Develop > Presentation layer > Management Center framework > Customize the Management Center user interface > Create a new tool for the Management Center
Work with UI text and images
You define text and icons as part of creating a tool for the Management Center. The Management Center framework uses the defined text and icons on user interface widgets such as list views, properties views, calendar views, the explorer view, menus, and tooltip text.
- Define properties files and bundle keys for user interface text
Include text on the Management Center user interface, such as in the main work area (list, properties, or calendar views), search, explorer view, menu, message, and help text. Rather than hard-coding user interface text in the OpenLaszlo class files, include all text in resource properties files, and associate the files with resource keys. This way, you maintain the user interface code in one area (the OpenLaszlo file) and the text in another (properties file). This is particularly useful if you have text that will change often, or if you support globalization in the coding (that is, support translating the user interface text to various languages).
- Define icons
Include graphics on the Management Center UI, such as in the main work area (list, properties, or calendar views), search, explorer view, menu, message, and help text. Rather than hard-coding image file names in many OpenLaszlo classes, include all paths to images in resource libraries, and associate the image paths with resource keys. This way, you keep all the image definitions in one location. This is particularly useful if you have images that will change often.
Related concepts
Management Center user interface
Related tasks
Create a new tool for the Management Center