Setting preferences for Rich UI appearance

Begin to set the appearance of the Rich UI editor as follows:
  1. From the main menu, click Window > Preferences. The Preferences dialog box is displayed.
  2. Expand EGL and Rich UI; and then click Appearance. The Appearance page is displayed, with three tabs: General, Browser size, and Languages.
We describe each tab in turn. On completing the tabs, do as follows:
  1. If you want to return the settings on the Appearance pane to the original product settings, click Restore Defaults.
  2. Click Apply to save your changes and remain on the Preferences dialog box. Alternatively, click OK to save the changes and exit the dialog box; or click Cancel to cancel the changes and exit the dialog box.

General tab

At the General tab, do as follows:
  1. In the Editor tab section, select Design, Source, or Preview to indicate which tab to initially use whenever you open the Rich UI editor.
  2. In the Widget creation section, indicate whether the Rich UI editor must prompt you for a variable name each time you drag a widget from the palette to the Design surface. If you clear the checkbox, the Rich UI editor creates its own variable name, which is the widget type name (for example, Button) followed by a sequentially assigned integer. For example, the assigned names might be Button1, Button2, Box1, and so forth.
  3. In the Transparency section, indicate how to handle the transparency controls, which vary how widgets are displayed in the Design tab of the Rich UI editor. The transparency controls are particularly useful when you are working on a Design surface with many widgets that are close together.

    The Design surface is composed of two layers. The bottom layer is the web browser, which displays widgets, including initial text values. The top layer is an editing overlay, including angle brackets at each corner of each widget. The background of the top layer can have any of the following characteristics: transparent, or a pattern of white and transparent dots, or (on Windows platforms) a white layer with a varying level of transparency.

    The transparency options provided in the Appearance pane affect the behavior of the Rich UI editor every time you open the editor. However, when you are working in the editor, you can change the transparency options that are in use for the editing session. The options are as follows:
    1. Select or clear the check box Show transparency controls to indicate whether to display the transparency controls. When you start working with Rich UI, you are likely to prefer hiding the controls, as is the default setting for this preference.
    2. Next, select one of the following transparency modes, which affect the background of the top layer of the Design surface:
      • Fully transparent means that the background is transparent.
      • Dotted transparency pattern means that the background is a pattern of white and transparent dots. The refresh rate of your monitor may cause the pattern to shimmer.
      • On Windows platforms, Variable transparency means that the background is a white layer with a varying level of transparency. You vary the level by changing the numeric value of a slider. The dotted transparency pattern described earlier is roughly equivalent to the variable transparency pattern at 38%.
    3. The checkbox named Enable semi-transparency while dragging allows use of a temporary transparency mode as you drag a widget from the palette to the Design surface or from one location on the Design surface to another. Selecting the checkbox means that the temporary mode is the dotted transparency pattern. Clearing the checkbox means that your usual transparency mode remains in effect. The checkbox has no effect if your usual transparency mode is the dotted transparency pattern.
  4. In the Colors section, specify details on the following issues:
    • The border of the currently selected widget
    • The potential drop locations for a widget being dragged from the palette to the Design surface or from one location on the Design surface to another
    • The selected drop location, which is a potential drop location over which the widget is hovering during a drag-and-drop operation

    For the border and each location, you can click the adjacent button to display a color dialog, where you can choose or refine a color. Also, for the border and the selected drop location, you can select (or clear) a check box to include (or exclude) the displayed pattern.

  5. In the Performance section, select the radio button that reflects your current need, whether for greater responsiveness or for less usage of runtime resources such as memory. One effect of selecting Optimize to use fewer resources is that you increase the amount of time needed to display content when you select the Design or Preview tab.
  6. In the Select the render engine to be used by the visual editor section, do one of the following tasks:
    • Select Mozilla XULRunner if you want to use the Mozilla rendering engine to display widgets in your visual editor. This engine is part of Firefox and other Mozilla applications. (Note that Rich UI requires the Firefox version to be 3 or greater.)
    • Select Microsoft Internet Explorer if you want to use the Microsoft Internet Explorer rendering engine.
    • Select Webkit if you want to use the Webkit rendering engine to display widgets in your visual editor. This engine is part of Safari and other webkit based browsers.
    • Select Chromium if you want to use the Chromium browser to display widgets in your visual editor. This is required to display the widgets that use web components or other modern JavaScript features.
Rendering Engine Limitations:
  1. Mozilla XULRunner: Does not support on Windows 64bit.
  2. Microsoft Internet Explorer: It is only supported on Windows
  3. WebKit: Does not support on Windows
  4. Chromium: Chromium is not supported on Linux due to chromium swt bug. On Windows, the Limitations of Chromium are as follows:
    1. The backgroud of Gridlayout will not be displayed in the design.
    2. While dragging, the canvas will only show the outlines without content, which will appear after dropping.
    3. One side of the widget's border may disappear.

Browser size tab

In the Browser size tab, you set the browser size that is appropriate for a specific kind of device such as a cell phone. Specifically, you set options that are in effect whenever you open the Rich UI editor. However, when you are working in the editor, you can change the browser-size options for the file being edited.

The options are as follows:
  1. Select or clear the check box Browser size controls to indicate whether to display the controls when a file is opened in the Rich UI editor. When you start working with Rich UI, you are likely to prefer hiding the controls, as is the default setting for this preference.
  2. Change the numeric values of the sliders to specify the default height and width in pixels. The default you set becomes the browser size that is provided initially in the Rich UI editor. Similarly, change the numeric values of the sliders to specify the minimum and maximum height and width that are valid in any file open in the Rich UI editor. You can change the maximum and minimum only by returning to the Appearance page.

Languages tab

In the Languages tab, you assign values that determine what messages to use when you run Rich UI applications in the Preview tab of the Rich UI editor or in an external browser. For details on the use of locales, see Use of properties files for displayable text.

When you work in the Languages tab, you choose among locales that are listed in the Rich UI pane, as described in Setting preferences for Rich UI. Your tasks are as follows:
  1. In the Runtime messages locale list box, select the locale for the EGL runtime messages, which are provided by the EGL Runtime and are distinct from the messages included in a properties file that you customize.
  2. In the Rich UI handler locale list box, select the locale for the messages included in a properties file, if any, that you customize.

Feedback