Java Editor

Contents

1 Integrated Development Environment

2 Class Modeler
3 UML Window
4 GUI Designer
5 Menu System

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

5.1 File menu

5.2 Edit menu
5.3 Start menu
5.4 Test menu
5.5 UML menu
5.6 Component menu
Accessibility
Bugs Reports/Features Requests
5.7 Tools menu
5.8 Window menu
5.9 Help menu

6 Operating system

Integrated Development Environment

Integrated Java development environments set high requirements on the computer equipment. These requirements are not always met in schools. If the
students shall work at home with these development systems, only freely available systems come into question. There are hardly any systems left which
actually can be used for teaching. This was the reason for me to develop the Java-Editor which is described below.
In the screenshot you see the main windows of the Java-Editor with the menu bar, toolbars and some registers with help for program development. The
equipment is aimed in the needs of the school. Hence there is the register programme, like from which you can choose templates for console or GUI
applications and for applets, and the register control structures with easy access to the Java control structures.

Amir Nadeem

Page 1

Java Editor

Source(s): Java-Editor solutions

Amir Nadeem

Page 2

Java Editor

Class Modeler
With class modeler you can create new classes and edit existing classes. It reads java source files and displays them as classes with attributes and
methods. Changes in the class modeler are transferred accordingly to the java source files. The class modeler is an easy to use tool for modelling classes.

The order of attributes and methods in the structure tree can be changed by drag&drop.
You call the class modeler with the Symbol
from your editor window or by doubleclick on a class in the uml window.
Source(s):Java-Editor solutions
UML Window
After modelling a class with the class modeler it's time to test your model. In the uml window you can, by opening the context
menu of a class with the right mouse button, call a constructor for interactive creating of an object.
If you call subsequently the context menu of the created object you can edit the attributes and call the methods of the object.
The interactive creating of objects is oriented at the according BlueJ functionality. No main method is necessary, modeled classes
can be tested interactively.

Amir Nadeem

Page 3

Java Editor

Source(s):Java-Editor solutions

Amir Nadeem

Page 4

Java Editor

GUI Designer
After testing your model in the uml window you can use it in a console or GUI program.
It's rather difficult to design graphical user interfaces if you use layout managers. Pupils really don't like that, because it's much easier to drag&drop guicomponents to the desired position on a form. So the gui-designer of the Java-Editor uses absolute positioning with which you can design your layout
rather quickly.

For creating a gui form you click in the program register on one of the six symbols: Frame, Dialog, Applet, JFrame, JDialog or JApplet.
To place a gui component you first click on the according symbol in the register AWT, Swing1 respectively Swing2 and then on the gui form. Afterwards
you can then position the component and configure it with the object inspector. The source code is synchronized accordingly. For this purpose the
sections
// start attributes
// end attributes
and
// start methods
// end methods
are used.
With the symbol
of a source code window you open and arrange the gui form.
The gui form has a context menu for editing the components.
In other development environments the structure of the graphical user interface is presented as a tree. The Java-Editor saves the necessary extra window
and shows the structure in the source code by according indenting of the appropriate variables.

Amir Nadeem

Page 5

Java Editor

Menu System
File menu
The file menu provides the usual file operations like New, Open, Save and Print. All opened windows can be saved as a Java-Editor project (jep-file). If
you open a Java-Editor project all those windows are reopend. Save all in saves all files in an other folder. You can export a java source file as html or rtf
file which is then showing the syntax highlighting outside of the Java-Editor.
Edit menu
The editor supports the use of the windows clipboard and undo, redo, search and replace operations. Selected text can be copied in different formats.
Search and replace supports multiple files and regular expressions. You can indent (Ctrl+Shift+I), unindent (Ctrl+Shift+U), comment or uncomment
(Ctrl+K) selected text. For easy console output Ctrl+U inserts System.out.println() into the source code, Ctrl+Y deletes a line. You can set up to ten
bookmarks with the mouse or the keyboard (Ctrl+Shift+#) and go to a bookmark (Ctrl+#). Every edit command has a shortcut and a symbol on the
toolbar. The Editor is based on the SynEdit component
Start menu
With the start menu and the corresponding symbols on the toolbar you can compile the source code in the active editor window. If you install the jikes
compiler you can compile alternatively. Error messages are shown in the message window. Doubleclick on an error message to go to the error position in
the source code. If you don't understand the error message it's a good idea to compile with the second compiler.
If you start a source file which has been changed it will automatically be saved, compiled and if error free it will be started.
Applets are shown in the appletviewer. The necessary HTML file will automatically be created. If you start the HTML file of an applet, the applet is shown
in the browser.
Additionally you can call the debugger, disassembler and javadoc. With the Jar-File submenu you can create an executable jar file. The pack operation
supports easy exchange of files between pupils and teacher. A packed jar file can easily be uploaded to a learning-platform or emailed to the teacher.
Test menu
With the commands of the test menu you execute a program under the control of the debugger. If a breakpoint is set in a source file and you start the
program the debugger will be called. After reaching a breakpoint the executing is interrupted. You can then execute the program stepwise. During
debugging the message window shows you detailed information about attributes, parameters, local variables, watch expressions and the call stack.
To debug a GUI program you set a breakpoint in the desired method. Start the GUI program and wait until the GUI form is shown. Then click on the
button, which causes the execution of the method with the breakpoint.
UML menu
With the UML menu you can open UML windows and create, open and edit classes. Use the standard save and load symbols for saving and loading of uml
class-diagrams and select the extension .uml. You can save an uml diagram as a picture. Often it's easier to copy the whole uml-diagram or the selected
parts into the window clipboard. With open folder you make an uml diagram from all files in the selected folder. If you have already opened some java
source files you use diagram form open files to create a class diagram.
An uml window has it's own toolbar with many operations to customize the design of the class diagram. Connections between classes are automatically
detected, if there are appropriate attributes. Else you can connect classes manually. Select a class and then drag the mouse to the other class. After
releasing the left mouse button you can choose the desired connection type.
Component menu
By default the component menu is not shown. It's necessary for partially sighted or blind pupils which cannot use a mouse. The component menu allows
the creation of gui forms without the gui designer.
Accessibility
The Java-Editor has special support for visually impaired or blind persons. In the options menu you can set the font size for the component menu. The
font size of the editor and other windows are set with the font symbol or the font menu.
If you can not use a mouse hide the toolbars and activate the option "Show component menu" in the options menu. With the component menu one can
create GUI forms with help of menus.
Bug Reports / Feature Requests
Java-Editor 9.14p does currently not follow the default encoding as set in Configuration >> Editor >> Options. If UTF-8 is set as default encoding, and if
a UTF-8 file is openend which contains no special chars but only plain 7 bit ASCII, then Java-Editor treats it as ANSI. Note that all bytes in such a UTF-8
file are exactly the same as if the file were encoded as ANSI, yet Java-Editor should follow its default encoding setting and open it as UTF-8. This
becomes especially important if non-ANSI special chars are added to the file, as they get lost when stored as ANSI.
This bug is fixed.

Amir Nadeem

Page 6

Java Editor

Tools menu
The tools menu supports the Checkstyle plug-in which checks the style of a source file against a given coding standard and the Jalopy plug-in which
formats a source file according to a coding standard. The compare tool compares two sources files, shows new, modified and deleted lines and allows to
edit the modifications. If you install the subversion tool the tools menu gets an additional menu for subversion.

Window menu
Besides the basic functions for arranging, opening and closing of windows you can show and hide some toolbars and open console, explorer and browser
windows. In addition you can choose the font for the active window and open the configuration dialog
Help menu
The help menu enables the access to the java documentation, demos and tutorial. It's possible to integrate a java book in html form. You have a link to
the Java-Editor homepage and the possibility to update the Java-Editor.
Operating system
Linux
The Java-Editor operates under Linux with the wine extension. You find installation hints on the WineHQ page
Mac
The Java-Editor works on a Mac with CrossOver Office (Wine) as well as in a virtualized windows xp environment. On a 64-bit Mac it works under the
virtualization software VMWare Fusion.

Amir Nadeem

Page 7