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Confidential Information 1 General Interface Developer Guide General Interface Developer Guide Software Release 3.9 March 2010 Chapter 1 Introduction to General Interface Chapter 2 General Interface Builder Basics Chapter 3 General Interface Framework Basics Chapter 4 Handling Application Data Chapter 5 Communicating with Data Services Chapter 6 Communicating with a Web Service Tutorial Chapter 7 Using CDF Form Mapping Tutorial Chapter 8 Optimizing Application Performance Chapter 9 Accessing Data Across Subdomains Chapter 10 Adding and Debugging JavaScript Code Chapter 11 Class Inheritance and Introspection Chapter 12 Extensions to JavaScript Exception Handling Chapter 13 General Interface JavaScript Documentation Compiler Chapter 14 Protecting Namespaces in Multiple Application Environments Chapter 15 Implementing Context-Sensitive Help Chapter 16 Logging and Application Monitors Chapter 17 Internationalizing and Localizing Applications Chapter 18 Deploying Applications Chapter 19 Optimizing Load Performance Chapter 20 Asynchronous Modular Platform Chapter 21 Asynchronous Programming Utilities Chapter 22 Using the Test Recorder Appendix A General Interface Builder Menus, Toolbars, Dialogs, and Tools Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2 Chapter 1 Introduction to General Interface This chapter provides an introduction to General Interface software, which includes General Interface Framework and General Interface Builder. General Interface Files and Folders Further Information on General Interface Topics General Interface Files and Folders General Interface consists of two components: General Interface Framework The distributable runtime framework for running browser-based General Interface applications. The framework is located in the JSX directory. General Interface Builder A browser-based, visual development environment for developing General Interface applications that use the General Interface Framework. General Interface Builder is itself a General Interface application. General Interface Builder is located in the GI_Builder directory. Although the installation directory is different for Enterprise Edition and Professional Edition, the contents of the directories are the same. The figure shows the directory structure and its contents. Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved. 3 Further Information on General Interface Topics For more information, see the following topics: Workspace and projects: Managing Projects General Interface Builder preferences: Customizing the IDE Logging system configuration file: Logging and Application Monitors Parameterized launch pages: Deploying as a Full Console Application Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved. 4 Chapter 2 General Interface Builder Basics This chapter provides an overview of General Interface Builder features and the user interface. Using Palettes Customizing the IDE Managing Projects Work Area Editors Component Libraries Palette and the Online Repository Data and Cache Management Data Connection and Mapping Jabber Support General Interface Documentation Further Information on General Interface Basics Using Palettes This section describes the General Interface Builder palettes that you use as you work with your application. Project Files Palette A list of all files referenced by an application are displayed in the Project Files palette. Files can include GUI components, XML and XSL documents, JavaScript files, CSS files, dynamic properties files, properties bundle files, mapping rules files, and other files, such as text files. The file and folder hierarchy reflects where the files are located in relation to the project directory. For more information on projects, see Managing Projects. For definitions of toolbar buttons, see Project Files Palette Toolbar. Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved. 5 Component Libraries Palette The Component Libraries palette, shown in the next figure, provides predefined GUI prototype objects for adding functionality to your application. Components are organized in folders according to function. For example, objects in the Containers folder such as Dialog, Layout, and Tabbed Pane, act as containers for other objects. Form Elements objects, such as Text Area, Button, and Select, collect user input. These object libraries not only reduce the time required to build applications, they also allow object behavior and look-and-feel to be easily customized. Prototype objects can be dragged from the Component Libraries palette to any object in the work area or to the Component Hierarchy palette. A new object of the selected type is created as a child of the object where it's dropped if the parent object accepts children. You can also create, manage, and share your own libraries of components. Saving a component definition to the workspace /prototypes directory adds it to the User folder in the Component Libraries palette. The custom component can then be reused like any other prototype component. The Addins folder contains any prototypes defined in an add-in, such as Charting. You can also create your own custom add-ins. Add-ins must be enabled on the Add-Ins panel before they display in the Addins folder. For more information, see General Interface Component Guide. For more information on components and tutorial on custom add-ins, see the General Interface Component Guide. Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved. 6 Component Hierarchy Palette The Component Hierarchy palette, shown in the next figure, lets you view and manage the hierarchical model of objects in your application. Objects can contain other objects. For example, a LayoutGrid component could include Text Box, Label, and Button objects, as well as other components. Applications usually consist of multiple components that work together using JavaScript logic. Using the Component Hierarchy palette, you can select objects and then modify them using other palettes, such as Properties Editor palette, Events Editor palette, and so on. Once you've defined a component or object, you can also clone it to quickly make multiple copies. Objects can also be exported to reuse in other applications or imported from another project into the current one. For more information about working with components, see General Interface Component