When you add a bean, the mouse pointer changes when it is 'loaded' and positioned over a valid drop location within the Design page. Depending on which layout manager you are using, you may see other visual cues to guide your positioning of the bean. For example, for classes that implement a border layout, the Visual Editor labels different areas as North, East, South, West, and Center.
Some Java classes are also containers. For example, a JFrame class can have child components such as buttons, list boxes, and labels.
Adding a bean from a palette
Unless you have changed your preferences for
the Visual Editor, the Design view provides bean palettes for different kinds
of Swing and AWT components. You can expand and collapse these categories
by clicking on the category. When a category is expanded, a 'pin open' icon
is displayed
to the right of the category name.
Adding a bean from a categorized list
Adding a bean from a comprehensive list
The source page of the Visual Editor shows the Java code that is generated as you add each bean. Note: The Visual Editor's 'Choose beans' will allow you to drop JavaBeans that have null constructor in them (a JavaBean specification requirement). It will not allow you to drop Beans that use the static getInstance() pattern.
Related concepts
Visual Editor for Java
Containers and layout managers
Related tasks
Launching the Visual Editor for Java
Composing classes visually