The Projects window is the main entry point to your project sources. It shows a logical view of important project contents such as Java packages and Web pages. You can right-click any project node to access a pop-up menu of commands for building, running, and debugging the project, as well as opening the Project Properties dialog box.
The Runtime window displays runtime information on such things as currently running processes, debugging sessions, and external services that are connected to the IDE.
The Navigator window is a tool that displays information about the java source files in the currently opened project. You can view source elements either as a simple list or as an inheritance tree. By default, the Navigator window is located in the lower lefthand corner of the IDE's workspace below the Projects, Files, and Runtime windows.
The Source Editor is a full-featured text editor that is integrated with the GUI Builder, Projects window, compiler, and debugger. The Source Editor is automatically opened when a new and editable object is created from the available templates in the IDE. It can also be opened by double-clicking the node of an editable object in the Projects window.
The GUI Builder is a visual tool for creating and editing GUI forms written in the JavaTM programming language. The GUI Builder opens a design-time view of your GUI form in an Editor tab. The GUI Builder also opens a Palette window of components you can add to your form, an Inspector window that shows the structure of your form, and a Properties window where you can modify the properties and behavior of each component.
The Build menu contains commands for compiling applications. You can compile an entire project or compile single files. You can also access the most common compiling actions by using the commands in the Build toolbar or by using the keyboard equivalents.
The IDE provides full integration of the JDPA debugger. When you start a debugging session, the IDE automatically opens a set of Debugger windows that display runtime information about your program. You can set breakpoints and watches, step through code, examine and modify variables, examine classes and the callstack, follow threads, and run multiple sessions.
The Favorites window lets you access any location on your computer. This is handy for accessing files and directories that are outside of your project directories. The Favorites window does not know anything about project classpath and membership, so none of the project-related commands like Compile File are available in the Favorites window.