While testing your project

When you test a newly created ZIETrans project, you see what your host application looks like when the default transformation is applied. This transformation is part of each project and uses default rendering to provide an automatic conversion of your host application screens into a GUI. Part of what you do with the ZIETrans Toolkit is to design transformations that improve the conversion of your host application screens into a meaningful, usable GUI.

If you make changes to your project while you are testing it in debug on server mode (for Web projects), you do not generally need to start a new test environment to view your changes. Instead, click the Refresh button on the GUI that is already displayed.

Some of the changes you make may not appear when you use a local test environment until you rebuild and refresh the workspace. You can set preferences in Eclipse that cause the workspace automatically to be rebuilt and refreshed when you make changes. To do this, from the Eclipse menu bar select Window > Preferences > General > Workspace and select the Build automatically and Refresh automatically check boxes. This will enable the changes you make to appear immediately when you use the local test environment.

After testing your initial project, you may then want to customize it. For example, you may want to put your own company name into the template and define widgets (fields, input areas, and other GUI controls) in the transformation area. As you develop your ZIETrans project, you can use the test environment to test it and to see how it will look to a user. Here is a sequence of steps you may typically follow:
  1. Create a ZIETrans project.
  2. Test it.
  3. Make changes based on what you see in the test environment.
  4. Refresh the test environment.
  5. Repeat until you are satisfied.

For more information about how to customize ZIETrans projects, see Customizing your ZIETrans project.

Parent topic: Testing your project