You can modify the beans palette at any time from the
Visual Composition Editor and in any of the following ways:
- Add a bean
- Add a category
- Add a grouping separator line
- Change icon size
- Refresh the palette
- Remove a bean
- Remove a category
- Reorder beans
- Resize the palette
To resize the palette, drag the sizing handle on the right side of the
palette. If you choose not to resize the palette and some of the beans
are not visible, you can access the beans by using the scroll buttons that
appear at the top and bottom of the palette.
To change the icon size on the palette and the Beans List, open the palette
pop-up and select Show Large Icons. This is a toggle option
with the default set to small icons (16x16). The large icons are
32x32.
To reorder the beans within a category, or move a bean to another
category:
- From the palette pop-up or the Bean pull-down, select
Modify Palette.
- From the Palette list, drag the bean to the position or category you
desire.
- Click OK.
If you have a category with many beans, you can group common beans using
separators. To add a grouping separator to a category:
- Select the category.
- Select Add Separator and VisualAge adds a separator to the end of the
category.
- Select the new separator line and drag it to the desired location.
To remove a separator line, select the separator and then click
Remove.
You may need to refresh the palette to view the following changes:
- Changing the icon that represents a bean
- Adding new beans
- Loading installed features manually at the package or class level
To refresh the palette, select Refresh Palette from the palette
pop-up.
- From the palette pop-up, select Modify Palette, and the Modify
Palette window appears.
- From the Palette group box, select New Category and a new
category item appears highlighted in the list.
- Enter the name for your new category in the highlighted region.
- Enter or click OK.

Beans palette
Object serialization in VisualAge
Composing beans visually
Modify Palette window
Refresh Palette
To add beans to any category on the beans palette:
- From the palette pop-up, select Modify Palette, and the Modify
Palette window appears.
- Select the bean type.
- If you selected the Class bean type, enter the class name in the entry
field or select Browse to locate the class.
- If you selected the Serialized bean type, enter the file name in the entry
field or select Browse to locate the serialized object file to
add.
- Under Palette, select a category for the new bean.
- Select Add to Category and click OK. The
Visual Composition Editor adds the bean to the category on the beans
palette.
To add beans from a project to any category on the beans palette:
- From the palette pop-up, select Add Bean from Project, and the
Modify Palette window appears.
- From the Available beans pane, open the project in the
drop-down list and select the project that contains the beans you want to add
to the palette.
- Select the beans, by selecting the check boxes.
- Under Palette, select a category for the new beans.
- Select Add to Category and click OK. The
Visual Composition Editor adds the beans to the category on the beans
palette.

You can also add class or serialized files from .jar files to the
palette by following the import SmartGuide from the File
menu. The Modify Palette window that appears contains an Available
beans list, where you select the beans you want to add to the category
you select, or create, in the Palette list.

Note: | If you designate an icon for the bean in the Information pane of the BeanInfo
class, it is used for the palette entry. Otherwise, a default icon is
used.
|
Beans palette
Deleting a bean or category from the palette
Modify Palette window
BeanInfo page
Add Bean from Project
To remove a bean from the beans palette:
- From the Bean menu, select Modify Palette and the
Modify Palette window appears.
- In the Palette tree view, expand the category that contains the part you
wish to remove.
- Select Remove and a confirmation dialog appears.
- Select Yes and then OK. The selected bean is
removed from the beans palette.
To remove a category from the beans palette:
- From the Bean menu, select Modify Palette and the
Modify Palette window appears.
- In the list box, select the category that you wish to remove.
- Select Remove and OK. The selected category
is removed from the beans palette.
Beans palette
Adding a category to the palette
Adding a bean to the palette
Modify Palette window
