Third-party components can be created by component vendors or experienced Java programmers who follow the guidelines for packaging JavaServer Faces components for the IDE. The components are packaged in special component libraries that you can import into the IDE, making it available to be added to projects. To use a component library in a project, you add it to the project in the and the IDE displays the components in the Palette when that project is open. Both tasks are described below.
To import a component library:
The Component Library Manager opens.
The path to the component library appears in the Import Component Library dialog box.
The component library appears in the Component Library Manager and is added to your user directory.
In the Component Library Manager, you can see a list of the components in the library. To the right of each component name is the category under which it will be listed in the Palette. In the left Component Libraries pane, you can select individual JAR files that comprise the component library and see a list of their contents.
To use a component library in a project:
There is a delay as the IDE adds the jars contained in the component library to the project's classpath and displays the components to the Palette.
When you open a page of your project in the Visual Designer, you see the new components in the Palette under the category defined by the component library. You can drag the new components and drop them on pages you are editing in the Visual Designer, and you can work with these components just as you work with the components supplied with the IDE.
v