The new version of the Visual Editor (VE) is finally working well enough to use if for my projects; to install it follow these instructions:

Do Help->Software Updates->Find and Install...

Select the Search for New features to install... and hit the Next button

Click on New Remote Site... button, and add this site (name it VE):

http://update.eclipse.org/tools/ve/updates/1.0

Click on New Remote Site... button, and add this site (name it EMF):

http://update.eclipse.org/tools/emf/updates

Click on New Remote Site... button, and add this site (name it Old Eclipse):

http://update.eclipse.org/updates/3.0

Select VE, EMF, and Old Eclipse, and Hit Finish

Select the mirrors to use as they are asked for

Expand the tree VE->VE->Visual Editor SDK 1.1.0.1, and hit the checkbox on it

Expand EMF tree, EMF->EMF SDK 2.1.2->EMF SDK 2.1.2 and hit the checkbox on it

Expand Old Eclipse->GEF 3.1.1->Graphical Editing Framework 3.1.1 and hit the checkbox on it

Hit Next, accept the licences, hit Next, hit Finish

How to add a GridBagLayout:

1) Add "new class" to existing project (set superclass to "javax.swing.Jframe")

2) in the generated source code right-click on Error (! sign) and "add default version ID")

3) right-click on the new class and "open with" - "Visual Editor"

4) hide source code window (click down-arrow) and expand the Jframe

5) right-click inside JFrame and  select "Create Content Pane" (accept default name)

6) right-click "Select Layout" seclect "GridBagLayout"

7) open "Palette" - "Swing Components"

8) click the "Jlabel" button

9) move the mouse inside the Frame and left-click to place a label

How to check the project build settings:

Select the project - "Properties"

select "Java Build Path"

- set the source code path

     select "Source" tab

     make sure that "<name of project>/src" shows up under

     "Source Folders on Build Path"

     (if no path is set, use the "Add Folder" button)

- set the binary path

     make sure the "Default output folder" is set to

     "<name of project>/bin"

- add all jar files

     click on the "Libraries" tab

     add all libraries using the "Add JARs..." button

More info here:

http://rm.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/eclipse/technology/phoenix/demos/install-ve/install-ve.html

Setting up Eclipse C compiler (CDT)

http://icu-project.org/docs/eclipse_howto/eclipse_howto.html