Using the Builder Palette

The primary purpose of the Builder Palette is to provide you with a way to select a builder and launch that builder's Builder Call Editor. Once you click OK in the Builder Call Editor, the Designer adds the builder call to your model. The Builder Palette allows you add any builder included in, or added to, your Factory installation.

All Factory-supplied builders are assigned a category, and we can view these builders according to their category in the Builder Palette. Categories provide a great way to organize builders.

To launch a builder call editor:

  1. In the Builder Palette, select the name of the builder for which you want to add a builder call to your model.

To find a builder in a large category like All, type the first letter of the builder name, which displays the first builder that begins with that letter. Keep typing the first letter of the builder name to cycle through all the builders that begin with that letter. Use SHIFT + 'letter' to navigate to a letter "up" the list.

  1. Click the OK button, displaying the Builder Call Editor for the selected builder. Alternatively, we can double-click on a builder's name and display its Builder Call Editor.

 

Updating the List of Builders

We can update the list of builders available to the Designer by clicking the Refresh button. Builders defined by builder definitions that have been added to the WEB-INF/builders directory, will now be listed in the All category and any other category defined in the builder definition.

Tip - You might need to update the Builder Palette when you install a WebSphere Portlet Factory Package that contains a new builder.

To update the list of builders:

  1. In the Builder Palette, click Refresh.

  2. If you have just added a builder definition to the WEB-INF/builders directory, you may need to restart Designer to see the new builder in the Builder Palette. By default, Designer checks for new builder definitions every thirty minutes.

 

Displaying Help for a Builder

We can get the help page for a builder without opening the builder call editor.

To display the help for a builder:

  1. In the Builder Palette, select the name of the builder for which you want to display the help.

  2. Press F1, displaying the infopop for the selected builder, containing a link to the complete Builder help topic.