JabRef 6.0-beta.1 · org.jabref.gui.preferences.forms

The form DSL of the preferences dialog: code-first replacements for the former FXML + controller pairs.

The chain only adds elements. Anything that configures an element happens inside that element's trailing config lambda, so no call can land on the wrong node.
The handle a lambda receives states what its element is. An InputElement is a Control: it can carry a tooltip, validation and attachments; a NodeElement is not a Control and offers none of that. Asking for the wrong capability does not compile.
Secondary nodes are attachments, not separate builder methods. A help button, a browse button or an inline value field is attached to its primary control via the handle (help(...), browse(...), attachField(...), attach(...)), which appends it right after the control and couples its state to it. The attachment's own config lambda makes it fully addressable. checkWithField remains as sugar over checkbox + attachField because the "Enable X on port .." idiom reads better as one call.
Regions nest via lambdas (section, group, columns, flow), so a region cannot be left unclosed and can be configured or disabled as a unit. Their handles mirror the element handles: a SectionRegion has a header and therefore takes help(...), a plain FormRegion has none and does not — again a compile error rather than an exception.

PasswordFieldEditor and TagsFieldEditor encapsulate control patterns that recur across tabs. Their conventions:

An editor binds its own value property; builder methods and tabs only place the node.
Shape follows option count: an editor without options is a static create(...) factory; one with optional parts (the password field's buttons) is a small fluent builder. Its terminal call is named for what it actually does — PasswordFieldEditor.field() just hands back the field, so it is not called build().
Editors return their control, so a tab can pass them to the builder's field/custom methods or dedicated hooks such as tagsField. The password editor deliberately has no builder method: its variants differ per call site, and field(label, editor) places it just as well.

The tabs using this DSL live in the sibling packages of org.jabref.gui.preferences.

Class Summary

Modifier and Type	Class and Description
public class	FormMetrics The layout measurements a preference tab shares with `PreferencesFormBuilder`, so that a tab building part of its view by hand (the `.custom(Node)` hatch) lines up with the parts the builder laid out, rather than re-typing the numbers.
public class	PasswordFieldEditor Custom editor: a bound `EnhancedPasswordField` with an optional row of icon buttons in its right slot.
public class	PreferencesFormBuilder Fluent, eager builder that assembles a preference tab's node tree and wires all bindings.
public class	TagsFieldEditor Custom editor: a fully-styled gemsfx `TagsField` bound to its value, with suggestion, converter and a removable tag view.