So basically you can either implement the toolbar using standard HTML form buttons and then call Author Component API using JavaScript or implement the toolbar as a Java toolbar inside the Author Component Applet. The sample applet project for which Mihaela already sent the links contains both approaches.
Regards, Radu
Radu Coravu
<oXygen/> XML Editor, Schema Editor and XSLT Editor/Debugger
http://www.oxygenxml.com