Documentation

Menus

You can invoke most commands from the main menu (at the top of the main frame) and the various context (right-click) menus.

Main Menu

The main menu is displayed at the top of the JFormDesigner main window of the stand-alone edition.

File menu
	New Project	Creates a new project.
	Open Project	Opens an existing project.
	Reopen Project	Displays a submenu of previously opened projects. Select a project to open it.
	Project Properties	Displays the project properties.
	Close Project	Closes the active project.
	New Form	Creates a new form.
	Open Form	Opens an existing form.
	Reopen Form	Displays a submenu of previously opened forms. Select a form to open it.
	Close	Closes the active form.
	Close All	Closes all open forms.
	Save	Saves the active form and generates the Java source code for the form (if Java Code Generation is enabled in the Preferences).
	Save As	Saves the active form under another file name or location and generates the Java source code for the form (if Java Code Generation is enabled in the Preferences).
	Save All	Saves all open forms and generates the Java source code for the forms (if Java Code Generation is enabled in the Preferences).
	Import	Imports NetBeans or IntelliJ IDEA form files and creates new JFormDesigner forms. Use File > Save to save the new form in the same folder as the original form file. This also updates the .java file.
	Exit	Exits JFormDesigner. Mac: this item is in the JFormDesigner application menu.
Edit menu
	Undo	Reverses your most recent editing action.
	Redo	Re-applies the editing action that has most recently been reversed by the Undo action.
	Cut	Cuts the selected components to the clipboard.
	Copy	Copies the selected components to the clipboard.
	Paste	Pastes the components in the clipboard to the selected container of the active form.
	Rename	Renames the selected component.
	Delete	Deletes the selected components.
View menu
	Refresh Designer	Refresh the Design view of the active form. Reloads all classes used by the form and recreates the form preview shown in the Design view. You can use this command, if you changed the code of a component used in the form to reload the component classes. But usually this is not necessary because JFormDesigner automatically reloads component classes.
	Classic Layout	Shows Properties view below Structure view.
	Wide Layout	Shows Properties and Structure views side by side.
Form menu
	Test Form	Tests the active form. Creates live instances of the form in a new window. You can close that window by pressing the Esc key when the window has the focus. If your form contains more than one top-level component, use the drop-down menu in the toolbar to test another component.
	Localize	Edit localization settings, resource bundle strings, create new locales or delete locales.
	New Locale	Creates a new locale.
	Delete Locale	Deletes an existing locale.
	Externalize Strings	Moves strings to a resource bundle for localization. Use this command to start localizing existing forms.
	Internalize Strings	Moves strings from a resource bundle into the form and remove the strings from the resource bundle.
	Generate Java Code	Generates the Java code for the active form. Usually it's not necessary to use this command because when you save a form, the Java code will be also generated.
Window menu
	Activate Designer	Activates the Design view.
	Activate Structure	Activates the Structure view.
	Activate Properties	Activates the Properties view.
	Activate Bindings	Activates the Bindings view. By default, the Bindings view is not visible.
	Activate Error Log	Activates the Error Log view. By default, the Error Log view is not visible. It automatically appears if an error occurs.
	Next Form	Activates the next form.
	Previous Form	Activates the previous form.
	Preferences	Opens the Preferences dialog. Mac: this item is in the JFormDesigner application menu.
Help menu
	Help Contents	Displays help topics.
	Tip of the Day	Displays a list of interesting productivity features.
	Register	Activates your license.
	License	Displays information about your license.
	Check for Updates	Checks whether a newer version of JFormDesigner is available.
	About	Displays information about JFormDesigner and the system properties. Mac: this item is in the JFormDesigner application menu.

Context menus¶

Context menus appear when you're right-click on a particular component or control.

Design view context menu:		Properties view context menu: