Components are reusable user interface elements that you can use to build the visual
interface for your page. Components are rendered into HTML page elements such as text,
hyperlinks, or form elements. The components in the IDE are based on JavaServer Faces
technology and use JavaScript.
Because these components use JavaScript, users of your web applications must have
JavaScript enabled in their web browsers. In addition, users of your applications must
enable cookies and CSS in their web browsers.
Components have properties, which describe the appearance, state, or other features of a
specific component on a page. You can edit properties by using the Properties window, or you can bind properties to values contained in other
components or services such as databases or web services.
By default, components that you add to a Visual Web JSF page are arranged on the page by position: Where
you place them in the Visual Designer is where they will appear on the final HTML page. You
can stack components on top of each other using
the Bring to Front and Send to Back menu items, and you can nest components together using the Grid Panel and Group
Panel components.
Finally, components can have associated event handlers, written in the Java language, that
are executed when the page is submitted.
Component Categories
Components are located in the and are grouped under categories. Click a category in the Components view to
see the associated components.
The Components view contains the following categories:
Basic. The components that you are likely to use most often, like buttons, tables,
drop down lists, and text fields, to name only a few.
Layout. Components whose main purpose is organizing or formatting a page, like the
Grid Panel component that arranges components in a grid or the Group Panel component that
groups components together.
Composite. Components with a more complex organization and a specialized purpose,
like the Add Remove List component that displays a list of items and lets the user add them
to another list, or the Breadcrumbs component that displays a list of hyperlinks to
previous pages in a site hierarchy.
Validators. A set of value checkers that you can use to validate user entered data.
Converters. A set of data converters that you can use with components to convert
between the String data type and other data types as needed.
Standard. The original set of standard JavaServer Faces components that
shipped with the IDE. They are not as sophisticated or easy to use as the Basic, Layout,
and Composite components. For example, the Standard components cannot participate in a
theme, and their structure is often more complex to work with than the Basic components.
Advanced. A set of JavaServer Page markup tags for advanced users. The components
have no visual appearance and are useful to developers with experience in JSP and
JavaServer Faces technologies.
Data Providers. A set of components that provide an interface to data sources like
database tables and JavaBeans objects.
Advanced Data Providers. A set of data providers for use by advanced users only.
These data providers are typically created for you and do not need to be added separately.
Viewing and Managing Components
You can view or manage components in the following ways:
Use the
to drag components into
the Visual Designer to work with them.
Use the
to
view a hierarchical list of the components on a page. If you select a component in the
Navigator window, the component is selected in the Visual Designer and vice versa. You can
sometimes select a component more easily in the Navigator window than in the Visual Designer,
especially if you want to change its location in a hierarchy of subcomponents. You can
right-click a component's node in the Navigator window and select the same pop-up menu items
as in the Visual Designer.