Re: GUI components creation idioms

King Lung Chiu wrote:
> Hi again,
> 
> Usually when I create a form, there are multiple components of the same
> type, eg. 5 combo boxes, or 5 text fields, and Netbeans creates a new
> variable for each of those components.
> 
> I'd like to have them created as items in a data structure (eg. an array or
> ArrayList or HashMap of combo boxes),to make it easier to reference them
> later. Is there an automatic way to do that?
> 
> My current workaround is to create the data structure myself (eg.
> EnumMap<FieldAttribute, JTextField>), and manually add the components to
> that data structure in each comopnent's post-creation code (in this case,
> maping each component to its corresponding enum value). However, this method
> doesn't scale when I have a large number of components to add. (lots of code
> copy + paste + small-edit).

In this case, I don't use Matisse to create such panels. I write all the helper 
methods and do all of the layout by hand using tools like my Packer 
(http://packer.dev.java.net) layout manager which provides a friendlier 
interface to GridBagLayout.

public int makeFields( EnumMap<FieldAttribute,JTextField> map,
		FieldAttribute[] flds, Packer pk, int y ) {
	for( int i = 0; i < flds.length; ++i ) {
		// See http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=98193
		// for more information on what its ++y and not y++ here.
		pk.pack( new JLabel(flds[i].desc) ).gridx(0).gridy(++y);
		JTextField fld;
		pk.pack( fld = new JTextField( flds[i].default )
			 ).gridx(1).gridy(y).fillx();
		map.put( flds[i], fld );
	}
	return y;
}

public void init() {

	... some initialization ...

	JPanel fldPan = new JPanel();
	Packer fldPk = new Packer( fldPan );
	int y = makeFields( map, flds, fldPk, -1 );

	... more initialization ...
}

You can use Matisse for other things, and then just add such a mechanically
generated panel into an empty panel that is a place holder created in matisse.

Gregg Wonderly