Drag & Drop of Items

[illvoid]

Hi,

I have an own control which paints a grid, the control is derived from Canvas-class. This widget can be used in SWT-designer without problems. The widgets displays columns, a column is derived from Item. The problem: A column cannot be dragged onto my inctance of the grid in the designer just like a TableColumn for example. It has the following constructors:

Code: Select all

   public MyGridColumn(MyGrid grid, int style) {
      super(myGrid, style);
      setIndex(grid.getColumnsCount());
   }

   public MyGridColumn(MyGrid grid, int style, int index) {
      super(myGrid, style, index);      
                setIndex(index);
   }

But I just can't get the drag n drop featur for that columns. It works for widgets like the SWT-table or for the Nebula-grid. What do I have to implement to get this working for a control that is owner-drawn?

Thanks and bye,
Illvoid

[illvoid]

Could it be that this drag n drop of columns in SWT-designer only works for Nebula-Grid and SWT-Table/Tree because it is implemented in the SWT-designer?

Bye and kind regards

Illvoid

[illvoid]

What I want to know is: Is the drag'n drop of Columns in SWT-Designer (like TreeCOlumn, TableColumn...) a built-functionality in SWT-designer for these classes or can I achieve the same functionality with my own Grid (MyGrid derived from Canvas) and MyGridColumn (derived from Item) too?

Thanks
Matthias

[Eric Clayberg]

This is definitely built-in behavior as it goes well beyond anything supported in the standard JavaBean spec.

You should start be reviewing the product docs and reading the New Component Tutorial and Customization API.

In its *wbp-component.xml file, SWT Table widgets are described as "flow containers" that accept TableColumns.

See the attached description file for Table.

Table.wbp-component.xml

(3.23 KiB) Downloaded 18 times

Also, please be aware that if you post a question late on a Friday night, it might not get answered until sometime over the weekend or even the following Monday.

[illvoid]

Hello Eric,

thanks a lot for your answer. I read the documents but I am not quite sure how to do what I want, I try to explain:

When I add my grid to the SWT-designer this works really good, now I want to add MyColumn-class as visible column to my grid via Drop'n Drop. Is there a way to achieve this by adding *wbp-component.xml-file like for Table-widget? Do I have to add this xml-file and anotations to my libary and the SWT-designer will parse this?

Thank you and kind regards,

Matthias

[illvoid]

I tried to add this xml-file as MyGrid.xml to a folder names wbp-meta in my project (plugin) where I use my grid:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<component xmlns="http://www.instantiations.com/D2/WBPComponent">

<description></description>
<!-- CREATION -->
<creation>
</creation>
<!-- CONSTRUCTORS -->
<constructors>
<constructor>
</constructor>
</constructors>
<!-- METHODS -->
<methods>

</methods>

<!-- PARAMETERS -->
<parameters>
<parameter name="layout.has">false</parameter>
<parameter name="gridLayout.grabHorizontal">true</parameter>
<parameter name="gridLayout.grabVertical">true</parameter>

<!-- flow container: MyColumn -->
<parameter name="flowContainer.1">true</parameter>
<parameter name="flowContainer.1.horizontal">true</parameter>
<parameter name="flowContainer.1.component">com.mynamespace.MyGridColumn</parameter>

</parameters>
</component>

But this has no effect.

Matthias

[illvoid]

Hi Eric,

thanks again, here is file which I added to my grid-project:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<component xmlns="http://www.instantiations.com/D2/WBPComponent">

<description>My description...</description>

<!-- PARAMETERS -->
<parameters>
<parameter name="layout.has">false</parameter>
<parameter name="gridLayout.grabHorizontal">true</parameter>
<parameter name="gridLayout.grabVertical">true</parameter>

<!-- flow container: TreeListColumn -->
<parameter name="flowContainer.1">true</parameter>
<parameter name="flowContainer.1.horizontal">true</parameter>
<parameter name="flowContainer.1.component">com.mynamespace.MyColumn</parameter>

</parameters>
</component>

Thanks for your help!

Matthias

[Eric Clayberg]

The file name should be MyGrid.wbp-component.xml and it should be located either in the same directory as your components or in a exactly parallel directory within a /wbp-meta directory in your project.

If you plan to package a custom jar, putting in the same directory as the component itself might be easiest.

[illvoid]

Thanks Eric, I did so and it works like a charm. Another question I have:

I want to achieve 3 things:

1. Select a column in the designer when added to the grid

2. Resize the selected column in the designer

3. Display images for my components in the palette. Could you help me with these issues.

Thanks a lot,

Matthias

[Eric Clayberg]

1. Select a column in the designer when added to the grid
2. Resize the selected column in the designer

Doing this graphically in the design view is handled by special support code in SWT Designer itself. We don't have a published, public API for that (yet).

For a custom component, you can only select and reorder custom columns in the component tree view. Resizing would have to be done via the properties view.

3. Display images for my components in the palette. Could you help me with these issues.

All you you need is a .gif or .png image file with the same name as your component class (e.g., MyGrid.png).

Put that file in the same directory as your component or in the parallel /wbp-meta directory.

[illvoid]

Hello Eric,

thank you, this works great. I have 2 more questions that I am not able to solve:

1. How can I define a category and some components for the palette as XML-file in my product (plugin)?
I tried to add a file names Mygrid.wbp-palette.xml and add it to a folder named wbp-meta. The file has this content:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<palette>
    <category id="id_mygrid_24434" name="MyGrid" description="MyGrid description..." open="true">
        <component class="com.mynamespace.MyGrid"/>
    </category>
</palette>

When I open the designer, the categroy is not added.

2. I have an advances property in MyGrid which I want to be visible as normal property. So I added this to the component.xml file:
<properties-normal names="myproperty"/>

But the property is only visible when I display the advanced-properties.

Thanks and kind regards,
Matthias

[Eric Clayberg]

1. The palette should be defined in a file named {toolkitID}.wbp-palette.xml. In the case of RCP, it should be in a file named com.instantiations.designer.rcp.wbp-palette.xml.

2. A property remains "advanced" if it is a non-standard "object" property. Only standard property types are considered "normal".

[illvoid]

This works great, thank you.

[Eric Clayberg]

Glad that worked for you.