[ve-dev] Bean Builder

[Alain O'Dea <alain@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bean Builder is easy to use and achieves separation of the graphical 
interface and the code. It does not generate code for hand-editing and 
uses JavaBeans XML persistent storage instead. Component relationships 
are established visually on the basis of event triggers that lead to 
calls on the interface of other bean components. The only interaction 
between code and the interface is a call to XMLDecoder that recreates 
the GUI from the stored XML file.

A simple tutorial is provided that outlines the capabilities quite well:
https://bean-builder.dev.java.net/guide/tutorial.html

Pros:
- Graphical specification of event and layout relationships between 
components
- Layout editor is good for resizable interfaces (it uses SpringLayout).
- Event relationships can be established between non-visual and visual 
components.

Cons:
- Existing event and layout relationships between components cannot be 
modified.
- Complex containers like JTabbedPanes and JSplitPanes cannot be 
properly configured.
- No means by which to relocate or remove nested components.

The Bean Builder project was opened by Sun and is now available under 
the Berkeley Software Distribution License. It can now be found in 
semi-active development at:
https://bean-builder.dev.java.net/.

Perhaps some of it's capabilities and approach could be adopted by VE.