Overview of the WebLogic Workshop Window Layout

The WebLogic Workshop development environment can be launched in several ways. When installed on a Windows -based computer, you can click Start, Programs, BEA WebLogic Platform 8.1, WebLogic Workshop 8.1. In addition, after you've created a Workshop application, double-clicking the corresponding .work file in Windows Explorer opens the application in the Workshop environment.

When you first open WebLogic Workshop, the default graphical user interface, shown in Figure 2.1, is configured to be ergonomic, with all the commonly used development windows surrounding your primary workspace, the Edit pane.

Figure 2.1. The default WebLogic Workshop graphical layout arranges commonly used tools around the Edit pane.

That being said, you can tailor the appearance of these development windows to suit your needs. To open a window, select the corresponding item under the View and View, Windows menus . To close a window, click the close button in the upper-right corner. As expected, you can resize these windows by clicking and dragging on the window borders. Also, double-clicking on any window title bar enables you to dock and undock the window with the rest of the Workshop environment.

Table 2.1 summarizes the key panes that are available in Workshop. The following sections examine each of these panes.

Table 2.1. Key Available Panes in the Workshop Graphical Development Environment

PANE	USE
Edit	Multitabbed to allow toggling between high-level design and code-level implementation
Application	Navigates through the application's files and displays them in hierarchical format, based on function
Files	Navigates through the application's files and displays them in an alphabetical list
Document Structure	Navigates through parts of the edited component (for example, lists the Java methods and attributes of a class)
Palette	Provides a context-specific list of items that can be added directly to the component being developed (for example, lists methods and callbacks for possible additions to a Web service)
Data Palette	Provides a context-specific list of external items that can be linked to the component being developed (for example, a list of controls that can be added to a Web service)
Property Editor	Provides a means of viewing and updating the attributes of a component without editing code
Build	Displays errors and warnings that are produced when an application is being compiled