Workbench is an integrated development environment (IDE)
that developers use to create and manage AEM forms applications
and assets.
About the user interface
Workbench has several common features, such as the menu
bar and toolbar. It also displays a collection of windows or panels,
called
views
or
editors
. The collection of views and
editors is called a
perspective
.
The
menu bar
provides access to a set of commands. The
toolbar
provides
quick access to commands that you can frequently use to create processes
and forms.
Views
contain data entry fields, file hierarchy lists,
buttons, and other such tools that you use to specify details about
processes and forms. Many views offer additional commands in context
menus, which you display by right-clicking in the view.
Perspectives
A
perspective
is a group of views and editors for
accomplishing a specific type of task. Workbench includes several
perspectives that are optimized for developing specific application
assets:
-
Process Design (See
Opening the Process Design perspective
.)
-
Form Design (See
Opening the Form Design perspective
.)
-
(Deprecated) Document Builder (See
Getting Started with (Deprecated) Document Builder
)
-
Guide Design (See Guide
Design perspective)
-
Data Model (See
Using data models with processes
.)
Workbench also provides
the AEM forms Runtime View perspective. This perspective is useful
for seeing all of the assets that are active on the AEM forms server.
This perspective is useful when your environment includes assets created
using AEM forms and resources, processes, and event types that were created
using previous versions. (See
Leveraging legacy solutions in AEM forms
.)
You can switch to another
perspective by selecting Window > Open Perspective or by clicking
one of the perspective buttons in the toolbar. You can switch between
perspectives freely, but only one is displayed at a time.
The
perspective that was last active is reactivated the next time you
start Workbench.
You can customize a perspective to suit your
personal preferences by selecting, placing, and sizing the editors
and views. Your personal preferences can change and are dependent
on what you want to accomplish for your development tasks.
Views
A
view
, which is a tab within a window, contains
a set of elements such as a navigation tree or fields for setting
property values. Views include menus and toolbars. You can open
and close views and dock them in other locations.
A perspective has a defined set of views. The views in a perspective
support the tasks you perform in that perspective. For example,
when you are creating processes, the views displayed in the Process
Design perspective relate to drawing and configuring process diagrams.
Editors
An
editor
allows you to create and edit objects
or files of various types, such as process diagrams and forms. The
editor opens automatically when required. For example, if you open
a form, the associated editor opens.
More than one editor can be open at once. Tabs in the editor
area indicate the names of the objects or files that are currently
open for editing. An asterisk (*) beside the name indicates that
the file or object has unsaved changes.
As with views, you can open, close, and dock editors to suit
your preferences.
Preferences
Preferences are available for personalizing the behavior
of Workbench when you open assets. Select or deselect the following
options and click Apply.
-
Automatically Open Associated Perspectives When
Editing Assets:
-
Select to automatically switch to the perspective that is
associated with the type of asset that you open. For example, when
you open a process, the Process perspective is opened.
-
Perform Asset(s) Checkout Automatically:
-
Select to automatically check out assets when you open them.
Related software
As you learn about Workbench, be aware of the following
related AEM forms modules:
Related software
|
Description
|
AEM forms server
|
The repository for process diagrams, forms,
and other resources used in the business process. The server can
be either a single server or a server cluster.
To work in
Workbench, it is necessary to log in to a AEM forms server.
|
User Management pages of the AEM forms Administration
Console
|
Use for creating user accounts and user
groups, and configuring their security permissions. See
Setting
up and organizing users
|
Applications and Services pages of the Administration
Console
|
Use for importing and configuring archive
files that you create using Workbench. For more info see
Applications and Services Administration
Help
.
|
forms workflow pages of administration console
|
Use for configuring server settings, and
administering process instances at run time. For example, you can
get information about stalled operations and task assignments. See
forms workflow administration help
.
|
Workspace
|
A user-facing interactive portal from which
users can initiate processes and work with forms in a process. As
a developer, you can customize the appearance of Workspace, extend
its components, and utilize its exposed components to customize
it.
|
Adobe Community Help Client (CHC)
The CHC is an AIR-based application that replaces the Eclipse
help engine for Workbench and is the platform for the next generation
of Adobe help delivery. CHC features include:
-
Always online
If you have a network connection,
the CHC accesses content from the web. This ensures that you access
the most up-to-date-material. It can also work in local mode if
there is no Internet connection.
-
Search-centric
Use Community Help search, adobe.com
search, or local search. Community Help search aggregates resources,
including those from 3rd party sites. adobe.com search includes
refinements to narrow your scope.
-
In-context navigation
Provides a dynamically generated
set of related links for key pages.
|
|
|