C H A P T E R  10

Window System

The Window System is a framework provided by the NetBeans Platform. It is responsible for the administration and display of all application windows and allows the user to customize the layout of the user interface.

The basic structure of the visual window system is document based . That means the central section—that is, the editor section—is all about the display of several files in tabs. Different windows can be placed in variant areas around the editor area, the view areas (see Figure 10-1). Usually, these are supporting windows that offer edit functionality to the documents. In the case of the NetBeans IDE, for example, these windows provide the structure of the project, the Properties dialog, and the Output window. These three are located around the editor area.