JavaFX 2 - Write Parent Object to FXML File - javafx-2

I know that I can load an FXML file into a Parent object with the following:
parent = FXMLLoader.load(getClass().getResource(fxmlFile.getAbsolutePath()));
Now I want to do the exact opposite and save a Parent object as the root of an FXML file.
Does anyone know how to accomplish this?

There is currently no public API which allows the serialization of a generic JavaFX object into FXML. It is also far from trivial to implement such a thing, because it is not known at runtime which values should be initialized where and so on.
The JavaFX SceneBuilder uses a mechanism to serialize to FXML to implement drag & drop functionality, but the code for this is quite heavy.
See:
https://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=10377102

Related

Passing an object from a tabbarController to its subviews

I am trying to pass a simple core data objects info from a tabBarController to its subviews so that they each reference a different attribute of that object. As a newbie, I'm not sure even where to start. It doesn't seem to be as simple as passing the data from one tableView to another...
Thank you for any help.
If you are sharing the same object between (most of the) the view controllers of your tab bar controller, maybe the best architecture for this would be to have one central data object.
A typical pattern is a singleton, some kind of data manager that provides the object, but maybe that is overkill. Another is to keep references to all view controllers and update them one by one when something changes - also not very elegant.
What you really want is something like a global variable. You could (ab)use your app delegate (just give it a property that points to the object) or if you prefer even your tab bar controller (make a subclass, give it a property). In the latter case, every view controller could then get the object like this:
NSManagedObject *object = [(MyCustomTabBarController*)self.tabBarController object];
For example, you can check for changes and refresh your views in viewWillAppear.
A UITabBarController should be handling other view controllers, not handling data objects. How does the tab bar controller get the object reference in the first place? And what is the object you're sharing?
Let each of your subordinate VC's keep a pointer to the object, and then they can each follow the appropriate keypath to get to the entities they're designed to handle.
Tim Roadley's book Learning Core Data for iOS, in chapters 5 and 6, shows how to pass an object from one view controller (a table view) to a detail view. It doesn't sound like that's what you're asking, but just in case...
In response to comment:
I'm looking at a tableview, tap a cell, and then a tab bar controller slides in? That's not the usual visual metaphor for a tab bar; it's meant for changing modes for the entire program. See the Music app for a typical example: songs, playlists, artists.
But if you really need to do it that way, try this (I'm assuming you're using storyboards):
In prepareForSegue: in your tableview controller, tell the destination (tab bar controller) what object it's working with.
In the tab bar controller's -viewWillAppear, tell each of its tabs about the attribute: self.frobisherViewController.frobisher = self.myWidget.frobisher.
You could instead tell each of the component tabs about the top level object: self.frobisherViewController.widget = self.myWidget. But I like the first approach better because there is less linkage. The frobisherViewController now would need to know about both widgets and frobishers.
This ended up being very simple. I was trying to call the object in the child views initWithNibName which doesn't work. I ended up creating a setObject function and calling the properties I wanted in viewWillAppear.
Hope this helps someone.

need to embed child fxml inside parent fxml

I am new to JavaFX and I want to know if there is way to place one fxml file as in child.fxml inside another say parent.fxml.
Why do i need this ?
Idea is, i want create independent screens(small one) and write a parent fxml where we can add these child fxml to create a desired GUI, instead of one fxml where i dump all the controls.
If it's possible, please help with some dummy code or links. I have tried looking around for a while but did not get anything useful.
Thanks in advance for any help.
If I understand correctly you want to use "fx:include" tag. Please refer the fxml reference

JavaFX access controller's variables from Scene Builder

If I declare something like
#FXML
private final static double PREF_SPACING = 10d;
or
#FXML
private Insets insets = new Insets(10d);
in the controller class,
is there a way to use their values in Scene Builder?
When I want to change the value, I want to change
it only once, in the controller class.
PRELIMINARY ANSWER
I haven't yet tried all of the techniques below, but it seems to be the way you would do it from reading the documentation. If I get some time, I'll try it out later and update this answer with results (or somebody else can do this and post a new answer or edit this one to create a definitive answer). I just wanted to publish something now to point you in what I believe to be the right direction.
If the below is not what you are looking for, add a few more specifics to your questions to fully describe what you want.
Don't using the #FXML annotation here. #FXML is for injecting values from the markup into the controller, not the other way around.
For your first example which is a constant, let's say your controller class is:
class MyControllerType {
public final static double PREF_SPACING = 10d;
}
Then in your fxml, reference the constant:
<?import MyControllerType?>
...
<VBox>
<spacing><MyControllerType fx:constant="PREF_SPACING"/></spacing>
</VBox>
For your second sample which is not a constant or a part of the SceneGraph, you can use an fx:define element to instantiate an instance of the class. Note that you can't directly instantiate an Insets class from FXML as it has no builder class nor zero length constructor. So what you might be able to do is create another placeholder class for the information and instantiate a reference to that in your FXML (or you can create a Builder that FXML can use to instantiate the Insets).
class InsetsHolder {
private Insets insets = new Insets(10d);
public Insets getInsets();
}
<?import InsetsHolder?>
<fx:define>
<InsetsHolder fx:id="i"/>
</fx:define>
<VBox>
<Button text="Click Me!" VBox.margin="$i.insets"/>
</VBox>
SceneBuilder should be able to read fxml files which use the fx:define and fx:constant notation, as well as (possibly) make use of the reference expression $i.insets. SceneBuilder might not have any UI to allow you to edit the values from within the SceneBuilder application, so you will probably need to hand edit the fxml file portions related to the fx:define and fx:constant elements if you wish to make use of these structures.
There is an executable example of using an fx:define element in this mailing list post on designing resolution independent units in FXML.
In general, I think I'd be a bit cautious of maintaining these kind of dependencies between fxml and java code. It may be more prudent to do more of this kind of stuff in plain Java code within the context of the controller initialize method as scottb suggests.
The #FXML annotation enables the JavaFX objects whose names you defined (fx:id) to have their references reflectively injected into nonpublic fields in the controller object as the scene graph is loaded from the fxml markup.
To the best of my knowledge, this is a one way operation. There is no provision for having named static class variables in the controller object injected into the scene graph during loading.
You can accomplish something very similar to what you are requesting by defining the values that you want set as class variables in your controller object's class, and then setting the appropriate object properties programmatically (rather than in markup) in the initialize() method of your controller object.
The initialize() method is called (if it is present) after the loading of the scene graph is complete (so all the GUI objects will have been instantiated) but before control has returned to your application's invoking code.

developing library controls for xpages

I' working on a library control for Xpages and need some help in creating.
I would create a control which reads a configuration file and creates controls in a table, controls like Editboxes, checkboxgroups and so on.
so and now to my questions:
could I initiate controls from the Exlib or must I implement them all by my self?
if I could use them from the Exlib could anyone explain me how?
I hope its clear what i mean if not please ask me for further informations.
When creating your own components, if you're closely replicating some behavior that is already in an extension library component, I highly recommend you extend that component and just add what's needed to accommodate your different functionality. This makes things much easier and you don't have to code around every little scenario that the component might be placed in.
But, if you are developing a component that is nothing like any of the extension library or core components then just ensure your component extends UIComponent or UIComponentBase. If going this route, you'll also need to create your own renderer which extends Renderer. This is what will build the on-screen representation of your component. Again, if there's already something in the core components or extension library components that closely mimics what you need then make your renderer extend that renderer. Also, don't forget to include the renderer definition in the faces-config file and the component definition in the xsp-config file or your component won't work.
As for initiating controls from the extlib.... I assume you mean can you inject them onto the page at runtime. If so the answer is absolutely yes. To add an input text field to the page where there is a container (i.e. panel, div, span, whatever) with an ID of "someContainer"
XspInputText input = new XspInputText();
input.setValue("someValue");
input.setId("someID");
UIComponent container = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getViewRoot().findComponent("someContainer");
container.getChildren().add(input);
To see the api for all of the core and extension library components take a look at the XPages Controls Documentation. For a more complete tutorial on creating your own components take a look at my blog for creating a custom component inside an nsf, the steps are pretty much the same for putting them into a library:
Part 1,
Part 2 and there is an example database in the Part 2 post.

What is the best way to design the GUI in javafx 2.0?

In javafx 2.0 it is possible to create the layout by using FXML approach or by using normal java code.
What is the best way with respect to a well designed set of UIs. In my application there is about 100 sub UIs.
Thanks
FXML looks more logical for that purpose. By using FXML
you split business logic from view
you get option to edit design without recompiling project.
you get design as structured xml tree which is much easier to edit comparing to potentially randomly ordered java code
with SceneBuider tool you get an option to use visual editor for your fxml files
Get JavaFX Scenebuilder here.
FXForm2 is a library providing automatic JavaFX 2.0 form generation.
however FXForm2 is not full WYSIWYG GUI design tool.
http://dooapp.github.io/FXForm2/
Scene builder should be a good starting point to create unique UIs of your application. Considering you have 100s of UIs, I assume that some of their "appearances" should be identical with slightly different functions. You can load the FXML dynamically and assign controller at run time. Which means 1 FXML file can be used with multiple controllers. Which can save you some time while keeping the code dynamic for easier maintenance.
FXMLLoader loader = new FXMLLoader(getClass().getResource("DBedit.fxml"));
loader.setController(new DBeditEntityUser());
So, to make use of the same FXML with a different controller.
FXMLLoader loader = new FXMLLoader(getClass().getResource("DBedit.fxml"));
loader.setController(new DBeditEntityUserLevel());
Hope this helps.
fyi,
road map for Java fx http://javafx.com/roadmap/ shows that the scene builder will be released around middle of the year. From the above web page:
"JavaFX Scene Builder is a WYSIWYG GUI design tool for the
JavaFX platform. It enables designing user interface screens by simply
dragging and positioning GUI components from a palette onto a scene.
The tool generates files in FXML format2 that can be used within a project
in any IDE such as NetBeans or Eclipse. The JavaFX Scene Builder can be
used to create GUI for desktop applications and applets that run in a browser."

Resources