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BEAN BASICS |
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WHAT IS A JAVA BEAN?
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The JavaBeans specification defines a bean to be a reusable software
component that can be manipulated visually in a builder tool. In
other words, the JavaBeans API specifies a component software model in
which the components are referred to as beans.
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A simple example of a bean is any of the Java AWT components such as a
button, though a bean could contain just about any Java code regardless
of complexity. Additionally, not every bean must draw something to the
screen.
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The JavaBeans architecture allows the application developer to quickly
and easily construct a full featured Java program simply by connecting
together one or more prewritten beans in a visual bean manipulation
program referred to as a beanbox. Beans may also be assembled
into an application by hand coding.
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Each bean exports a well defined list of properties, events, and methods
that may be accessed by other beans. A property represents a
parameter internal to the bean whose value can be programmatically
queried or set. Beans communicate with the "outside world" through
events and public methods.