You use property sheets to quickly edit the most common attributes of various tags with assistance of choice dialogs. Property sheets offer collapsible sections and provide buttons that enable choice of values and binding to dynamic values.
The Property sheet (view) displays attributes and their values for a tag selected in the Design or Source page. The Property view consists of two tabs:
- All tab shows all attributes of a tag.
- General tab shows the most commonly used attributes of a tag, assuming this tag is one of JSF, JSP, JSTL core, JSTL formatting or HTML. For each attribute shown in the General tab, OEPE provides custom dialog editors that guide you in setting the values of the attribute by doing the following:
The General tab also provides hyperlink on select attributes that help you navigate to the target resource.
You open a Property sheet (see Figure 1) by selecting Window > Show View > Properties from the top-level menu. By selecting a tag in the Source or Design view and then clicking on buttons located to the right of attribute edit fields on the Property sheet displays editor dialogs.
Figure 1. Property Sheet
1.1 Choosing Binding
You use the Choose Binding dialog to create bindings to dynamic values. Figure 2 and Figure 3 show the Variables and Resources tabs of this dialog.
Figure 2. Choose Binding Dialog - Variables
Figure 3. Choose Binding Dialog - Resources
The Resources tab allows you to do the following:
- Select the resource bundle, if more than one exists.
- Select the resource key.
- Select whether the dialog should display the resource key or value. You use the View combo box to make this choice.
- Add a resource key by clicking the New Resource Key.
1.2 Choosing a Method
You use the Choose Method dialog that Figure 4 shows to select an existing or create a new method in the selected managed bean.
Figure 4. Choose Method Dialog
To create a new method, click New Validator Method, and then complete the New Method dialog that Figure 5 shows.
Figure 5. New Method Dialog
1.3 Selecting a Navigation Case
You use the Select Navigation Case dialog that Figure 6 shows to specify a navigation case outcome. If there are no existing navigation cases listed, you may click New Navigation Case to open a dialog (see Figure 7) that will let you define a new navigation case (action) and either select an existing JSP page in the project, or create a new destination JSP page for your new navigation case.
Figure 6. Select Navigation Case Dialog
Figure 7. New Navigation Case Dialog
1.4 Selecting a File
You use the File Selection dialog (see Figure 8, Figure 9, and Figure 10) to select the source of a file, such as an image, CSS, or a JSP file. To open the dialog, click Select File.
Figure 8. File Selection Dialog
Figure 9. Image File Selection Dialog
Figure 10. File Selection (JSP) Dialog
1.5 Selecting a Style Class
You use the Choose Style Class dialog that Figure 11 shows to select a style class for the selected tag.
Figure 11. Choose Style Class Dialog
1.6 Defining CSS Style
You use the CSS Style Definition dialog that Figure 12 shows to define a CSS to apply to the tag. Using this dialog, you can define all elements of a style sheet.
Figure 12. CSS Style Definition Dialog
Note that for the style to be applied, you need to register it with the application.
1.7 Choosing a Resource Bundle
You use the Resource Bundle Selection dialog that Figure 13 shows to choose a resource bundle for your application (as defined by the basename
attribute). The dialog displays a list of available resource bundles including the following:
- Resource bundles that reside in your project's
src
directory.
- Resource bundles in JAR files in your project's
WEB-INF/lib
directory.
- Resources bundles in JAR files in Shared Libraries;
- Resources bundles in JAR files in User Libraries;
Figure 13. Resource Bundle Selection Dialog
Note that this dialog allows you to set the resource bundle defined by the basename
attribute of the JSF Core loadBundle
and JSTL Formatting setBundle
tags.
Also note that if the basename
attribute contains a valid value, it will be selected in the dialog by default.
1.8 Choosing a Validator
You use the Validator Id Selection dialog that Figure 14 shows to choose a validator from a list of available validators, which includes the standard JSF validators and any validators that are defined in the faces-config.xml
file. Note that through this dialog you set the value of the validatorId
attribute of the JSF Core validator
tag.
Figure 14. Validator Id Selection Dialog
If the validatorId
attribute already contains a valid value, this value is displayed separately at the top of the dialog, as Figure 15 shows.
Figure 15. Validator Id Selection Dialog with Valid Value
1.9 Choosing a Converter
You use the Converter Id Selection dialog that Figure 16 shows to choose a converter from a list of available converters, which includes the standard JSF converters and any converters that are defined in the faces-config.xml
file. Note that through this dialog you set the value of the following attributes:
converterId
attribute of the JSF Core converter
tag.
converter
attribute of JSF HTML inputText
and outputText
tags.
Figure 16. Converter Id Selection Dialog
If the converterId
or converterId
attribute already contains a valid value, this value is displayed separately at the top of the dialog, as Figure 17 shows.
Figure 17. Converter Id Selection Dialog with Valid Value
2. Related Information