uic.model
Class UICAction

java.lang.Object
  uic.model.UICSimpleAction
      uic.model.UICAction

All Implemented Interfaces:

ActionListener, EventListener

Direct Known Subclasses:

UICToggleAction

public class UICAction
extends UICSimpleAction
implements ActionListener

This action class contains all the information to provide high quality widgets and an action. The idea behind an action is that one object wraps a certain functionality and provdes various ways to access that functionality. A good example is a print action.

Creating an action and using it with the ActionFactory creates widgets like buttons or menu entries. When your users click the button or select the menu item the action will be informed and a method of your choosing will be invoked. Notice that the default version uses the QueuedPolicy.

Since:

1.2

See Also:

ActionFactory, UICToggleAction

Nested Class Summary

class

UICAction.StatusBarUpdater Helper class.

Nested classes/interfaces inherited from class uic.model.UICSimpleAction

UICSimpleAction.Arguments, UICSimpleAction.DirectMultiThreadingPolicy, UICSimpleAction.DirectPolicy, UICSimpleAction.ExecutePolicy, UICSimpleAction.OnlyLastPolicy, UICSimpleAction.QueuedPolicy, UICSimpleAction.SimpleQueuedPolicy

Field Summary

static String	ARGUMENT_SOURCE an Object: the source object that threw the event.
protected UICSimpleAction	updateUICommmand

Fields inherited from class uic.model.UICSimpleAction

currentPolicy, target, targetObject

Constructor Summary

UICAction(String name)
Base constructor.

UICAction(String name, Object targetObject, String targetMethod, String title)

UICAction(String name, Object targetObject, String targetMethod, String title, ActionFactory actions)

UICAction(String name, Object targetObject, String targetMethod, String title, String iconBaseName)

UICAction(String name, Object targetObject, String targetMethod, String title, String iconBaseName, ActionFactory actions)

UICAction(String name, Object targetObject, String targetMethod, String title, String iconBaseName, String keyStroke)

UICAction(String name, Object targetObject, String targetMethod, String title, String iconBaseName, String keyStroke, ActionFactory actions)

UICAction(String name, Object targetObject, String targetMethod, String title, String iconBaseName, String keyStroke, String toolTipText, String whatIsThis)

UICAction(String name, Object targetObject, String targetMethod, String title, String iconBaseName, String keyStroke, String toolTipText, String whatIsThis, ActionFactory actions)
Create new action.

Method Summary

void	actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
void	addComponent(AbstractButton c) A button component that represents this action the the users user interface can be registered here.
protected void	addIcon(AbstractButton button, IconFactory iconFactory)
protected void	addKeyStroke(JMenuItem button)
JMenuItem	createMenuItem(IconFactory iconFactory)
JMenuItem	createPopupMenuItem(IconFactory iconFactory)
AbstractButton	createToolBarButton(IconFactory iconFactory)
protected void	decorateButton(AbstractButton button, IconFactory iconFactory)
protected void	doAction(Object[] args) Called to actually execute the action on the registered method.
protected Class	getArgumentClass(String argumentType) For the uniquely defined argumentType (as also used in UICSimpleAction.getTargetSignatures()) return the Class.
protected Object	getArgumentValue(EventObject source, String argumentType) For the uniquely defined argumentType (as also used in UICSimpleAction.getTargetSignatures()) return the value.
Iterator	getComponentsIterator()
String	getIconBaseName() The name of the icon that will be used on buttons.
KeyStroke	getKeyStroke()
String	getName() Return the name key.
protected List	getTargetSignatures() Return a List object with instances of the Arguments class.
String	getTitle() return the title of this action, this is mostly the name on screen.
String	getToolTipText()
String	getWhatIsThis() The text used in the popup for whatIs help.
void	setEnabled(boolean enabled) Enable disable this action and all its registered components.
void	setIconBaseName(String iconBaseName) The name of the icon that will be used on buttons.
void	setKeyStroke(KeyStroke keyStroke)
void	setName(String name) Set the unique key that is the name of this action.
void	setStatusBar(StatusBar statusBar) Register a statusbar that will be used to show whatIs texts on on mouseOver of the menuitems.
protected void	setTexts(AbstractButton button)
void	setTitle(String title) Set the title of this action, this is mostly the name on screen.
void	setToolTipText(String toolTipText)
void	setUIUpdateCommand(Object object, String targetMethod) Set an additional target for this action which will be in the AWT Thread.
void	setUIUpdateCommand(Object object, String targetMethod, UICSimpleAction.Arguments arguments) Set an additional target for this action which will be in the AWT Thread.
void	setWhatIsThis(String whatIsThis) The text used in the popup for whatIs help.
String	toString() returns the title.

Methods inherited from class uic.model.UICSimpleAction

createArguments, equals, execute, execute, execute, execute, isEnabled, setDirect, setExecutionPolicy, setTarget, setTarget

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

updateUICommmand

protected UICSimpleAction updateUICommmand

ARGUMENT_SOURCE

public static final String ARGUMENT_SOURCE

an Object: the source object that threw the event.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Constructor Detail

UICAction

public UICAction(String name)

Base constructor.

UICAction

public UICAction(String name,
                 Object targetObject,
                 String targetMethod,
                 String title,
                 ActionFactory actions)

UICAction

public UICAction(String name,
                 Object targetObject,
                 String targetMethod,
                 String title,
                 String iconBaseName,
                 ActionFactory actions)

UICAction

public UICAction(String name,
                 Object targetObject,
                 String targetMethod,
                 String title,
                 String iconBaseName,
                 String keyStroke,
                 ActionFactory actions)

UICAction

public UICAction(String name,
                 Object targetObject,
                 String targetMethod,
                 String title)

UICAction

public UICAction(String name,
                 Object targetObject,
                 String targetMethod,
                 String title,
                 String iconBaseName)

UICAction

public UICAction(String name,
                 Object targetObject,
                 String targetMethod,
                 String title,
                 String iconBaseName,
                 String keyStroke)

UICAction

public UICAction(String name,
                 Object targetObject,
                 String targetMethod,
                 String title,
                 String iconBaseName,
                 String keyStroke,
                 String toolTipText,
                 String whatIsThis)

UICAction

public UICAction(String name,
                 Object targetObject,
                 String targetMethod,
                 String title,
                 String iconBaseName,
                 String keyStroke,
                 String toolTipText,
                 String whatIsThis,
                 ActionFactory actions)

Create new action.

Parameters:

name - The identifying name of the action, must be unique.

targetObject - The object that contains the method we want to connect to.

targetMethod - the name of the method we want to connect to.

title - the name used on buttons or in a menu entry.

iconBaseName - the basename the new widgets can use to fetch the correct icon, or null if none

keyStroke - the keyStroke in the format accepted by javax.swing.KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(String)

toolTipText - the text for tooltips, or null for none

whatIsThis - the text for the statusBar.

actions - the actionFactory this action belongs to.

See Also:

KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(String)

Method Detail

addComponent

public void addComponent(AbstractButton c)

A button component that represents this action the the users user interface can be registered here. Any button that is added to this action will trigger the action to respond on a button 'press' after adding it using the addComponent method. Additionaly en/disabling the action will make the component also en/disable.

getName

public String getName()

Return the name key.

setName

public void setName(String name)

Set the unique key that is the name of this action.

setEnabled

public void setEnabled(boolean enabled)

Enable disable this action and all its registered components. Incoming events will not cause the action to be commited when the action is disabled.

Overrides:

setEnabled in class UICSimpleAction

Parameters:

enabled - the new state of the action.

getTitle

public String getTitle()

return the title of this action, this is mostly the name on screen.

setTitle

public void setTitle(String title)

Set the title of this action, this is mostly the name on screen. Notice that it is wise to first run the title through the Translator before setting the title.

Setting the title on an action will not change created buttons/menu items.

getIconBaseName

public String getIconBaseName()

The name of the icon that will be used on buttons. This name will be searched for in the icon collections, adding resolution information will be done based on context.

setIconBaseName

public void setIconBaseName(String iconBaseName)

The name of the icon that will be used on buttons. This name will be searched for in the icon collections, adding resolution information will be done based on context.

getToolTipText

public String getToolTipText()

setToolTipText

public void setToolTipText(String toolTipText)

getWhatIsThis

public String getWhatIsThis()

The text used in the popup for whatIs help. This is functionality that at the moment is only available when using a MainWindow.

See Also:

MainWindow

setWhatIsThis

public void setWhatIsThis(String whatIsThis)

The text used in the popup for whatIs help. This is functionality that at the moment is only available when using a MainWindow.

See Also:

MainWindow

getComponentsIterator

public Iterator getComponentsIterator()

Returns:

an iterator over all added components.

getKeyStroke

public KeyStroke getKeyStroke()

setKeyStroke

public void setKeyStroke(KeyStroke keyStroke)

setStatusBar

public void setStatusBar(StatusBar statusBar)

Register a statusbar that will be used to show whatIs texts on on mouseOver of the menuitems.

actionPerformed

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)

Specified by:

actionPerformed in interface ActionListener

getTargetSignatures

protected List getTargetSignatures()

Description copied from class: UICSimpleAction

Return a List object with instances of the Arguments class. Extending classes should implement this to return all the target method signatures that are searched for should the user create an action without an Arguments instance.

An example implementation could be this:

  List result = new ArrayList(1);
  result.add( new Arguments().addArgument("Source") );
  return result;

This will result in a call to UICSimpleAction.getArgumentClass(java.lang.String) with the string "Source" which returns a Class instance. In our example that would be java.lang.Object.

The result of this would be that a call to setTarget will try to find a method with an argument of type Object, and will search again if that is not found without any arguments.

Overrides:

getTargetSignatures in class UICSimpleAction

Returns:

a List object with instances of the Arguments class.

See Also:

UICSimpleAction.getArgumentValue(java.util.EventObject, java.lang.String), UICSimpleAction.getArgumentClass(java.lang.String)

getArgumentValue

protected Object getArgumentValue(EventObject source,
                                  String argumentType)

Description copied from class: UICSimpleAction

For the uniquely defined argumentType (as also used in UICSimpleAction.getTargetSignatures()) return the value. This method will always return 'null'; Extending actions can define various argumentType strings that can be used as an argument in the call to the target method of this action. The user decides on construction of the action which argumentTypes are to be used, if a certain value is requested to be sent to the targetMethod a call is made to this method to find its value based on the source event.

Note that base types can not be returned, since they are instances of object; you should wrap these in their object re-presentation (an Integer object for an int).

Overrides:

getArgumentValue in class UICSimpleAction

Parameters:

source - the event that caused the action to be fired. This is the event that the extending class passed to the execute method; so casting is fine.

argumentType - the uniquely defined name specifying the type of argument.

Returns:

the value to be passed to the taget method.

getArgumentClass

protected Class getArgumentClass(String argumentType)

Description copied from class: UICSimpleAction

For the uniquely defined argumentType (as also used in UICSimpleAction.getTargetSignatures()) return the Class. This method will always return 'null'; Extending actions can define various argumentType strings that can be used as an argument in the call to the target method of this action. The user decides on construction of the action which argumentTypes are to be used, if a certain value is requested to be sent to the targetMethod a call is made to this method to find the Class of the type.

Note that basetypes have a class of their own and you should return the correct one you expect the targetMethod to implement. returning Integer.class will search for an Integer; returing int.class will search for an int. This is important to note since the UICSimpleAction.getArgumentValue(java.util.EventObject, java.lang.String) method should return an Integer object in both cases.

Overrides:

getArgumentClass in class UICSimpleAction

Parameters:

argumentType - the uniquely defined name specifying the type of argument.

Returns:

the class of this argument to be found on the target method

doAction

protected void doAction(Object[] args)

Description copied from class: UICSimpleAction

Called to actually execute the action on the registered method. Notice that this method will never throw any Throwables due to bad implementations in the target method since they are all cought (and ignored) here. That said; exceptions made in the target method will be printed using a simple printStackTrace() call on the throwable.

Overrides:

doAction in class UICSimpleAction

setUIUpdateCommand

public void setUIUpdateCommand(Object object,
                               String targetMethod)
                        throws IllegalArgumentException

Set an additional target for this action which will be in the AWT Thread. After the action executed the target method for this action another target method will be executed as soon as possible, in the AWT Event thread.

In Swing many changes to model and widgets are not safe to do from any thread but the event-handling thread that Swing starts itself. This event-handling thread is called the AWT Event Thread and handles button clicks and any other user event, as well as repaints.

It is wise to move updates to various widgets to an extra UIUpdateCommand and register it using this method.

For the arguments see: setTarget

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException

setUIUpdateCommand

public void setUIUpdateCommand(Object object,
                               String targetMethod,
                               UICSimpleAction.Arguments arguments)
                        throws IllegalArgumentException

Set an additional target for this action which will be in the AWT Thread. After the action executed the target method for this action another target method will be executed as soon as possible, in the AWT Event thread.

In Swing many changes to model and widgets are not safe to do from any thread but the event-handling thread that Swing starts itself. This event-handling thread is called the AWT Event Thread and handles button clicks and any other user event, as well as repaints.

It is wise to move updates to various widgets to an extra UIUpdateCommand and register it using this method.

For the arguments see: setTarget

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException

toString

public String toString()

returns the title.

Overrides:

toString in class Object

createToolBarButton

public AbstractButton createToolBarButton(IconFactory iconFactory)

decorateButton

protected void decorateButton(AbstractButton button,
                              IconFactory iconFactory)

setTexts

protected void setTexts(AbstractButton button)

addKeyStroke

protected void addKeyStroke(JMenuItem button)

addIcon

protected void addIcon(AbstractButton button,
                       IconFactory iconFactory)

createMenuItem

public JMenuItem createMenuItem(IconFactory iconFactory)

createPopupMenuItem

public JMenuItem createPopupMenuItem(IconFactory iconFactory)