Package com.install4j.api.formcomponents

Interface FormEnvironment

public interface FormEnvironment
The form environment gives access to form components in a form panel as well as to other design time or runtime services related to form components.

It provides access to the ComponentTuple of a form component as well as to the IDs that the framework assigns to form components. Furthermore, the form environment contains utility methods that can be used at design time. This class is passed to the containing screen as well as to every form component.

See Also:

  • Method Details

    • getFormComponents

      FormComponent[] getFormComponents()
      Returns all form components that are contained in the same form. Note that the setFormEnvironment is called twice at runtime and that only the second invocation passes a FormEnvironment that returns all form components when calling this method.

      If you need to access layout groups, please see getFormComponentTree() instead.

      Returns:
      an array of all form components or the empty array if the form is not fully initialized
      See Also:

    • getFormComponentTree

      List<?> getFormComponentTree()
      Returns the top level of the form component tree. The list contains objects of two different classes: FormComponent and LayoutGroup. Deeper levels can be accessed with LayoutGroup.getChildren() on the LayoutGroup objects.
      Returns:
      a list with the top level form components and layout groups

    • getId

      String getId(FormComponent formComponent)
      Get the ID that the framework associates with a form component. When form components refer to other form components and wish to transfer those associations between design time and runtime, they have to store a IDs rather than the form components themselves. The translation between IDs and form components is provided by the form environment.

      The ID can be transformed back to the form component with the getFormComponentById method.

      Parameters:
      formComponent - the form component whose ID should be returned
      Returns:
      the ID
      See Also:

    • getFormComponents

      <T> T[] getFormComponents(Class<T> formComponentClass)
      Get all form components for a given class or interface.
      Parameters:
      formComponentClass - the class of the form component.
      Returns:
      the form components or an empty array if no form components of this class could be found.

    • getFirstFormComponent

      <T> T getFirstFormComponent(Class<T> formComponentClass) throws NotSupportedInElevationException
      Get the form component for a given class or interface. If multiple form components of the same class are registered, the first occurrence is returned. In that case, getFormComponents(Class) should be used.
      Parameters:
      formComponentClass - the class of the screen.
      Returns:
      the form component or null if no form component of this class could be found.
      Throws:
      NotSupportedInElevationException
      See Also:

    • getFormComponentById

      FormComponent getFormComponentById(String id)
      Get the form component for a specified ID. See getId(FormComponent) method for more details.
      Parameters:
      id - the ID of the form component
      Returns:
      the form component or null if no such ID can be found.

    • getLayoutGroupById

      LayoutGroup getLayoutGroupById(String id)
      Get the layout group of a certain ID. See LayoutGroup.getId() for more details.
      Parameters:
      id - the ID of the layout group
      Returns:
      the layout group or null if no such ID can be found.

    • getComponentTuple

      ComponentTuple getComponentTuple(FormComponent formComponent)
      Get the ComponentTuple associated with a form component.
      Parameters:
      formComponent - the form component whose ComponentTuple should be returned
      Returns:
      the ComponentTuple

    • scrollComponentToVisible

      void scrollComponentToVisible(FormComponent formComponent)
      Scroll the form panel so that the specified form component becomes visible. A form panel has a scroll panel only if the FormPanelContainer.isScrollFormPanel() of the parent FormPanelContainer returns true. This is the default setting for empty form screens.
      Parameters:
      formComponent - the form component that should be shown

    • handleConsole

      boolean handleConsole(Console console) throws UserCanceledException
      Handle console mode for all form components in a form. This method has to be called at some point in the handleConsole method of the containing screen, otherwise the handleConsole method of the FormComponent will not be called.
      Parameters:
      console - the Console object as passed to the handleConsole method of the containing screen.
      Returns:
      whether the installer should continue or not. This value should be passed on in the handleConsole method of the containing screen which is the only place where this method should be called.
      Throws:
      UserCanceledException - if the user cancels a question or notice. This exception can be passed on to the framework.
      See Also:

    • isDesignTime

      boolean isDesignTime()
      Returns whether the form component has been instantiated at design time. At design time, the context passed to a form component is null.
      Returns:
      true or false.

    • addDesignTimeChangeListener

      void addDesignTimeChangeListener(ChangeListener changeListener)
      If your form component would like to be notified when the list of form components changes at design time, you can add a change listener here. Only a weak reference to the listener is held, so the garbage collection of your form component is not influenced.

      This method has no effect at runtime.

      Parameters:
      changeListener - the listener

    • removeDesignTimeChangeListener

      void removeDesignTimeChangeListener(ChangeListener changeListener)
      Remove a change listener added with addDesignTimeChangeListener.

      This method has no effect at runtime.

      Parameters:
      changeListener - the listener

    • getDesignTimeName

      String getDesignTimeName(FormComponent formComponent)
      At design time, the install4j GUI allows the user to name instances of form components in a form. You can retrieve that name with this method.
      Parameters:
      formComponent - the form component whose name should be returned.
      Returns:
      name the design time name or null if called at runtime

    • getDesignTimeName

      String getDesignTimeName(LayoutGroup layoutGroup)
      At design time, the install4j GUI allows the user to name instances of layout groups in a form. You can retrieve that name with this method.
      Parameters:
      layoutGroup - the layout group whose name should be returned.
      Returns:
      name the design time name or null if called at runtime

    • getScreen

      Screen getScreen()
      Get the form screen associated with this form environment.
      Returns:
      the screen

    • resetFormComponents

      void resetFormComponents()
      All form components whose "Reset initialization on previous" property is selected, will be initialized again when the screen is shown the next time. Usually, initialization is only reset when the user presses the "Back button" on the form screen. If you implement a loop and want to reset the initialization, you have to call this method. The following code retrieves a form screen by ID and resets its form components: 
      
 String screenId = ...
 // must be a form screen for the cast to work
 FormPanelContainer formPanelContainer = (FormPanelContainer)context.getScreenById(id);
 formPanelContainer.getFormEnvironment().resetFormComponents()

    • reinitializeFormComponents

      void reinitializeFormComponents()
      All form components including those that do not have their "Reset initialization on previous" property selected are initialized again. This is useful for implementing a "Reset" button that brings the form to its original state.

    • saveFormComponents

      boolean saveFormComponents()
      All form components will be validated and their variables will be saved. This is what happens automatically when the user clicks "Next" just before the validation expression of the screen is evaluated. If you need to save the form components to variables while the screen is being shown, you can use this method. For example, a button form component might require some variables of other form components to be set to the currently entered values.
      Returns:
      if the validation was successful. If false, only form components up to the offending form component are saved.

    • makeParentGroupVisible

      void makeParentGroupVisible(FormComponent formComponent)
      Makes the parent group of a form component visible. This is useful if a form component is located beneath a tabbed pane group and the currently displayed tab is different from the parent tab of the form component.
      Parameters:
      formComponent - the form component whose parent group should be made visible.

    • bindTextWithVariables

      void bindTextWithVariables(String textWithVariables, JComponent componentWithText)
      Set text with unresolved variables on a JLabel or JTextComponent. Whenever one of the installer or form variables changes, the text is updated automatically.
      Parameters:
      textWithVariables - the text with the unresolved variables.
      componentWithText - a JLabel or a JTextComponent

    • getFormVariable

      Object getFormVariable(String variableName)
      Get the value of a form variable. Form variables are only accessible in the current form and have their own namespace. They can be used to coordinate between different form components or between a screen and its form components.
      Parameters:
      variableName - the name of the variable.
      Returns:
      the variable value or null if the form variable with the specified name was not defined.
      See Also:

    • setFormVariable

      void setFormVariable(String variableName, Object value)
      Set a form variable.
      Parameters:
      variableName - the form variable name
      value - the variable value
      See Also:

    • getFormVariableNames

      Set<String> getFormVariableNames()
      Get the names of all defined form variables.
      Returns:
      a set of variable names of type java.lang.String.
      See Also:

    • replaceFormVariables

      String replaceFormVariables(String value, ReplacementMode replacementMode, VariableErrorHandlingDescriptor errorHandlingDescriptor) throws UndefinedVariableException
      Replace all form variables, installer variables and localization keys in a string. This method is the same as AbstractBean.replaceVariables(String, ReplacementMode, VariableErrorHandlingDescriptor) only that it also replaces all form variables before replacing other variable types. There are several convenience methods named replaceFormVariables on AbstractFormComponent that call this method.

      Note: compiler variables in the project are replaced at compile time. Compiler variables in external files, such as a custom localization file, are not replaced at a compile time.

      Parameters:
      value - the original string
      replacementMode - the replacement mode
      errorHandlingDescriptor - describes how missing variables should be treated for each variable type
      Returns:
      the string with all variables replaced.
      Throws:
      UndefinedVariableException - if a variable name cannot be found and the error handling is set to VariableErrorHandling.EXCEPTION for the variable type.

    • isInitialized

      boolean isInitialized()
      Check if the form panel is fully initialized. If that is not the case, accessing other form components will not be possible.
      Returns:
      if the construction of the form panel has been completed