Spring RCP and Abeille

[walbar]

Hi,

I'm new to Spring RCP but browsing the code and samples I could figure out quite many things. I find it very promising.

But I still have some doubts and hope you can help. I'm working with Abeille, I found it great to have the forms in a separate file etc. (if you know a better tool with its characteristics I would appreciate your opinion), anyways, what I want is to know the better way to show a dialog with Spring RCP (which class to extend and how to show it). I have already configured the main app., and a menu item which triggers a NewClientCommand. Now I want the newClientDialog to appear. It is not a Wizard, just a dialog with an Abellie form inside. Also I would like to know the best way to attach validation constraints and associate a command to the OK button in the dialog.

Thanks in advance.

Walbar

[pdbruycker]

The following works:

First you need to create a Form, this is necessary to get the validation stuff working:

public class NewClientForm extends AbstractForm {
    public NewClientForm(FormModel formModel) {
        super(formModel, "newClientForm");
    }

    /**
     * @see org.springframework.richclient.forms.AbstractForm#createFormControl()
     */
    protected JComponent createFormControl() {
        FormPanel formPanel = new FormPanel("foo/bar/Client.jfrm");

        FormAccessor accessor = formPanel.getFormAccessor();

        // bind the form components to the form model
        getBindingFactory().bind(accessor.getComboBox("title"), "title");
        getBindingFactory().bind(accessor.getTextField("firstName"), "firstName");
        getBindingFactory().bind(accessor.getTextField("lastName"), "lastName");

        return formPanel;
    }
}

For the validation, you need to create a RulesSource and define it in your spring context file. See the sample app for that.

For the dialog:

This creates a dialog with the form, and the onFinish method is called when the user presses the ok button.

        Client newClient = new Client();
        final FormModel formModel = FormModelHelper.createFormModel(newClient);

        new TitledPageApplicationDialog(new NewClientForm(formModel), getWindowControl()) {

            protected boolean onFinish() {
                formModel.commit();
                Client newClient = formModel.getFormObject();

                // do whatever you want to do

                return true;
            }

        }.showDialog();

Hope this helps

[pdbruycker]

After giving this some thought: perhaps it would be possible to create a generic "integration" class that handles the binding transparantly.


just of the top of my head, so there might be some errors in the following code :twisted:

public class AbeilleForm extends AbstractForm {
    private String[] properties;
    private FormPanel formPanel;

    public AbeilleForm(FormModel formModel, String id, FormPanel formPanel, String[] properties) {
        super(formModel, id);
        this.formPanel = formPanel;
        this.properties = properties;
    }

    /**
     * @see org.springframework.richclient.forms.AbstractForm#createFormControl()
     */
    protected JComponent createFormControl() {
        FormAccessor accessor = formPanel.getFormAccessor();

        for &#40;int i = 0; i < properties.length; i++&#41; &#123;
            getBindingFactory&#40;&#41;.bind&#40;&#40;JComponent&#41; accessor.getComponentByName&#40;properties&#91;i&#93;&#41;, properties&#91;i&#93;&#41;;
        &#125;
        return formPanel;
    &#125;
&#125;

[walbar]

Thanks a lot, this will help me much. I'll try your AbeilleForm approach and give some feedback.

Walbar

[walbar]

Hi,

Following the above I coded a minimalistic example, but I get this exception when I try to display the form. Any clue?

[ERROR,ApplicationLifecycleAdvisor,AWT-EventQueue-0] component must be showing on the screen to determine its location
java.awt.IllegalComponentStateException: component must be showing on the screen to determine its location
	at java.awt.Component.getLocationOnScreen_NoTreeLock(Unknown Source)
	at java.awt.Component.getLocationOnScreen(Unknown Source)
...

Here is my code:

Create the form from Abeille:

protected JComponent createFormControl() {
		FormPanel formPanel = new FormPanel("main/main.jfrm");


		FormAccessor accessor = formPanel.getFormAccessor();

		// bind the form components to the form model
		getBindingFactory().bindControl(accessor.getTextField("nombre.field"), "nombre");

		return formPanel;
	}

Pojo Class:

public class Usuario {
	
	String nombre;
	
	
	public void setNombre(String value){
		
		this.nombre = value;
	}
	
	public String getNombre(){
	
		return nombre;
	}
}

And rules:

	private Rules createUsuarioRules() {
		return new Rules(Usuario.class) {
			protected void initRules() {
				add("nombre", required());
			}
		};
	}

It's weird because the exception is raised if I add the "nombre" required rule or if I bind the "nombre.field" component to the "nombre" property. If one of those lines is commented out, no exception is thrown and the form is displayed normally.

Thanks,

Walbar