Introduction to Using the Ebase Designer

The Ebase Designer is a client/server application where the client component is a standalone Java GUI application and the server component is a J2EE application that runs under an application server. This architecture supports any number of concurrent designers connected to a single server. The client is the major component and calls on the server to provide support and control functions. The designer server component functions include:

· Reading and writing data to/from the Ebase repository database

· Locking of Ebase Designer elements to maintain integrity

· Security

· Import and export of form components

Designer screen layout

The Ebase Designer contains the following areas:

· Main menu at the top of the screen.

· Designer tree at the top of the left panel. This is used to navigate to all form components.

· Functional area in the right panel. The contents of this panel vary according to the editor currently displayed.

· Open items toolbar above the functional area. Shows all open items.

· References panel at the bottom of the left panel. Contains cross reference, search panels etc.

The panels on the left hand side – Designer Tree and References Panel – are dockable and can be moved to different locations by dragging the panel title bars; the current configuration is remembered when the designer is shutdown. These two panels can also be hidden to make more space available for the functional area. To do this, click the auto-hide icon at the top of the Designer tree panel and close the References Panel (it will be shown automatically when it is needed).