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Jlabel border [message #101008]

Tue, 02 August 2005 10:12

Eclipse User

Originally posted by: abel.castify.net

Hi,
First, congratulations to VE authors, it's nice and easy to use.

Now my question:
Is there a way to remove the JLabel border that is displayed in the
editor ?
I understand that this fake border is displayed to know how many spaces
the JLabel uses, but it would be very nice if you can remove it to have
a real WYSIWYG view of your component.. Currently I'm using VE to do
some high level prototyping and I need a good visual feedback without
the need of running the program each time.

Thanks and keep the good work,

Pierre

Ps: some feedback from my experience
1-> I've got problems installing VE because the JVM that was assigned to
my project was 1.3.1 . I've read the requirements (JVM version >1.4.2)
but I thought it was only for the JVM that was used by eclipse program...
2--> a minor usability feature: when creating a jlabel, it could be nice
to have the jlabel directly in editing text mode (since most of the
times, when you create a jlabel, immediately after you set the jlabel's
text)

,

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Re: Jlabel border [message #101026 is a reply to message #101008]

Tue, 02 August 2005 15:04

Srimanth

Messages: 225
Registered: July 2009

Senior Member

Hi Pierre,
The borders for labels were enabled as labels by themselves dont have
any borders by default and it would be very hard for a UI developer to
determine the location/size of a label which had no text or whitespace
text (tabs/spaces/etc.) If there were no borders it would be a trial and
error method of finding labels without the Java Beans view, and layout
will be puzzling with invisible components etc. From VE 1.1 the borders
are alpha blended so that it doesnt obstruct the live components. If you
would like to see the real components, one suggestion would be to use
the 'Run as Java Bean' option to quickly see the runtime look.

> 1-> I've got problems installing VE because the JVM that was assigned
> to my project was 1.3.1 . I've read the requirements (JVM version >
> > 1.4.2) but I thought it was only for the JVM that was used by
eclipse > program...
VE launches a remote VM which runs a version of the file you are
editing, and that VM has whatever JRE your project is configured.

> 2--> a minor usability feature: when creating a jlabel, it could be nice
> to have the jlabel directly in editing text mode (since most of the
> times, when you create a jlabel, immediately after you set the jlabel's
> text)
That might be a good feature to have - Ive opened enhancement request
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=105798 for this, please
add yourself on CC to track its progress.

Regards,
Sri.

pierre abel wrote:
> Hi,
> First, congratulations to VE authors, it's nice and easy to use.
>
> Now my question:
> Is there a way to remove the JLabel border that is displayed in the
> editor ?
> I understand that this fake border is displayed to know how many spaces
> the JLabel uses, but it would be very nice if you can remove it to have
> a real WYSIWYG view of your component.. Currently I'm using VE to do
> some high level prototyping and I need a good visual feedback without
> the need of running the program each time.
>
> Thanks and keep the good work,
>
> Pierre
>
> Ps: some feedback from my experience
> 1-> I've got problems installing VE because the JVM that was assigned to
> my project was 1.3.1 . I've read the requirements (JVM version >1.4.2)
> but I thought it was only for the JVM that was used by eclipse program...
> 2--> a minor usability feature: when creating a jlabel, it could be nice
> to have the jlabel directly in editing text mode (since most of the
> times, when you create a jlabel, immediately after you set the jlabel's
> text)
>
>
>
>
> ,

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Re: Jlabel border [message #101040 is a reply to message #101008]

Tue, 02 August 2005 15:31

Gili Mendel

Messages: 338
Registered: July 2009

Senior Member

pierre abel wrote:
> Hi,
> First, congratulations to VE authors, it's nice and easy to use.
>

Thanks for the nice words... always nice to get compliments in addition to
requests/suggestions/bugs/problems....;-)

> Now my question:
> Is there a way to remove the JLabel border that is displayed in the
> editor ?
> I understand that this fake border is displayed to know how many spaces
> the JLabel uses, but it would be very nice if you can remove it to have
> a real WYSIWYG view of your component.. Currently I'm using VE to do
> some high level prototyping and I need a good visual feedback without
> the need of running the program each time.
>

That is a good point; we have been struggling with what/when to put borders around things.
We plan to make borders as an option in the future.

The way VE is configured to set a border on a component is via its override files.
e.g. org.eclipse.ve.swt\overrides\org\eclipse\swt\widgets\Label.o verride

graphViewClassname=" org.eclipse.ve.swt/org.eclipse.ve.internal.swt.ControlGraphi calEditPart:true "

This configures VE to use the ControlGraphicalEditPart (GEF) edit part for a SWT Label.
the ":true" that follows after, is a value that will be passed as an argument to the edit part
(see org.eclipse.core.runtime.IExecutableExtension.setInitializat ionData() for more details on arguments).
The value is a flag: true place a border, false do not place a border (which is the default).

removing the :true, or making it :false will turn the border off.

Similarly is the case in the org.eclipse.ve.jfc\overrides\java\awt\Label.override file.

>
> Ps: some feedback from my experience
> 1-> I've got problems installing VE because the JVM that was assigned to
> my project was 1.3.1 . I've read the requirements (JVM version >1.4.2)
> but I thought it was only for the JVM that was used by eclipse program...

We have not tested with 1.3.1 based project - its a bug https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=105805
.... note that Sun has started the End Of Line (EOL) process for 1.3.1.

> 2--> a minor usability feature: when creating a jlabel, it could be nice
> to have the jlabel directly in editing text mode (since most of the
> times, when you create a jlabel, immediately after you set the jlabel's
> text)
>

That's a good idea. It may make sense to make it as an option on the (optional) instance name dialog that comes up on
the drop. That way we are not forcing one to enter text after the drop.

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Re: Jlabel border [message #101177 is a reply to message #101040]

Wed, 03 August 2005 14:07

Eclipse User

Originally posted by: abel.castify.net

Gili and Shri,
Thanks for the quick answer...

Gili Mendel wrote:

>
>> Now my question:
>> Is there a way to remove the JLabel border that is displayed in the
>> editor ?
>> I understand that this fake border is displayed to know how many
>> spaces the JLabel uses, but it would be very nice if you can remove
>> it to have a real WYSIWYG view of your component.. Currently I'm
>> using VE to do some high level prototyping and I need a good visual
>> feedback without the need of running the program each time.
>>
>
> That is a good point; we have been struggling with what/when to put
> borders around things.
> We plan to make borders as an option in the future.
>
yes an option would be nice!

>
>>
>> Ps: some feedback from my experience
>> 1-> I've got problems installing VE because the JVM that was assigned
>> to my project was 1.3.1 . I've read the requirements (JVM version
>> >1.4.2) but I thought it was only for the JVM that was used by
>> eclipse program...
>
>
> We have not tested with 1.3.1 based project - its a bug
> https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=105805
> ... note that Sun has started the End Of Line (EOL) process for 1.3.1.
>
The point was that it was not clear in the requirements specified in the
download page that it is your project that need the JVM 1.4.2 (and not
only eclipse ). Now it seems really lofic to me since there is code
generation but at that time i didn't figure out! My problem was just
because my default JVM was 1.3.1 (because I work sometimes with projects
that have been only validated with 1.3.1)...but really don't worry I
think it's a minor problem

>> 2--> a minor usability feature: when creating a jlabel, it could be
>> nice to have the jlabel directly in editing text mode (since most of
>> the times, when you create a jlabel, immediately after you set the
>> jlabel's text)
>>
>
> That's a good idea. It may make sense to make it as an option on the
> (optional) instance name dialog that comes up on the drop. That way
> we are not forcing one to enter text after the drop.

yes, and you can generalize to all components that have a text field
(like checkboxes...)

Pierre

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Re: Jlabel border [message #101303 is a reply to message #101177]

Thu, 04 August 2005 14:19

Gili Mendel

Messages: 338
Registered: July 2009

Senior Member

one thing to consider .... VE caches its introspection.
Once the VE plugins are activated, a project->clean will clear
all VE caches. If you change the overrides (ve does not expect this), you will need
to activate the VE plugins (like open the Visual Editor), and perform
a project clean. This will force VE to reIntrospect the overrides.

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