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RE: [Springframework-rcp-dev] Am I getting the idea?
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From: Keith D. <kd...@cs...> - 2004-05-19 18:25:04
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Yes, documentation is lacking. That will be improving as the design of = the undocumented features stabalize, and certainly before we release = anything. Nice description btw, here are my observations: - Yes there is a single "Application" per rcp-app. The application has associated with it a default perspective, where a perspective provides a configuration 'template' for a application page. (Note: the application, however, can have multiple perspectives defined. Each perspective, when opened, is displayed on a single page within an application window. = There can be multiple application windows per application, each with it's own menubar/toolbar/statusbar and page area.) =20 - When the application launcher initializes the application, the main = window definition is retrieved from the context. The window is then configured = - this is where the *.contribution stuff comes in -- consisting of its menubars, toolbars, page, and status line. The *.contribution stuff provides factories (higher-level abstraction) for producing menu items, = tool bar buttons, and status line items, for example. Group markers, as you mentioned, allow you to create logical groups of contribution items, so custom views can contribute their own actions to those groups when they = are activated. - You are entirely correct about the View behaivior. When a view is activated, it is handed a context which provides information about the window it's displayed on and allows for the view to register local = action handlers with global actions. This keeps, for example, the "Delete" = action invoking the right code based on the active view - assuming two = different views both support "Delete" and they do different things... Check out ComponentFactory for creating controls. I will forward some samples to the list this weekend (unfortunately I can't right now as I = need to remove some stuff first.) Keith -----Original Message----- From: spr...@li... [mailto:spr...@li...] On Behalf = Of Andy Depue Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2004 1:52 PM To: spr...@li... Subject: [Springframework-rcp-dev] Am I getting the idea? With Spring RCP being so new, it appears the only documentation is the=20 source. :-) So, after reading the source, let me see if I'm getting the idea=20 (btw, I don't have any experience with Eclipse, so any concepts = spring-rcp=20 borrows from Eclipse I've learned only through spring-rcp source). If = I'm=20 getting this wrong, please let me know. An Application consists of one or more windows (ApplicationWindow), = managed by=20 WindowManager. An application has at least one window (a main window). = A=20 Window displays a single page (ApplicationPage) at a time. A page = contains a=20 View registry. This means a Page can contain multiple Views. So, if my = application's main window consists of a single Page (which is really the only=20 option, right?), then I can swap out the contents of the main window by=20 swapping pages? I'm guessing an example of this would be "workbenches" = in=20 the IDE world? For example, if I am in Edit mode, then I have several = views open on my page: maybe a folder view, an edit view, and an output view. = In=20 Debug mode, I have a "watches" view, breakpoint view, source code view, stack=20 view, etc. With this understanding, I'm having trouble figuring out = where=20 the Perspective class fits in, as it seems to be a one-to-one=20 relationshipship with a View (though it is by the view's ID and not a=20 reference to a View itself). OK. On to Actions. In rcp, you have VisualActions and ActionHandlers. = A=20 VisualAction defines only the visual representation and keyboard access (menu=20 item, toolbar item, icon, text, mnemonic, accelerator, etc). The actual = functionality of the action is provided separately in an ActionHandler. = Actions are registered in a global ActionRegistry, and ActionHandlers = are=20 register7ed with views (via the ViewContext). Well, I guess it is also=20 possible to associate an ActionHandler directly with an Action (for = those=20 actions that are not view dependent). So, when a View becomes active,=20 spring-rcp will query the view against every registered global Action to = see if that View provides an ActionHandler for the Action. This means that = the=20 functionality of a particular Action can be dynamically implemented = per-view (kinda cool, actually). It looks like for this to work, your Actions = must=20 also implement TargetableVisualAction (which is implemented by=20 DefaultVisualAction). The org.springframework.rcp.action.contribution package seems to be all about=20 building menus and toolbars. I'm not sure I have this right, since I haven't=20 played around with it. Since an Application can present the user with=20 multiple ways to do actions (menus, toolbars, pop up menus. etc), = spring-rcp provides an abstraction that allows you to group such actions logically = and=20 automatically represent that group as any of these more concrete=20 implementations. So, a ContributionItem is an abstraction on top of a = menu=20 item, toolbar button, etc and a ContributionItemManager is an = abstraction on top of a menu bar, toolbar set, etc. ContributionItemManager allows you = to=20 group ContributionItems (via group id) - each group becoming a different menu=20 along a menubar, or a different toolbar in a toolbar set(?) I'm not too sure=20 about this actually. ContributionItem seems similar in many ways to an=20 Action... but I guess it needs to be different because some menu items = (such as seperators) are not actions? In fact, ActionContributionItem seems = to be no more than a wrapper (adapter) that makes an Action look like a=20 ContributionItem. A ContributionItem can create menu items and toolbar=20 controls just like an Action can. Some questions on my exploration of the source so far: What is the preferred way for creating/configuring controls from = spring-rcp? I don't see a common Page interface... it looks like dialogs get their = own=20 idea of what a page is and windows get another. Is this intentional? Well, that's about all the further I've gotten so far. BTW, if anyone has any example configuration files used with spring-rcp, = I'd love to see them. Thanks, Andy ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: SourceForge.net Broadband Sign-up now = for SourceForge Broadband and get the fastest 6.0/768 connection for only $19.95/mo for the first 3 months! http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=3D2562&alloc_id=3D6184&op=3Dclick _______________________________________________ Springframework-rcp-dev mailing list Spr...@li... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/springframework-rcp-dev |
