Analysis

Overview

• Bound controls are used to provide a way for data validation on user input. We need to define and create some base classes to serve as a mainframe and some base bound controls.

Task requirements

• Bound controls provide a way for user input. They differ from standard controls in their behavior.
  • Bound controls should act like a View-Controller and you can consider them a Model-View-Controller pattern.
    • View is represented by a field, spinner or a drop-down menu plus a sign whether the current data input is valid or not.
    • The Controller is the part that validates the data and inputs it in the model or rejects it.
  • As the user inputs data in a bound control it is automatically validated.
  • If the data is correct it is put in the undo/redo mechanism.
  • If the data is correct the information in the bound control is sent to the bound data-holder(the control model).
  • This transition is two-way.
  • They allow to attach a model and a verification mechanism.
• Bound controls are composed of:
  • a standard control
  • a notification sign. It shows the verification status. Example - icon: It can be either correct (a green tick) or incorrect (a red cross.) Both the tick and the cross should have an explanation in its tool-tip what is wrong with the input of the user.
  • a label (optionally).
• We have:
  • BoundTextField, which contains:
    • icon - green tick, red cross.
    • label - what the input is.
    • text field - for the input itself.
• We need:
  • Some base bound control which eases bound controls creation.
  • Some Bound controls to use as a start:
    • Spinner with the minimum and maximum value set and a label to say what it is.
• We should:
  • Design the base classes
  • Polish the BoundTextField class and fix what is to be fixed.
  • Create a class containing a spinner.
    • When inputing data the tool-tip of the spinner should containing a understandable explanation about its correctness and validity.
    • The spinner bound control should also contain a label, so that the user understands what it is used for.
    *Create a class containing a combo box. Apply same things like the spinner.

Task result

The result of this task must be code.

Implementation idea

• Use a JPanel, with other panels for input field(spinner, text field etc.), notification icons and other.

Related

• BoundTextField class in sophie.

How to demo

• Show working controls.
• Try to input invalid data.
• Try to input valid data, that must result to expected change.
• Open Eclipse and run => net.asteasolutions.veda.gui.util.demo.BoundControlsDemo

Design

• A base class for bound controls. Different classes extending it and providing different UI for input of data.
• BoundBaseControl:
  • A base class for bound controls.
  • A JLabel to tell the user what the input is about.
  • A JPanel with an Icon - to inform about the validity of the input.
  • When mouse is over the Icon - a tool-tip is displayed to tell what the current status of the validation is.
• Three classes that extend BoundBaseControl:
  • BoundSpinner - contains a JSpinner for the input of the user.
  • BoundTextField - contains a JTextField for the input of the user.
  • BoundComboBox - contains a JComboBox for the input of the user.
• The only difference in the tree classes is the GUI used for input of data. One should extend these classes and implement the corresponding methods.
• All of the four classes mentioned above are abstract. If one wants to have a different UI for input of data they should extend the BoundBaseControl class. Otherwise extend one of the other three.
• UML:

• Usage:
  • In order to have a bound control one should implement one of the three BoundSpinner, BoundTextField or BoundComboBox.
  • Implement the methods:
    • protected abstract String computeContents(); - this method should return the String representation of the data value stored in the 'model'.
    • protected abstract void submitData(String input); - this method should assign the new data value for the model.
    • protected abstract Validation validate(String fieldString); - this method should validate the user input represented by 'fieldString'.
    • NOTE: Since the JComboBox uses an array of Objects to display and choose from, for the implementation of BoundComboBox one should also implement 'protected abstract String[] computeModelItems()' which should return the items in the combo box.
  • In order to create a bound control different from these described above, one should also implement 'protected abstract JComponent computeDataInputUI()' to return the graphical representation of the component which is used for user input.
  • REMEMBER to provide a method to synchronize the model and validation with the corresponding data value.

Example: private void syncInputToModel(Object input) {
	                this.settingModel = true; 
	                String inputValue = (String)input;
	               
	                validation().set(validate(inputValue));
	                if(validation().get().getStatus().shouldSubmit()){
	                        submitData(inputValue);
	                }
	                this.settingModel = false;
	        }

Implementation

• For more information see documentation and classes locate at: 'net.asteasolutions.veda.gui.util.boundcontrols'
• For Unit tests and Demo see 'net.asteasolutions.veda.gui.util.boundcontrols'. One can also see and test the bound controls manually by running BoundControlsDemoTest as a Java Application.
  • In order to test something that uses a bound control one should emulate a user input. For the different JComponents used methods differ a little.
    • for BoundSpinner - spinner().get().setValue(new Integer(input)) where input is an int value.
    • for BoundTextField - textField().get().setText(value) where value is a String.
    • for BoundComboBox - comboBox().get().setSelectedItem(value) where value is a String.
  • Please provide and explain here similar methods for components implemented after this revision.
• Bound Controls Source Code
• Bound Controls Unit Tests and Demo Code

Log

• Analyzing : Pap - done (35 min)
  
  • Review: 2 by Tanya - 10min. It is incorrect. The analysis must cover what should be done only through the current revision. This analysis is for the whole task.
• Analyzing 2: Peko - done (30 mins)
  • Review: 3.5 by Tanya -10m
• Designing : Peko - 3.5h - done.
  
  • Review: 4 by Pap - 10m. OK
• Implementing : Peko 3.5h
  
• Implementing 2 : Peko 4h - done.
  • Review: 3.5 by Pavlina - 30 mins
• Testing :