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This section gives you a brief, introductory look at the BeanBox and it's basic operation. The
beans/beanbox
directory contains Windows (run.bat
) and Unix (run.sh
) scripts that start the BeanBox. You can use these commands to start the BeanBox, or use amake
utility:
Platform Command Unix gmake run
Windows nmake run
See the BDK files
beans/doc/makefiles.html
andbeans/doc/gnu.txt
for information about getting copies ofgnumake
andnmake
.When started, the BeanBox displays three windows: The ToolBox, the BeanBox window, and the Properties sheet.
This figure has been reduced to fit on the page.
Click the image to view it at its natural size.Here are brief descriptions of each window.
- The ToolBox contains the Beans available for use by the BeanBox. To work on a Bean, you choose it from the ToolBox and drop it on the BeanBox window.
- The BeanBox window is the area where you visually wire Beans together, defining how Beans appear, and interact with other Beans. The BeanBox window is itself an instance of a BeanBox Bean. The above screenshot shows the BeanBox window with a
Juggler
Bean instance dropped in it. Later you'll see how to wire theJuggler
to two button Beans that start and stop him juggling.You select among Beans in the BeanBox window simply by clicking on the Bean. The selected Bean will have a hatced border, as the
Juggler
Bean does in the above screenshot. Which Bean is selected has significance for the Properties sheet.
- The Properties sheet displays the properties for the Bean currently selected within the BeanBox window. In the above screenshot, the Properties sheet displays the
Juggler
Bean's properties. If you drop another Bean in the BeanBox window, the properties sheet will display that Bean's properties.
When the BeanBox is started, it automatically loads the ToolBox with all the Beans it finds within the JAR files contained in the
beans/jars
directory. Move your JAR files into that directory to have them automatically loaded at BeanBox startup. You can load Beans from JAR files located elsewhere by using the File|LoadJar... BeanBox menu item.
Clicking on a Bean name within the ToolBox chooses that Bean for placement within the BeanBox. To drop a
JellyBean
instance onto the BeanBox
- Click on the word
JellyBean
in the ToolBox. The cursor will change to a crosshair when flying over the BeanBox windows.- Click within the BeanBox. The
JellyBean
instance will appear, and will be selected.Note the change in the Properties sheet when you put the
JellyBean
in the BeanBox. Before you placed theJellyBean
in the BeanBox, the BeanBox's properties were displayed. After placing theJellyBean
in the BeanBox, theJellyBean
properties are displayed. If you missed the change, click within the BeanBox, away from theJellyBean
. This will select the BeanBox rather than theJellyBean
. The Properties sheet will then display the BeanBox's properties.After dropping a
JellyBean
instance on the BeanBox, the Properties sheet displays theJellyBean
properties:color
,foreground
,priceInCents
,background
, andfont
.
The Properties sheet displays each property's name and its current value. Values are displayed in an editable text field (strings and numbers), a choice menu (booleans), or as painted values (colors and fonts). Each property has an associated property editor. Clicking on a property within the Properties sheet activates the property's editor. Properties displayed in text fields or choice menus are edited within the Properties sheet. Because editing their values requires a more sophisticated user interface,
Color
andFont
property types use a custom property editor. When you click on a color or font property a separate panel will pop up to do the editing. Try clicking on each of theJellyBean
properties.
You can save the state of a Bean that your are customizing, and restore the Bean and its saved state at a later time. The BeanBox uses Java Object Serialization to save and restore Beans and their state. The following steps demonstrate how to save and restore a Bean:
- Drop a
JellyBean
on the BeanBox.- Change the
color
property to anything you want.- Select the File|Save menu item. A file browser will pop up; use it to save the Bean to a file.
- Select the File|Clear menu item.
- Select the File|Load menu item. The file browser will again pop up; use it to retrieve the serialized Bean. The
JellyBean
will be the color you chose.
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