Walk-around to actionPerformed() returning void - java

I am trying to use the MVC design.
In the model I wanted a method like this
public boolean changeSomeData(...){
boolean b;
//create a dialog with an OK button
return b;
}
I want the method to return TRUE if the changes were actually made. The changes are done inside the actionPerformed method of the OK button.
My problem is that I can't write b=true; inside the actionPerform of the OK button, because I have to declare b as final in order to use it in the actionPerformed().
What I did is creating a class
private class MyBoolean {
boolean b;
}
and then
public boolean changeSomeData(...){
MyBoolean myBoolean;
//create a dialog with an OK button
actionPerformed(){
//make changes in the data
myBoolean.b=true;
}
boolean b = myBoolean.b;
return b;
}
But I don't feel good about this solution and I wanted to know if it is correct what I did and if there is a better solution.
Should I better throw an exception if the changes aren't made? (for example, if the user clicks "cancel" instead of "ok")

In the model I wanted a method like this ... //create a dialog with an OK button
I'd say this is a flaw already, since the model should not do anything with views directly.
A better approach would be to open the dialog (using the controller), register the controller for the ActionEvent of "OK" (and thus actionPerformed) and then do whatever changes should be done in that method.
Edit:
You might want to consider the following rough approach:
The views register themselves or associated classes to the model as listeners. Whenever the model is changed it fires events to notify the views of the change.
The controller registers itself on the views and is notified when the views change. If a user changes data, the controller then might open the dialog and only commit the changes of the user signals "OK". Thus the model has never to check itself if data needs to be changed. That is actually the controller's task and if the controller passes changes to the model, it should apply them.

A better way to achieve your task is to keep a variable on the dialog that indicates if a successful change was made. Then have a method that your model class calls to retrieve the value and return it.
Something like:
public boolean changeSomeData(...){
//create a dialog with an OK button
return dialog.isSuccess();
}

One way you could make this code a bit cleaner...
public boolean changeSomeData() {
// note that this is not a class boolean, no need to do extra autoboxing.
boolean dataChanged = false;
// check the old value against the new value
// for classes
if (oldvalue.equals(newValue)) {
oldValue = newValue;
dataChanged = true;
}
// for pimitives (built-ins)
if (oldvalue == newValue) {
oldValue = newValue;
dataChanged = true;
}
// odds are good that the above action performed was supposed to call this
// changeSomeData() and not the other way around.
// if you must fire actionPerformed() when data has changed, then do so
// like this, otherwise if it was added as part of the "solution" you can
// skip it.
if (dataChanged) {
actionPeformed();
}
return dataChanged;
}
Note that this code is Controller code, as it manipulates the model directly, and (possibly) updates views.

Related

How to deal with Property<T>, a change listener and initialization of the property?

I am using JavaFX's Property<T> class and I am quite happy with the result, minified example code:
public CircularListCursor<E> {
private final Property<E> elementProperty;
public CircularListCursor() {
this.elementProperty = new SimpleObjectProperty(/*some value*/);
}
//various methods that call elementProperty.setValue(/*some value*/);
}
Usage:
private final CircularListCursor<SelectionData> selectionDataCursor;
...
selectionDataCursor.elementProperty().addListener((observableValue, oldValue, newValue) -> {
oldValue.getLabel().setStyle("-fx-text-fill: black");
newValue.getLabel().setStyle("-fx-text-fill: red");
});
Now this works almost perfectly, but it doesn't trigger on the construction of the object. It is logical that it works that way, because the property is not bound to yet during construction, so no change event can be fired either.
But I do want to be notified of the initial value during construction to allow for clean code, is there a way to do so?
There is no direct solution for that in JavaFX.
Nevertheless, you can make things a little bit easier/cleaner by moving the listener code into a private event handler method. This method can then be called once at the end of construction to initialize your object state. Thanks to Java 8 lambda expressions, you can use the method reference to the event handler method directly as listener:
// register event handler method
selectionDataCursor.elementProperty().addListener(this::onElementChanged);
// call listener once for initialization:
onElementChanged(selectionDataCursor.elementProperty(), null, selectionDataCursor.getElement());
...
// event handler method
private void onElementChanged(ObservableValue<? extends E> observableValue, E oldValue, E newValue) {
if (oldValue != null) oldValue.getLabel().setStyle("-fx-text-fill: black");
if (newValue != null) newValue.getLabel().setStyle("-fx-text-fill: red");
}
Side note: Listeners built via method references can't be removed any more. More specific, the following code will NOT remove the listener, as this::onElementChanged will create a new listener every time that is not equal to the one that is already registered:
selectionDataCursor.elementProperty().removeListener(this::onElementChanged);
Using EasyBind, you can
Select the nested styleProperty from elementProperty.
Bind the nested styleProperty to some observable string (in your case, a constant string for red text fill).
Provide an additional string argument to the bind method that is used to reset the style property of the old element when the element changes.
Here is the code:
ObservableValue<String> constRed = new SimpleStringProperty("-fx-text-fill: red");
EasyBind.monadic(selectionDataCursor.elementProperty())
.selectProperty(e -> e.getLabel().styleProperty())
.bind(constRed, "-fx-text-fill: black");
Notice how you don't need to register any listeners—one binding does it all. A binding is more declarative, while a listener is more imperative (side-effectful).

GXT - send forms on enter, project-wide

I have an application which uses GXT and contains ±30 forms. I would like to make these forms so that when the user hits enter in a text field, the form gets submitted, like a regular browser form would.
I know I can add a key press listener to every text field, which would invoke the submit after enter is pressed, but since I want to apply this to every field in every form I am not sure if this is ideal.
Is there a simpler way to implement this in the entire application?
If not, which pattern should I use to add this functionality to every field? I can extend the TextField class, add the functionality in the child class and use the child class in the application. Or I can create a factory for the text field class which would also add the listener to the field. Or is there some other way, Decorator perhaps? I was wondering which of these approaches, if any, is generally preferred.
I would try something like this:
Event.addNativePreviewHandler(new NativePreviewHandler() {
#Override
public void onPreviewNativeEvent(NativePreviewEvent event) {
if (event.getNativeEvent().getKeyCode() == KeyCodes.KEY_ENTER) {
if (event.getNativeEvent().getEventTarget() != null) {
Element as = Element.as(event.getNativeEvent().getEventTarget());
if (as.getTagName().toLowerCase().equals("input") ||
as.getTagName().toLowerCase().equals("textarea")) {
// TODO submit data;
}
}
}
}
});
Every time someone hits the Enter Key and the cursor is placed on a input- or textarea-tag, you will get the control and can submit your data.
I don't think there is a way to do what you're asking directly in the GXT library. I do want to stress that extending the TextField class just to add an event handler to it is not the correct way to handle this. Event handlers are based on the composition of a class. It would be like extending a class with a List field just to add another element into the list.
A singleton factory class that created and initialises the Textfield for you would be the cleanest solution, in my opinion. It would allow you to effectively change defaults and add other handlers as required at a later time in a single place if requirements change.
You can try it with GWT JSNI also.
Steps to follow:
define a function in JavaScript that is called on Enter key press
call GWT JSNI from above JavaScript function that is exported at the time of onModuleLoad using GWT JSNI
get the Element from where this event is triggered and finally submit the form based on its tag name or Id
Sample code:
HTML/JSP:
<script>
window.onkeydown = keydown;
function keydown(event) {
if (event.which == 13) {
formSubmit(event.target);
}
}
</script>
JAVA(Entry Point):
import com.google.gwt.dom.client.Element;
public void onModuleLoad() {
exportFormSubmit();
...
}
public static void formSubmit(Element element) {
Window.alert("element tag name:" + element.getTagName() + "form ID:"
+ element.getParentElement().getId());
}
public static native void exportFormSubmit() /*-{
$wnd.formSubmit = $entry(#com.x.y.z.client.GWTTestProject::formSubmit(Lcom/google/gwt/dom/client/Element;));
}-*/;

Using Enabled Property on a JButton in netbeans

I am trying to setup a button similar to the save button with the default CRUD database template (where the button only becomes active if a variable is true). I have looked at the code for the save button and worked out that i need:
A variable to link it with (saveNeeded in their case)
An action to run
I have recreated both of these on another button but it never seams to get enabled. I have print statements on 2 other buttons i am using to set the variable i have my button linked to to true and false so i can see the value is changing.
Is there some crucial step i am missing? this seems like it should be fairly straight forward.
One other thing, if i manualy change the variable to true in my constructor to true and run the application it enables the button and false disables it so that part is working, just not the change.
Any help would be appreciated as i have spent the last few hours trying and can not figure it out
Thanks
The variable or "property" needs to be watched somehow, perhaps by using a PropertyChangeSupport object and allowing other objects to add a PropertyChangeListener to it, making it a "bound property". There's a special version of this for Swing applications that takes care with the Swing event thread, SwingPropertyChangeSupport, and you may wish to use it.
Edit
You asked
Thanks for the reply, i assume that would be what firePropertyChange("saveNeeded", !saveNeeded, saveNeeded); is doing but waht is this doing? does this just notify the program or do i need to catch an handle this somewhere. This is based off the pre generated code so im not sure if it added something in the background.
The class that holds the watched variable would need a private SwingPropertyChangeSupport field. You would give it a public addPropertyChangeListener method where you'd allow other classes to listen to its bound properties, something like this (if the property were a String):
import java.beans.PropertyChangeEvent;
import java.beans.PropertyChangeListener;
import javax.swing.event.SwingPropertyChangeSupport;
public class Foo {
public static final String MY_BOUND_PROPERTY = "My Bound Property";
private SwingPropertyChangeSupport spcSupport = new SwingPropertyChangeSupport(
this);
private String myBoundProperty;
public void addPropertyChangeListener(PropertyChangeListener listener) {
spcSupport.addPropertyChangeListener(listener);
}
public void removePropertyChangeListener(PropertyChangeListener listener) {
spcSupport.removePropertyChangeListener(listener);
}
public String getMyBoundProperty() {
return myBoundProperty;
}
public void setMyBoundProperty(String myBoundProperty) {
Object oldValue = this.myBoundProperty;
Object newValue = myBoundProperty;
this.myBoundProperty = myBoundProperty;
PropertyChangeEvent pcEvent = new PropertyChangeEvent(this,
MY_BOUND_PROPERTY, oldValue, newValue);
spcSupport.firePropertyChange(pcEvent);
}
}
Then any class that would like to listen for changes would simply add a PropertyChangeListener to an object of this class and respond to changes as it saw fit.

Is this typically how Java interfaces are used to set up event handlers, and are there hidden drawbacks to this approach?

Hey all, I'm still relatively new to Java, and looking for a sanity check.
I've been studying this Java port of Cocos2D and noticed that the CCLayer class has built-in hooks to the Android native touch events. That's great, but what I'd really like is for objects like CCSprite to directly respond to touch events without having to listen for those events in the layer and iterate through all the children to find which ones happen to intersect the event's x/y coordinates. So I figured that this would be the perfect chance to test my understanding of how to set up some event handlers and make a subclass of CCSprite that actually listens for touches without needing to go through CCLayer to know about it. Furthermore, I wanted to be able to assign different behaviors to different CCSprite instances on an ad-hoc basis without explicitly subclassing further, much like Android Buttons don't need to be subclassed just to give them a handler for their touch events.
This is what I came up with on a first pass:
// My touch interface for all touchable CCNode objects.
package com.scriptocalypse.cocos2d;
public interface ITouchable {
boolean onCCTouchesBegan();
boolean onCCTouchesEnded();
boolean onCCTouchesMoved();
}
And now the class that uses the ITouchable interface for its callbacks...
public class CCTouchSprite extends CCSprite implements CCTouchDelegateProtocol {
protected ITouchable mTouchable;
public void setTouchable(ITouchable pTouchable){
mTouchable = pTouchable;
boolean enable = mTouchable != null;
this.setIsTouchEnabled(enable);
}
public void setIsTouchable(boolean pEnabled){
// code to enable and disable touches snipped...
}
/////
// And now implementing the CCTouchDelegateProtocol...
/////
public boolean ccTouchesBegan(MotionEvent event) {
Log.d("hi there", "touch me");
if(mTouchable != null){
mTouchable.onCCTouchesBegan();
}
return CCTouchDispatcher.kEventHandled; // TODO Auto-generated method stub
}
public boolean ccTouchesMoved(MotionEvent event) {
if(mTouchable != null){
mTouchable.onCCTouchesMoved();
}
return CCTouchDispatcher.kEventIgnored; // TODO Auto-generated method stub
}
public boolean ccTouchesEnded(MotionEvent event) {
Log.d("hi there", "not touch me");
if(mTouchable != null){
mTouchable.onCCTouchesEnded();
}
return CCTouchDispatcher.kEventIgnored; // TODO Auto-generated method stub
}
}
And finally, instantiate the class and implement the interface...
final CCTouchSprite sprite = new CCTouchSprite(tex);
sprite.setIsTouchEnabled(true);
sprite.setPosition(CGPoint.ccp(160,240));
sprite.setTouchable(new ITouchable(){
#Override
public boolean onCCTouchesBegan() {
Log.d("SWEET SUCCESS", "I got a touch through my interface!");
return true;
}
#Override
public boolean onCCTouchesEnded() {
Log.d("SWEET SUCCESS", "You stopped touching my interface!");
sprite.runAction(CCRotateBy.action(1, 360));
return false;
}
#Override
public boolean onCCTouchesMoved(){
Log.d("SWEET SUCCESS", "You moved the touch");
return false;
}
});
So all of this works. The subclass does successfully register with the Cocos2D touch dispatcher, which successfully calls those ccTouches functions and pass them MotionEvents, which in turn call my Interface functions if the interface has been instantiated.
Is this the "proper" way to do it (Define "it" as you see fit, ranging from using Interfaces to create event handlers to working with Cocos2D, to writing Java at all)? Are there drawbacks to this that I'm not aware of? Is this somehow worse for performance than iterating through all the CCNode objects that are children of CCLayer? If so, how can that possibly be?
I think you have got the basics for setting up a listener right. There are some things I would change though.
First, the setter setIsTouchable. It's weird. You need a listener object to pass touch events to right? So what is this setter going to do when you pass it true (as your example does)? You snipped the code, but setting a boolean field to true does not seem right here as it would put the sprite object in an inconsistent internal state. I would just drop that setter. The getter can just evaluate whether mTouchable is assigned or null.
Second, why limit yourself to one listener? Change mTouchable to mTouchables, being a list of ITouchables. Then change setTouchable to addTouchable and possibly add removeTouchable and clearTouchables methods. This way you can add multiple listeners for different behaviors having to respond to the same events. This is how most other event systems work as well. You then just change isTouchable to check whether the list is empty or not.
scriptoclypse... I really am not completely understanding your question, but you have not had any response and yes interfaces and events are very similar. At this level I can only respond in C#.

Regarding Multiple Tab-Class

I've problem regarding GUI with one Menu and one Order Class.
I've created a variable to store how many items have been selected in the Menu Class.
private int totalSelected;
The var totalSelected is live updated. It can be changed anytime depending on actionPerformed() function.(Exp: totalSelected will add up all the selected items)
In the Order Class, how can I access to the live update variable totalSelected in order to retrieve the live update value? When I invoke getTotalSelected() function inside the Menu Class, I will only obtain a 0 value.
Thanks for your help ^^!
Please allow me to specify my question clearer.
public class MenuTab extends JPanel
{
private JLabel display;
private int totalSelected;
public MenuTab()
{
....
}
}
public getTotalSelected(){
return totalSelected;
}
private class SelectedListener implements ActionListener
{
public void actionPerformed()
{
.......
//Assume that totalSelected has been updated!
display = new JLabel("Total: " + totalSelected);
// OK to display totalSelected live value here.
}
}
// A new class is the confirmation of order
public class OrderConfirmedTab extends JPanel{
private JLabel displayTotal;
private MenuTab order = new MenuTab();
public OrderConfirmedTab()
{
......
int totalSelected = order.getTotalSelected();
displayTotal = new JLabel("Total: " + totalSelected);
// Problem to display totalSelected live value here.
// Will obtain 0;
// How can I obtain the live updated value from class MenuTab? Thanks!
}
}
If I read your code right, you need to make your variable be private static int totalSelected; You need to make it static so that it stays the same for all instances of the class.
I looks like your not updating the private int totalSelected; variable when a user makes a selection, so it is always 0.
Ya! I just realized that my JLabel
will not update the value
automatically. So how can I fix it?
Thanks! – Christine
If I understand you correctly you have two GUIs where changes in one (the MenuTab) will update the other (OrderConfirmedTab) in real time?
If so, you will need to increase the coupling between the two objects. If MenuTab has a reference back to OrderConfirmedTab then it can call methods to update the value as it changes.
For example, pass OrderConfirmedTab into MenuTabs constructor
MenuTab mt = new MenuTab(this); // from within OrderConfirmTabs costructor
Then when MenuTab has an actionPerformed event it can call back to OrderConfirmTab
orderConfirmTab.setTotalSelected(totalSelected); // you have to create this method in OrderConfirmTab
I hope this helps a little
You can use PropertyChangeListener and PropertyChangeSupport mechanisms to dispatch an event when the value is updated and to be notified when the variable has changed. Your JLabel is not going to update on its own; even if you were to use an object other than a primitive (note that primitives are merely values, while objects are actually implicit pointers); you will need to update your JLabel when the variable changes, since the JLabel simply stores a string, not a reference to the variables from which the string was constructed.
This is the concept of model-view-controller; your variable should be in some sort of class or classes that represent the model (the information) and which allow changes to be observed via property change events. Your view classes should simply provide display logic and no business or application-specific logic. It is the controller in which your application logic should reside; your controller should register for events on the model, and it should update the view whenever the model has changed, and it should likewise update the model when the view dispatches events that should result in the model being changed.

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