Package be.ugent.caagt.swirl.actions

Provides support for standard Swing actions.

See:
Description

Class Summary

ButtonFactory	Provides various methods to create buttons from internationalized descriptions.
Description	An object of this class describes caption, mnemonic and accelerator key of a GUI component.
ExtensionFileFilter	Implements a Swing file filter that filters files on extensions.
FileAction	Common (abstract) super class of FileOpenAction and FileSaveAction.
FileOpenAction	Abstract super class for actions that allow files to be loaded.
FileSaveAction	Abstract super class for actions that allow files to be saved.
HideWindow	Action that makes a particular window invisible.
MenuButton	Button for use in a menu.
MenuCheckBoxButton	Check box button for use in a menu.
MenuRadioButton	Radio button for use in a menu.
ShowWindow	Action that makes a particular window visible (if it was not) and brings it to the front.
SimpleAction	Abstract action (controller) based on an internationalized description.
SingleSelectionAction	Simple action which selects a given index in a SingleSelectionModel.
ToolBarButton	Button for use on a tool bar.
ToolBarToggleButton	Button for use on a tool bar.

Package be.ugent.caagt.swirl.actions Description

Provides support for standard Swing actions. The package contains several classes that help with internationalization of actions and buttons. For most practical applications however, we suggest the use of the menu builder (MenuBuilder) which has built-in internationalization, and uses the classes from this package behind the scenes.

The package also includes some (abstract) implementations of general purpose actions:

• ShowWindow shows an existing window and brings it to the front. HideWindow hides a window.
• FileOpenAction displays an 'open file' dialog and loads the selected files. FileSaveAction is used in a similar way to save files.

Description objects

A description object combines caption, mnemonic and accelerator key of a button into a single string. For example, the description string

     Javadoc inde&x search [shift F1]
 

can be used to provide a button with the caption 'Javadoc index search', the mnemonic 'x' and the accelerator key shift-F1.

Description strings are typically retrieved from resource bundles, making internationalization of buttons and actions fairly straightforward.

In most cases buttons and menu items can most easily be internationalized using actions that extend SimpleAction or through one of the class methods of ButtonFactory.

Enhanced action support

This package also supports some additional action properties.

• Actions can use 'medium size' icons when they are displayed as tool bar buttons, and at the same time use different 'small' icons when used as part of a menu.
• In both cases the 'disabled' icon can be registered with the action, while in Swing these icons can only be set directly on the buttons or menu items.
• A toggle button model can be registered with the action. As a consequence this will automatically synchronise the state of all toggle buttons, radio buttons or check boxes that correspond to the same action. See below for an example of how to use this feature.

To take advantage of these new properties, you cannot use the standard Swing button classes but need to use one of the following new classes provided by this package:

• ToolBarButton replaces JButton for use in a tool bar.
• ToolBarToggleButton replaces JToggleButton for use in a tool bar.
• MenuButton replaces JMenuItem.
• MenuRadioButton replaces JRadioButtonMenuItem.
• MenuCheckBoxButton replaces JCheckBoxMenuItem.

Sharing a toggle button model

The following example illustrates the use of the property SimpleAction.TOGGLE_BUTTON_MODEL to allow a check box menu item and a toggle button to share state: selecting one of them, automatically selects the other.

     Action action = new SomeAction (...);
     action.putValue (
            SimpleAction.TOGGLE_MENU_BUTTON,
            new JToggleButton.ToggleButtonModel ()
     );
     MenuCheckBoxItem checkBox = new MenuCheckBoxItem (action);
     ...
     ToolBarToggleButton toggleButton = new ToolBarToggleButton (action);
     ...
 

The same technique can be used with radio buttons.

Note that if two 'button groups' need to be synchronised, only one of them needs to be put inside a ButtonGroup object. However, in this case classes SelectionGroup or GenericSelectionGroup often provide a better alternative. Two 'selection groups' that share the same selection model are always automatically synchronised, and then there is no need for the individual button models to be shared.