I have written many projects using JOptionPanes, and almost every time I am frustrated by the fact that I cannot wrap text inside them.
I know JOptionPane supports HTML, but that always seems to fall short of doing what I want. For one thing, JOptionPane doesn't fully support HTML - the max-width property would be awesome to have, for example. For another, neither <br /> nor <p> tags provide the functionality I'm really after - a JOptionPane that is small when the message is small, and can grow when the message is larger, but which does not get too large, and eventually breaks to a new line.
That brings me to my question. Is there some way to write a custom component of my own, maybe inheriting from a JFrame or something similar, which will allow me to simulate the effects of a JOptionPane, but which provides finer-grain control of the text displayed? This should include, at minimum, functionality to control max width and to wrap text.
I have not found an answer to this by searching other questions (maybe the answer is drowned out by all the answers saying "use HTML"). This is NOT a duplicate of those questions.
import java.awt.Component;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
public class OptionPaneUtilities {
public static void main(String[] args) {
OptionPaneUtilities.showMessage(null, "I sometimes I think we forget just how flexible the JOptionPane API is and what it can do. A little effort could go a long way");
}
public static void showMessage(Component comp, String message) {
JTextArea ta = new JTextArea(message, 1, 20);
ta.setWrapStyleWord(true);
ta.setLineWrap(true);
ta.setOpaque(false);
ta.setBorder(null);
ta.setEditable(false);
ta.setFocusable(false);
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(comp, ta);
}
}
Now, obviously, this is just a really simple example, you're going to have to spend some time thinking about how best to apply this concept to your own API so it meets your needs and provides you with the greatest amount of flexibility.
You could make use of a JEditorPane instead and get both plain text and HTML to work with out to much more effort
Are you talking about something such as just adding a line break so the option box doesn't show this long string of text? If so :
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "This
"\nmessage
"\nhas
"\nlinebreaks.")
should suffice. Using \n(text) creates a line break. Hopefully this helps, have a good night. :)
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Closed 10 years ago.
I want to create a JTextArea which looks like JTextArea, acts like JTextArea, responds like JTextArea, speaks like JTextArea, moves like JTextArea, etc, but is not JTextArea.
To make it short, I'd like to create a custom swing component based 100% on JTextArea. Once I do that, I'll be able to change different otherwise hard-coded properties of a JTextArea and make my own customised JTextArea. There are no predefined swing components that are designed the way I need them to be, but JTextArea is the closest, that why I choose it.
I'd like to change the spacing inbetweem the rows of a JTextArea. And no, I don't want to use JtextPane, I've tried, it doesn't work with my program, it calcualtes it position diferently, it look diferently, and applying the JtextArea border just messes thing up further.
I'm not trying to extend the JTextArea, I'm trying to create a custom JTextArea, as in custom swing component, with changed hard-coded properties that are not configurable trought JTextAreas methods.
However, I have no idea how to do it. I've been looking it up on the internet, but there is only an extensive guide about building your own component from stracth...
Figuring that out will take a lot of time and will not really solve my problem.
Only thing I have to do is create a class (or several classes) that will contain everyting that builds JTextArea. Start from JTextComponent level and copy all the lower level classes that are used in creating JTextArea. I'd also like to note that I use Nibus look and feel, I think that there may be some classes that would need to be included for the custom JTextArea to function properly under that LAF.
I've looked into the swing source code, and it's full of everyting. Figuring out what classes or their parts are used in creating a JTextArea would be a time consuming nightmare, given that I have no knowledge about core swing structure and mechanics.
That's why I'm asking somebody who has the knowledge to at least list the classes that I need to replicate the JTextArea, and I'll then figure out how to compose them.
Because, if I start learning now about swing core mechanics, it'll take days and weeks before I figure it all out, but for someone who knows, it would take only a couple of minutes to list all classes that I need to focus my attention onto.
I'm trying to take a shortcut here. I don't want to fully understand swing, I just want this thing to work. Default spacing is one pixel too low, and all I want to do is just make it that pixel higher. I don't want to know how the painter paints component onto screen, I just want to know where is it called from and what does it call itself...
Thanks to anyone who takes the time.
I'd like to change the spacing inbetweem the rows of a JTextArea
My first thought was that overriding javax.swing.JTextArea#getRowHeight would be sufficient. The javadoc clearly states
Defines the meaning of the height of a row. This defaults to the height of the font.
So I was hoping that by overriding this method, you would adjust the definition and you would get more spacing between the rows. Bummer, didn't work. A quick search on the usages of that method in the JDK revealed the same. It is mainly used to calculate some sizes, but certainly not used when painting text inside the component.
By looking at the source code of the javax.swing.text.PlainView#paint method, I saw that the FontMetrics are used, and those you can easily override in the JTextArea. So second approach was to extend the JTextArea (bwah, extending Swing components but it is for a proof-of-concept)
private static class JTextAreaWithExtendedRowHeight extends JTextArea{
private JTextAreaWithExtendedRowHeight( int rows, int columns ) {
super( rows, columns );
}
#Override
public FontMetrics getFontMetrics( Font font ) {
FontMetrics fontMetrics = super.getFontMetrics( font );
return new FontMetricsWrapper( font, fontMetrics );
}
}
The FontMetricsWrapper class basically delegates everything, except the getHeight method. In that method I added 10 to the result of the delegate
#Override
public int getHeight() {
//use +10 to make the difference obvious
return delegate.getHeight() + 10;
}
And this results in more row spacing (and a caret which is way too long, but that can probably be adjusted).
A little screenshot to illustrate this (not as nice as some of the other ones, but it shows that this approach might work):
Small disclaimer: this feels like an ugly hack and might result in unexpected issues. I do hope somebody comes with a better solution.
I'm working on a new project, where I want to display some data on the screen. I set myself to using TDD which is new for me, but I love the idea and get along quite OK so far.
I set up a JFrame, add a Textarea and put text there, but how can I properly test this? Or is this wrong thinking in the TDD context on my side? I want to be sure (in the TDD way), that the data gets displayed correctly! The creation of the text that gets displayed is properly covered with tests, but the displaying is not.
Here is a completely simplified example:
public class MyTextDisplay {
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame my_frame = new JFrame("DisplaySomeText");
my_frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea(5, 20);
textArea.setEditable(false);
my_frame.add(textArea);
my_frame.setVisible(true);
//this would be in a separate method
textArea.append("Hello World");
}
}
TDD requires you to think about things a little bit differently. You first determine what you are going to test, and how you are going to test it before you actually write any code for the solution.
For GUI's, this can become quite tricky, and, in all honesty, your GUI should never contain any logic that could be in a separate layer. For example, the value that is displayed should come from an object that has nothing to do with the GUI, but that can be tested individually. That allows you to develop the main business logic (model and controller) separate from the display (view). This is the MVC pattern. Test Driven Development simply means that you test what you can before you write code, and, as you add more code, more tests will start to pass.
I'd rather focus on my design and ensure that whatever is generating the text value works as expected. The GUI should be "dumb" and only focus on displaying or retrieving values, with little, if any concern for if the displayed values are indeed correct.
As a GUI is notoriously difficult to test with automated tools (properly test), I'd avoid that as much as possible and decouple my GUI from my actual application as much as I can. Then you can test the GUI once, to make sure it displays what it's supposed to, and focus on the business logic without having to do continuous tests on the GUI as you are not touching that code.
So this may seem strange, but I am trying to create a very basic game that works somewhat like what an older RPG game may have as the interface (think choosing attacks from a list (ex: Pokemon)).
Right now I have a class that extends JFrame, and it contains private variables of three panels: one for displaying the sprites at the top 75% of the screen, and the other two are the ones I wish to display text on (one for announcements like, "CRITICAL HIT" and the other for the selectable choices). The second of the text boxes would only be visible sometimes, but that is irrelevant.
Can anybody start me off or lend me a hand? I am finding many way but none that seem to work for my needs.
Edit: My game is laid out and the sprite panel works exactly as it should, as much as it may sound like it, I am not rushing into anything blindly. I have the game working except for displaying the dialogs in an effective way.
EDIT 2: Ok maybe I am being unclear, my basic concern is finding the best Java component to draw strings to the bottom panels. The strings will be changing regularly, so some methods that I have tried such as the Graphics drawString() are not very effective.
Thank you,
roflha
Well, your original question statement lacks any actual cohesive question, other than "Can anybody start me off or lend me a hand?" which makes it rather hard to figure out what you really need. I discerned that what you want help from us about is displaying dialogues that popup to the user when some event happens. If you don't care too much about special effects, there are three easy ways to do this:
1) Simply have sprites for your messages, and set them to visible as needed. If you have a limited number of important messages, this makes it easy to control the visibility/flashiness of the message.
2) JTextArea allows you to simply print some text to a box. It is useful if you have a wordy console or messages that can't simply be a few images. You would just have a JTextArea in your panel, and update it as needed:
JTextArea messageBox;
messagePanel.add(messageBox);
//displays a message
messageBox.setText("CRITICAL HIT!!!");
But the user may not notice when the text changes, since it changes instantly. Whether you want to flash the text, or display some animation on top of the text area is up to you.
3) If you want a more intrusive message, you can actually have a popup dialogue where the user would have to click "OK" to continue. This is relatively easy to do, and you can even put custom icons for the message:
http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/components/dialog.html
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(myFrame,
"You got a critical hit!!!",
"Critical Hit",
JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE,
criticalHitIcon);
The BlackBerryCanvas documentation says:
This class extends the functionality of the Canvas class to include full touch support and featured text input support.
I have extended BlackBerryCanvas, but am having trouble adding any text input.
It's not that I know what to do but cannot get it work -- I simply do not know how to add a text input box or field.
EDIT: Or have I misunderstood and this is not possible? From reading around, it seems as though it is, but I'm starting to wonder why it's so hard to find anything on it.
EDIT2: I'm think maybe it's something to do with the BlackBerryTextBox?
EDIT3:
Applications using this class can call the #setInputHelper method to get the text input support.
might also be something. It hasn't given me quite enough clues to be able to do it myself though I'm afraid.
Thanks.
If you don't particularly need to use the Canvas hierarchy, I suggest you use the more commonly used Field hierarchy.
That means you should create an application and start with a Screen. An easy concrete implementation of Screen is the FullScreen. To get the text input you are seeking, add an AutoTextEditField to the screen.
I am creating a GUI program using MVC which should look like this..
alt text http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/6422/93381955.jpg
I have created a Window and Panel class. I am thinking of creating the Input and Display tabs in the Panel class and then creating two more classes, InputPanel and DisplayPanel. So the InputPanel will contain the stuff in this picture under the Input tab and same for the Display tab. Is there a better way to design this?
Also, since there are 3 sections in the Input tab (Name and sentence, crime, button), should I create 3 panels or just 1 panel containing all those?
Thanks
To answer your specific question about using three panels instead of 1, I would suggest two. There's rarely a need to create a panel just to create a single widget. So, one widget for the name and sentence, one for the crime.
As for the question about "is there a better way to design this"?... It sounds like you are learning, so I suggest you don't focus too much on the perfect way to do it. Stick with your original design then after the task is done ask yourself what worked* and what didn't. With that information you'll be able to decide for yourself whether what you did was the right design.
There usually isn't a "best" when designing GUI code -- there are many ways to solve the problem. What you've described sounds like a perfectly good way to attack the problem
(*) "worked" in this context means, was it easy to code? Did it allow you to achieve the layout you desired? Does it make the code maintainable over time if, for example, a requirement comes down to reorganize the GUI?.
Bryan gave good advices, I will just add that ergonomics isn't an exact science, although experience helps there.
Tabs are nice, eg. to separate settings, or group in a same panel (toolbox for example) different sets of tools (layers, colors, brushes...).
But they might not be adapted to all workflows. But we are lacking information about the role of the Display tab. Is it supposed to list all crimes in a table? Can't the table, if any, be below the controls?
As hinted by Bryan, it is better to design the GUI, then to test it, like would do a real user. Do you find the workflow easy to understand? (make somebody else to test it!) Does the usage feels natural? Is it fast to use?
Then you can adjust the design in light of these observations.
You were right to create InputPanel and DisplayPanel as seperate classes.
As for further splitting those panels? Yes you should further split them up, but not into separate classes. You should add jPanels inside of your InputPanel, and DisplayPanel, and group the controls within those internal jPanels.
Please let me know if you would like me to clarify what I mean.