Eclipse plug-in

This plug-in integrates JFormDesigner into Eclipse and other Eclipse based IDEs.

Benefits

Using this plug-in has following benefits compared to JFormDesigner stand-alone edition:

User interface

The screenshot below shows the Eclipse main window editing a JFormDesigner form. JFormDesigner adds the menu Form to the main menu, which is only visible if a JFormDesigner form editor is active.

Eclipse main window

A JFormDesigner editor consists of:

Creating new forms

To create a new form, click the New JFormDesigner Form () button in the Eclipse toolbar. You can also use Ctrl+Shift+V (Mac: Shift+Command+V).

New Form

You can also create new forms in Eclipse's Package Explorer view. First select the destination package or folder, then invoke Eclipse's New command and select Other, which opens Eclipse's New dialog. Then choose JFormDesigner Form from the list of wizards and click Next to proceed.

New Form Dialog

If JFormDesigner Form is in the New sub menu, you can choose it directly without the need to open Eclipse's New dialog.

New Form Menu

In the New JFormDesigner Form dialog, enter the form name (which is also used as class name), choose a superclass, a layout manager and set localization options.

Open forms for editing

You can open existing forms the same way as opening any other file in Eclipse. Locate it in Eclipse's Package Explorer view and double-click it.

Go to Java code / Go to form

JFormDesigner adds a button to Eclipse's main toolbar that enables you to switch quickly from a JFormDesigner form editor to its Java editor and vice versa. If a form editor is active, then the button is named Go to Java code (). If a Java editor is active, then it is named Go to JFormDesigner form (). You can also use Ctrl+Shift+D (Mac: Shift+Command+D).

Go to Java code   Go to form

Code folding

To move the generated code out of the way, JFormDesigner folds it in the Java editor.

Code folding

Convert NetBeans, IntelliJ IDEA and Abeille forms

You can convert existing NetBeans, IntelliJ IDEA and Abeille forms to JFormDesigner forms. Right-click on the form file and select Convert to JFormDesigner Form.

 Convert forms

When converting an IntelliJ IDEA form, JFormDesigner inserts its own generated GUI code into the existing Java class and removes IntelliJ IDEA's GUI code.

Preferences

The JFormDesigner preferences are fully integrated into the Eclipse preferences dialog. Select Window > Preferences from the menu to open it and then expand the node "JFormDesigner" in the tree. See Preferences for details.

You can also set project specific settings in the Eclipse project dialog. Select Project > Properties from the menu to open it and then expand the node "JFormDesigner" in the tree. See Preferences for details.

Keyboard shortcuts

You can assign shortcut keys to some JFormDesigner commands in Eclipse's keys preferences. Select Window > Preferences > General > Keys to open it. Search for "JFormDesigner" to find JFormDesigner commands.