By default, JBoss Tools Palette is available in the Web Development perspective that can be displayed from the Window menu by selecting the Open Perspective | Other option. In the following screenshot, you can see the default look of this palette:

Let’s dissect this palette to see how it makes our life easier!

JBoss Tools Palette Toolbar

Note that on the top right corner of the palette, we have a toolbar made of three buttons (as shown in the following screenshot). They are (from left to right):

• Palette Editor
• Show/Hide
• Import

Each of these buttons accomplishes different tasks for offering a high level of flexibility and customizability. Next, we will focus our attention on each one of these buttons.

Palette Editor

Clicking on the Palette Editor icon will display the Palette Editor window (as shown in the following screenshot), which contains groups and subgroups of tags that are currently supported. Also, from this window you can create new groups, subgroups, icons, and of course, tags—as you will see in a few moments.

As you can see, this window contains two panels: one for listing groups of tag libraries (left side) and another that displays details about the selected tag and allows us to modify the default values (extreme right). Modifying a tag is a very simple operation that can be done like this:

1. Select from the left panel the tag that you want to modify (for example, the <div> tag from the HTML | Block subgroup, as shown in the previous screenshot).
2. In the right panel, click on the row from the value column that corresponds to the property that you want to modify (the name column).
3. Make the desirable modification(s) and click the OK button for confirming it (them).

Creating a set of icons

The Icons node from the left panel allows you to create sets of icons and import new icons for your tags. To start, you have to right-click on this node and select the Create | Create Set option from the contextual menu (as shown in the following screenshot).

This action will open the Add Icon Set window where you have to specify a name for this new set. Once you’re done with the naming, click on the Finish button (as shown in the following screenshot). For example, we have created a set named eHTMLi:

Importing an icon

You can import a new icon in any set of icons by right-clicking on the corresponding set and selecting the Create | Import Icon option from the contextual menu (as shown in the following screenshot):

This action will open the Add Icon window, where you have to specify a name and a path for your icon, and then click on the Finish button (as shown in the following screenshot). Note that the image of the icon should be in GIF format.

Creating a group of tag libraries

As you can see, the JBoss Tools Palette has a consistent default set of groups of tag libraries, like HTML, JSF, JSTL, Struts, XHTML, etc. If these groups are insufficient, then you can create new ones by right-clicking on the Palette node and selecting the Create | Create Group option from the contextual menu (as shown in the following screenshot).

This action will open the Create Group window, where you have to specify a name for the new group, and then click on Finish. For example, we have created a group named mygroup:

Note that you can delete (only groups created by the user) or edit groups (any group) by selecting the Delete or Edit options from the contextual menu that appears when you right-click on the chosen group.

Creating a tag library

Now that we have created a group, it’s time to create a library (or a subgroup). To do this, you have to right-click on the new group and select the Create Group option from the contextual menu (as shown in the following screenshot).

This action will open the Add Palette Group window, where you have to specify a name and an icon for this library, and then click on the Finish button (as shown in the following screenshot). As an example, we have created a library named eHTML with an icon that we had imported in the Importing an icon section discussed earlier in this article:

Note that you can delete a tag library (only tag libraries created by the user) by selecting the Delete option from the contextual menu that appears when you right-click on the chosen library.