What's new in the VisualAge for Java IDE
Several usability and customization features have been added to the IDE for this
release.
- A new way to browse the workspace
- Previously, when you opened a browser for a program element (for example, a class
browser), a new window was opened for the browser. Now, there is a new setting that
allows you to open a new browser in the current window. Back and Forward buttons
allow you to move to previously opened browsers (similar to moving back to a previously
visited page in a Web browser). You still have the option of opening a browser in a
new window, instead.
-
- You can select the browsing style that you prefer on the General page
of the Options dialog. See "Changing
the IDE browsing style" and "Browsing the
workspace" for more information.
- Customizable key bindings
- With key bindings, you can map editor commands to your choice of shortcut keys.
Two standard mappings are provided: "VisualAge for Java", a typical
Windows-style mapping; and "Emacs", similar to an Emacs editor mapping.
You can change the settings for these mappings, or create your own. See "Customizing key bindings" for more information.
- Reference help for program elements and Java keywords
- For instant information on program elements, use the following new features:
- Open on Selection (F3). If you select a package, class, or method
name in the Source pane of any browser, and press F3 (or select Open on Selection from
the selected text's pop-up menu), a browser will open on the selected program element.
For example, if you select the text "java.lang" in a Source pane and
press F3, a package browser for java.lang will open. Likewise, if you select
"println" in code, the IDE determines which println method you are using (for
example, the one from java.io.PrintWriter or the one from java.io.PrintStream), and opens
the class browser for the corresponding class.
- View Reference Help. If you select a package, class, or method
name, or a Java keyword in a Source pane and then select View Reference Help
from the selected text's pop-up menu, the Help browser opens to the online reference help
for the selected program element. Reference help is available for Java language
keywords, JDK and JFC members, and select classes for Enterprise builders and tools
shipped with VisualAge for Java.
See "Accessing context-sensitive API help"
for more information.
- More Code Assist features
- Now you can create macros that Code Assist (Ctrl+Space) can insert in your code with
only a few keystrokes. Some macros are provided, including one that inserts
timestamps and another that inserts the user name (for team development in Enterprise
Edition). You can specify the location of the cursor within the text after the macro
is expanded. You can also create keyword completion macros for programming
structures like case or if/then statements, which add appropriate punctuation, braces, and
cursor locations.
-
- See "Defining Code Assist macros" for more
information.
- Method generation and filters
- New SmartGuide options let you generate accessor (get and set) methods for fields,
method stubs for interfaces that you are implementing, and method stubs for abstract
methods in superclass. Also, in a methods view, you can filter which methods are
shown using a combination of the following options on the filter toolbar: Public
Members Only
, Static
Members
, Root
Minus 1
, and Show
Fields
. This
can help in finding which interface methods you have implemented.
-
- See "Generating field accessor methods"
and "Generating method stubs" for more
information.
- A view of Project resources inside the IDE
- A new tab has been added to project browsers; the Resources page shows you the contents
of the project_resources directory for the project that you are browsing. Project
resources reside outside the workspace, on your hard drive or on a shared drive.
From the Resources page, you can do the following things:
- view the content of resource files
- launch tools or external programs in which you can edit the resource files
- change resource file names
- delete resource files
-
- See "Including resource files in a project"
for more information.
- A new visual application SmartGuide
- The Visual Application SmartGuide generates the first steps of a traditional GUI
application, given a few basic specifications. With it, you can create the basis of
an AWT or Swing-based application with customizable menu bar, tool bar, status bar, splash
screen (for start-up) and "About" dialog.
-
- After generating the code, the SmartGuide opens the application in the Visual
Composition Editor, so you can finish implementing the stubs that have been generated.
-
- For more information about the Visual Application SmartGuide, see "Generating a customizable visual application."
- Revised debugger layout
- The integrated debugger has the following new features:
- A Watches window for entering expressions that you want to evaluate while debugging
- An Evaluation Window for evaluating code in the context of the selected stack frame
- New conditional breakpoint settings, including specifying a particular iteration or
thread to break on
You can separate the Visible Variables panes from the Debug page into their own
window. When you close the Visible Variables window, it integrates back into the
debugger.
- For more information on the integrated debugger, including these new features, see
"Debugging during the development cycle with the
integrated debugger."
- Improved handling of fields
- Fields are now treated similar to methods and classes within the Workspace. They
are listed along with methods when you browse a class, and you can optionally filter them
out of the browser, completely or by access level.
- Run and Search toolbar buttons remember previous actions
- The Run
and Search
toolbar buttons have small black
arrows above them, which indicate that they "remember" the past five runs and
searches. So, if you have already run some applets, for example, right-click the
Run button and you will see a pop-up list of the last five applets you ran. Select
one of them to run it again.
