Format Builder
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The main window of BEA Format Builder is split into two panes. The left pane shows the structural information for the data format. The right pane shows the detail for the item selected in the left pane.
You can navigate in and execute commands from the main window by using one of the following methods:
The Menu bar displays the menu headings. The menus that are available depend on what is selected in the left pane. You can open menus from the menu bar or by holding down the ALT key while pressing the underscored letter in the menu heading. For example, pressing ALT + F opens the File Menu.
Note: Menu items that appear in gray are unavailable for the current selection.
For a complete description of the menu commands, see Format Builder Menus.
The Format Builder toolbar provides buttons that access some of the frequently used commands in the menus. If a command is unavailable, its button appears "grayed-out."
The toolbar buttons provided with Format Builder are described below:
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Removes the item currently selected in the left-hand pane, and its child objects, from the tree. The item can be pasted elsewhere in the tree. Note: This action is not available if the Message Format (root) item is selected. |
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Makes a copy of the item currently selected in the left-hand pane for insertion elsewhere in the tree. Note: This action is not available if the Message Format (root) item is selected. |
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Inserts the cut or copied item as a sibling object of the selected item. |
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Inserts a reference to the cut or copied item as a sibling object of the selected item. |
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Reverses the previous action. The tool tip changes to indicate the action that can be undone. For example, changing the name of a field to Field1 and clicking Apply causes the tool tip to read "Undo Apply Field Field1". Note: Format Builder supports multi-level undoing and redoing. |
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Reverses the effects of an Undo command. The tool tip changes to indicate the action that can be redone. For example, changing the name of a field to Field1 and then undoing that action causes the tool tip to read "Redo Apply Field Field1". Note: Format Builder support multi-level undoing and redoing. |
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Inserts a field as a sibling of the item selected in the tree pane. |
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Inserts a group as a sibling of the item selected in the tree pane. |
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Inserts a comment as a sibling of the item selected in the tree pane. |
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Promotes the selected item to the next highest level in the tree. For example, Field1 is the child object of Group1. Selecting Field1 and clicking the Promote tool makes it a sibling of Group1. |
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Demotes the selected item to the next lower level in the tree. For example, Group1 is the sibling of Field1. Field1 immediately follows Group1 in the tree. Selecting Field1 and clicking the Demote tool makes it a child of Group1. |
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Opens the Format Tester window. |
The Tree Pane represents hierarchical/structural information about the format of the non-XML data in a tree. The root node of the tree will correspond to the MFL document being created or edited. The root node is referred to as the Message node. Child nodes are labeled with group or field names. Fields are represented by leaf nodes in the tree. Groups contain fields or other groups and are represented by non-leaf nodes in the tree.
The icon for each node encapsulates information about the node. The icon indicates whether the node represents a message, a group, a field, a comment, or a reference. The icon also indicates whether a group or field is repeating, whether a group is a Group Choice, and whether a group or field is optional or mandatory. You also have the ability to add, delete, move, copy, or rename nodes in the tree. This is done through the menus or the toolbar (see Using the Menu Bar, Using the Toolbar, and Using the Shortcut Menus).
The icons that appear in the Tree Pane are described in the following table.
Instead of using the standard menus to find the command you need, use the right mouse button to click an item in the left pane. The menu that appears shows the most frequently used commands for that item.
For a complete description of the shortcut menu commands, see Shortcut Menu.
You can use the drag and drop feature of Format Builder to copy and/or move the items in the tree view.
To use drag and drop to move an item:
To use drag and drop to copy an item:
Message Formats, Fields, and Groups are identified by a Name. The name that is specified is used as the XML tag when non-XML data is transformed to XML by AquaLogic Service Bus. Thus the name must conform to the XML rules for a name.
The format guidelines for a name are as follows:
The following are valid name examples:
MyField
MyField1
MyField_again
MyField-again
The following are invalid name examples:
1MyField
- may not start with a digitMy>Field
- the greater-than sign (>) is an illegal characterMy Field
- a space is not permittedMy/Field
- the back slash (/
), which is an illegal characterMy\Field
- the forward slash (\
), which is an illegal characterMy:Field
- colon (:
), which is an illegal characterMy:Field
- a semi-colon (;
), which is an illegal character
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