Section Annotations

These annotations control the structural slots of a page — named form sections, the header area, the footer area, and the toolbar strip. They let you organise fields and actions without writing any layout code.

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@Section

Target: FIELD, METHOD

Groups the annotated field and all subsequent fields under a named section heading within a form. A new section begins at each @Section annotation and ends at the next one. Each section can have its own column count, giving you fine-grained layout control within a single page.

@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Target({ElementType.FIELD, ElementType.METHOD})
public @interface Section {
    String value();             // section title (required)
    int columns() default 1;
    String style() default "";
}

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Default	Description
value	String	—	Section heading label, displayed as a visible separator (required)
columns	int	1	Number of form columns inside this section
style	String	""	Inline CSS applied to the section container

Example

public class CustomerForm {
    @Section("Personal data")
    String firstName;
    String lastName;
    LocalDate birthDate;

    @Section(value = "Contact", columns = 2)
    String email;
    String phone;
    String address;
}

The Personal data section uses the default single-column layout. The Contact section switches to two columns. Fields belong to whichever section was declared most recently above them.

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@Header

Target: FIELD

Marks a field to be rendered in the page header area, above the main form content. Use this for prominent display components such as avatars, banners, or status summaries.

No attributes.

@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Target({ElementType.FIELD})
public @interface Header {}

Example

public class UserProfilePage {
    @Header
    Component profileBanner;

    String username;
    String email;
}

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@Footer

Target: FIELD

Marks a field to be rendered in the page footer area, below the main form content. Suitable for summary statistics, legal notices, or secondary action areas.

No attributes.

@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Target({ElementType.FIELD})
public @interface Footer {}

Example

public class ReportPage {
    List<ReportRow> rows;

    @Footer
    Component totalsSummary;
}

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@Toolbar

Target: FIELD, METHOD

Places the annotated field or method in the view toolbar, the strip displayed at the top of the page. Methods annotated with @Toolbar become toolbar buttons; fields become toolbar components.

Combine @Toolbar with @Action to add behaviour such as form validation or confirmation dialogs before the method runs.

No attributes.

@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Target({ElementType.FIELD, ElementType.METHOD})
public @interface Toolbar {}

Example — toolbar buttons on a form

AllTypesForm.java

@UI("/all-types")
@Title("All Types Form")
public class AllTypesForm {

    @NotEmpty
    String text;
    int count;
    boolean active;

    @Button
    public Message save() {
        return new Message("Saved: " + text);
    }

    @Toolbar
    public Message refresh() {
        return new Message("Refreshed!");
    }
}

Example — toolbar with validation

From the CreateReleaseForm demo:

@Toolbar
@Action(validationRequired = true)
Object create() {
    var businessKey = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
    return URI.create("/workflow/processes/" + businessKey + "?returnTo=/controlPlane/releases");
}

Example — record with toolbar method

The Product record in the admin-panel demo places a doNothing method in the detail toolbar:

record Product(
    @NotEmpty @EditableOnlyWhenCreating String id,
    @NotEmpty String name,
    @HiddenInList String description,
    boolean certified,
    ProductStatus status,
    ColumnActionGroup action,
    @Colspan(2) List<ProductComponent> components
) implements Identifiable {

    @Toolbar
    public void doNothing() {
        log.info("do nothing");
    }
}

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Combining section annotations

The annotations compose naturally. The following OrderForm example shows sections with different column counts, toolbar actions for save and cancel, and a footer summary component:

public class OrderForm {

    @Section(value = "Customer", columns = 2)
    String customerId;
    String customerName;

    @Section(value = "Items", columns = 1)
    List<OrderLine> lines;

    @Section(value = "Totals", columns = 2)
    double subtotal;
    double vatAmount;
    double total;

    @Footer
    Component paymentTerms;

    @Toolbar
    void save() { /* persist the order */ }

    @Toolbar
    void cancel() { /* discard and navigate back */ }
}

• The Customer section renders customerId and customerName side-by-side in two columns.
• The Items section stretches lines across the full width.
• The Totals section returns to a two-column layout for the numeric fields.
• paymentTerms appears in the footer slot below all sections.
• save and cancel are rendered as buttons in the toolbar at the top of the page.