What's new in Jigloo 3.8.0

Customizable component palettes The component/layout palettes shown at the top of the GUI editor can be edited using a new Jigloo preference page.  You can add/delete/re-arrange component palettes, as well as standard and custom classes. Palettes and classes can be moved by selecting one or more palettes or classes and dragging them to the desired position. Also, multiple classes may be imported in one step from archive files (using the "Add beans from Archive" button in the above preference page). Grid-adjust bars improved The bars at the edge of containers with GridBag, Table or Form layout managers now only appear when  the container is selected, and not when the mouse enters the container, to minimise visual distractions when designing forms. Also, new "Insert/delete spacer rows/columns" options have been added to the right-click menu. Customizable property categories Properties are now displayed under "Categories". The deafult categories are "Basic", "Expert" and "Hidden", but categories can be added/deleted or renamed. Certain properties are by default assigned to the "Basic" category, but you can define a category for a property by right-clicking on the property and choosing one of the "Set property category..." options. You can also right-click on categories to change their name, delete or add new categories. Alignment button added (with alignment assistant dialog) A small button with an arrow has been added to the top-right of the frame displayed around each selected element of a GUI form, allowing quick access to either a drop-down menu of alignment constraint options (for BorderLayout and TableLayout) or for popping up an "alignment assistant" dialog. Here is the result of clicking on the arrow for a component in a TableLayout: Here is the result for a component in a GridBagLayout - the assistant will stay visible and on-top while different components (even multiple components) are selected: ...and here is the "anchor assistant" for a Swing AnchorLayout or a SWT FormLayout: Frame decorations shown in GUI editor A window frame is now shown in the GUI editor when designing Swing JFrames and JDialogs, and SWT Composites and Dialogs, allowing the frame title and icon to be displayed when they have been defined. Snap-Grid changes The snap-grid is automatically shown if an element in an Absolute, Anchor or SWT FormLayout is selected or dragged. Otherwise it is hidden. This behaviour can be turned off (the snap-grid can still be toggled manually using the button in the "Outline" view) in the Jigloo preferences page, and the size of the grid can also be set. Button bar for alignments, etc and preferences popup A vertical toolbar has been added to the left side of the GUI form editor, allowing quick access to the Jigloo preference pages and the Jigloo documentation, as well as to actions for aligning components with respect to each other and to the snap-grid (when it is shown). Most of the alignment buttons will stay disabled till more than one form element is selected. Custom property editor support improved Custom property editors are now displayed inside a SWT dialog shell, with "OK" and "Cancel" buttons. Preferences pages as tree nodes. Instead of being all in a single tabbed-panel, the Jigloo preferences pages are now a page each, grouped under the "Jigloo GUI Builder" tree node in the preferences dialog. Look and Feel preference page added. A "Look and Feel" page has also been added, allowing the user to add and delete Look and Feels without having to place the jar files in the JRE's folders. Any of the Look & Feels can be set as the "default" L&F by checking it's checkbox in the preference page - if a default is set then any Swing container will be shown in the GUI editor using this L&F;. Hold SHIFT down to place multiple components To add multiple components of the same type, hold the SHIFT key down when adding a component. To cancel the crosshair cursor (if you change your mind after holding SHIFT down and before adding another component) you can use the ESC key. Option to time-out on set property method calls Occasionally, a set-property method called by Jigloo when in design mode might freeze Eclipse. If this happens, check the "Use timeouts..." option in the "Parsing" tab of the Jigloo preferences (after re-starting Eclipse) and all set-property methods will be timed out after less than a second - and the problematic method reported to the user. This option should only be checked if Eclipse freezes since it leads to a slight performance cost. Improved error handling If Jigloo encounters an error while parsing your code, the "View Log" button will flash between white and red, indicating that you should click on it to see the error report - this will help to diagnose any problems Jigloo might have in displaying your form correctly. Eclipse 3.2 supported Works with Eclipse 3.2M1, M2 and M3