Adding Components to Your User Interface

This topic describes these ways to insert a component from the JDeveloper Component Palette into a UI container you create.

Using the mouse to select, insert, and position a component
Using keyboard bindings to select and insert a component

When you visually add a component in the Java Visual Editor, JDeveloper generates an instance variable for the component and adds it to the source code. When you delete a component, the Java Visual Editor deletes the associated lines from the code.

To add a component to your UI using the mouse:

Create a container component.
Choose the desired component list from the Component Palette dropdown menu.
Click the desired component in the palette.
To insert the selected component into the container, do one of the following:
- Click inside the container to insert the component at its default size.
  OR
- Drag the mouse in the Java Visual Editor to form a bounding box from the initial mouse click to a final point which represents the desired dimensions of the object to be created.
  Dragging to a specific size is only appropriate when layouts for a container that consider individual component dimensions. Ultimately, the layout manager for each container in your UI will determine its components' size and position.
  
  OR
- Drop the component onto the desired container in the Structure window. Be aware that this method gives you no control over where the component appears in the container.

To add a component to your container using only keystokes:

Create a container component.
Choose the desired component list from the Component Palette dropdown menu.
To select a component from the palette, press the tab key to focus on the desired component, then press the spacebar to select the component.
To insert the selected component into the container, press Enter.
The inserted component appears in the top, lefthand corner of the UI container. You may use the Property Inspector to size and position the inserted component.

To add multiple instances of a component:

Press the Shift key while clicking the component in the Component Palette. You may release the Shift key and the palette will still remain in multiple creation mode.
Click the arrow tool in the Component Palette to turn off multiple object creation.