Re: SwiXML robustitude

Wolf Paulus wrote:
> Hi Chuck,
> Good suggestions you are making here.
> Allowing to register Actions etc. would also help to decouple and enable 
> to have Actions implemented elsewhere but as inner classes.
> I will keep this idea in the top 10 of things to do for the next 
> distribution.

Hello Wolf,

I'm happy to provide input.  As I mentioned in my OP my experience 
derives from extensive use of X/Motif's UIL which is a feature rich and 
mature implmentation that parallels what SwiXML does for Swing.  You 
might want to spend a little time looking at the programming manual for 
Motif UIL.  Unfortunately to do that you need to get a copy of 
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/v6a/toc.html.  I'd be happy to answer 
any questions you might have.  Feel free to email me at cdillon (at) 
nimblegen.com.

-- ced

> 
> Wolf
> 
> 
> -- 
> Wolf Paulus
> 
> [email protected]
> 
> C a r l s b a d  C u b e s
> Dedicated to Excellence
> 
> 
> On Jan 14, 2005, at 7:51 AM, Chuck Dillon wrote:
> 
>> Frank Meissner wrote:
>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Q5) How well does it support GUI glue functionality?  ...  Can 
>>>>>> object A reference object B in the XML?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> This is not a builitin facility in swixml. You may try to solve 
>>>>> this through
>>>>> custom converters, but I'm not sure whether this is possible...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Unfortunate, it would be a powerful feature.
>>>
>>> But not that easy to implement if the requirements are somewhat 
>>> advanced. E.g. I had the problem I wanted to disable a button if the 
>>> number of lines is less than one. This is not that trivial 
>>> (describable in XML) but perhaps it's out of your intended scope...
>>
>>
>> Let me preface the following comments with admitting I'm basing them 
>> on limited information about SwiXML.  I've been looking at the samples 
>> and browsing the JavaDoc.  But since I can't find any detail 
>> functional description of it's capabilities I'm assuming what's in the 
>> samples is what there is.
>>
>> From the samples it appears the XML references Java Objects by name 
>> using tags like "id" and "action".  This direct reference by name is a 
>> useful feature but if it is the only way to bind the XML to the code 
>> it is too limiting IMHO.  It forces me to mirrow the GUI structure 
>> with Java code which has marginal utility.  What is needed is an 
>> indirect way of referencing objects so that I don't need Java code 
>> that shadows the GUI structure.  I want to be able to build the 
>> majority of my action code so that it can be applied to the GUI by 
>> indirect reference so that my business logic is as agnostic as 
>> possible about the GUI.
>>
>> What I'm suggesting is that the engine needs an indirect way to 
>> revolve what tags like "id" and "action" are referring to.  I envision 
>> the SwingEngine class (or something within) to have a methods  like:
>>  - registerActionClass(String nameToBeUsedInXML,Class class)
>>  - registerActionInstance(String nameToBeUsedInXML,AbstractAction action)
>>  - registerDataObject(String nameToBeUsedInXML,Object object)
>> Then I can create an action class or instance or a data object, 
>> register it and use it whereever I want in the GUI.  I'm not seeing 
>> this kind of capability.  Is it there?
>>
>> Another powerful feature would be a means of specifying data to be 
>> passed to actions in the XML.  The API could, for example, include an 
>> extension of ActionEvent that carries a payload of data defined in 
>> XML.  It could be as simple as a Properties object.
>>
>> In the Java code I do:
>>   engine.registerActionClass("changefg",ForegroundChanger.getClass());
>>   engine.registerDataObject("blue",Color.blue);
>> In the XML I specify a button:
>>   <solelabel Foreground="green">Some Label</label>
>>   <button enabled="true" Action="changefg(somelabel,blue)"/>
>>
>> The action declares that an instance of "changefg" class should be 
>> created and a reference to the "somelabel" label and the "blue" data 
>> object should be passed to it via a SwiXMLActionEvent, or some such.
>>
>> The above wouldn't be difficult to implement.  What's needed is a few 
>> hashes, a definition of the precedence of each possible class of 
>> things that can be referenced and logic to do the lookups in order of 
>> precedence.  The event could simply hold a Properties object or a hash 
>> containing the objects declared in the XML and what they resolved to.
>>
>> It's also useful to allow declaration of multiple action handlers.
>>
>> One last, extrememly useful, feature would be to add Swing object 
>> create time actions...
>>   <button enabled="true" Action="whatever" Create="registerAsAThingy"/>
>> The Create attribute is like Action except that it gets "fired" 
>> immediately after the button is created.  What this does is saves the 
>> applications code from having to lookup a bunch of GUI objects by 
>> name.  It reduces the direct litereal String references in the Java 
>> code and can save a lot of code.
>>
>>
>>>>
>>>> How does SwiXML support things like radio button groups without such 
>>>> a utility?
>>>
>>> Groups of radio buttons *are* supported. There is no magic (or, at 
>>> least, not much ;)) ...
>>
>>
>> So in XML I can declare a container with CheckBoxes in it.  And IN XML 
>> I can declare a ButtonGroup and the CheckBoxes I want it to control. 
>> As separate XML declarations?  IOW, in the ButtonGroup declaration I 
>> can reference the CheckBox objects declared elsewhere in XML?
>>
>> Thanks for the information.  Sorry if all of the above is already 
>> there and I'm just missing it.
>>
>> -- ced
>>
>>> Frank
>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Chuck Dillon
>> Senior Software Engineer
>> NimbleGen Systems Inc.
>>
>>
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> 
> 


-- 
Chuck Dillon
Senior Software Engineer
NimbleGen Systems Inc.