Appendix B Common Tasks

This appendix describes some of the basic tasks that you perform across many of the Java Desktop System applications.

To Select a Color

You use a color selection dialog to specify the color characteristics to display in an application. You can use the dialog to choose the color effect that you want. Choose a color from the Palette in the color selection dialog, or use the color wheel or the spin boxes to customize the color.

The following table lists the color preferences that you can modify.

Table B–1 Color Selection Dialog

Dialog Element	Description
Color Wheel	Click on the color wheel to select a color.
Color Triangle	Click on the color triangle to select the shade of the chosen color.
Color Button	Displays the selected color.
Hue	Use the spin box to specify the position of a color on the color wheel.
Saturation	Use the spin box to specify the intensity of the color.
Value	Use the spin box to specify the degree of lightness or darkness of a color.
Red	Use the spin box to specify the amount of red in the color.
Green	Use the spin box to specify the amount of green in the color.
Blue	Use the spin box to specify the amount of blue in the color.
Color Name	Contains the HTML-style hexadecimal equivalent color value. For example, #0000FF is the hexadecimal value for the color blue.
Palette	Contains color entries which you can select and drag. You can also save colors to the palette.

To Select a Font

You use a font selection dialog to specify the font characteristics of text displayed in an application. Some applications, for example, Terminal and Text Editor, have a built-in font selection capability. In these applications, you use the font selection dialog to specify the font you require.

The following table lists the font preferences that you can modify.

Table B–2 Font Selection Dialog

Dialog Element	Description
Family	Select the font family that you require from the list box.
Style	Select the style for the font from the list box.
Size	Select the point size for the font from the list box. Alternatively, type the font size in the text box at the top of the list box.
Preview	Displays sample text with the specified font settings.

To Open a File in an Application

Perform the following steps:

1. Start the application in which you want to open the file.

2. Choose the appropriate menu item to open a file. For example, to open a file in Text Editor, choose File -> Open. A dialog that enables you to open a file is displayed.

   The following table lists the items that are typically in a dialog that you use to open a file:

   Table B–3 Open File Dialog

   Dialog Element	Description
   Bookmark list	Located on the left side of the dialog. Displays various folders, including folders that you bookmark with the Add and Remove buttons. Double-click on a folder to open the folder.
   File table	Lists the files and folders in the selected folder. Double-click on a folder to open the folder.   Click on the Name column heading to sort the files and folders by name. Click on the Modified column heading to sort the files and folders by modification date. Folders are always listed before files.
   Add	To add a folder to the list of bookmarks, select the folder in the file table, then click Add.
   Remove	To remove a folder from the list of bookmarks, select the folder in the bookmark list, then click Remove.
   Drop-down list	Select which types of file to display in the file table. For example, in the Text Editor application, you might choose to display all text files.
   Character Coding	If the file is encoded in a different character encoding, select the character encoding from the drop-down list.

3. Use the dialog to locate the file that you want to open. To open the file, select the file, then click Open. Alternatively, double-click on the file.

To open files from the file manager, see Opening Files.

To Save a File to Another Location

Perform the following steps:

1. Start the application in which you want to work with the file.

2. Open the file that you want to save.

3. Choose the appropriate menu item to save the file. For example, to save a file in Text Editor, choose File -> Save As. A dialog that enables you to save the file is displayed.

   The following table lists the items that are typically in a dialog that you use to save a file:

   Table B–4 Save As Dialog

   Dialog Element	Description
   Name	Type the name of the file.
   Save in folder	Select the folder in which you want to save the file from the drop-down list.
   Character Coding	To save the file in a different character encoding, select the character encoding from the drop-down list.
   Browse for other folders	Use this drop-down section to specify a location to save the file. For more information on the drop-down section, see To Open a File in an Application.

4. Click Save.