To view and change the properties for a bean:
The Properties view
Each entry in the Properties view represents an instance of a java.beans.PropertyDescriptor class that is obtained by performing introspection on the beans. Each property descriptor can have a get method for retrieving the current value and a set method for updating the value. By default, the properties shown in this view are those that have both a get and a set method, that is, properties that can be both read and written. If you would also like to see read-only properties, click the Menu button (the down arrow) on the view's toolbar and select the corresponding menu item.
The name shown for each property is the value of the displayName property from the java.beans.PropertyDescriptor class. If there is no displayName property set then the name of the property descriptor is used instead. The value of the property is the result of calling the get method associated with the descriptor.
The value of some properties may itself be a Java bean that has properties, in which case a plus sign (+) appears in the Property column. Click the plus sign to expand the view and see all the bean properties.
A right angle bracket (>) next to a name in the Property column indicates a property whose value is explicitly set in code, not returned from the live bean. If you select the Value column for a property that is flagged with the > symbol, the line of Java code that sets the value is highlighted in the source view. To toggle the > symbol on or off, click the Menu button (the down arrow) on the view's toolbar.
Null values
Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish null from empty values in the Value column. To solve this problem, click the Menu button on the toolbar and select Show null values. The characters <null> will then appear in the Value column when the result of calling the property's get method on the Java bean returns null.
To set a value to be explicitly null, select it the Value cell and click the Set the Active Property Being Edited to Null button on the Properties view's toolbar. The set method will now be called with a null argument.
Resetting a property's value
When you first drop a bean in the Design view in the Visual Editor, all of the values shown in the Properties view are the initial defaults. If a property is changed a set method is generated in the code. If you wish to unset the value of a property, click the Restore Default Value button on the Properties view's toolbar.
When a value is restored to its default value the statement that sends the set method is deleted from the source and the set method is explicitly called with the original default value, to restore the Java bean to its default state. The original value is also sent to the bean if you delete the set method manually, in the source code view.
Related concepts
Properties view
Related tasks
Composing classes visually
Editing a visual bean