Icons in the Component Tree

The following is an explanation of the icons used to represent the various nodes in the Tree:

Icon Explanation
Represents the component under design.
Represents a visual container component, such as a Panel or GroupBox.
Represents the layout manager for the container immediately above it in the Tree.
Represents a visual component.
Represents other JavaBeans components.
Groups similar types of components.