DialogBox in GWT isn't draggable or centred - gwt

Question

I'm new to GWT programming. So far I have a DialogBox which is supposed to collect a login and a password, which can if required launch another DialogBox that allows someone to create a new account.
The first of these two DialogBoxes always appears at the top left of the browser screen, and can't be dragged, although part of the definition of a DialogBox is that it can be dragged. However, the second DialogBox can be dragged about the screen without any problem.
What I'd really like is for the first DialogBox to appear in the middle of the screen & be draggable, both of which I thought would happen automatically, but there's not.
So, what things can stop a DialogBox from being draggable? There is nothing on the RootPanel yet. Does that make a difference?
Code fragments available if they help, but perhaps this general outline is enough for some pointers.
Thanks
Neil

Answer 1

Use dialogBox.center() This will center your DialogBox in the middle of the screen. Normally a DialogBox is by default draggable.
Just tried it out and it doens't matter if your RootPanel is empty our not. When I just show the DialogBox on ModuleLoad it is draggable and it is centered. Probably the problem is situated somewhere else.
This is the example of google itself:
public class DialogBoxExample implements EntryPoint, ClickListener {
private static class MyDialog extends DialogBox {
public MyDialog() {
// Set the dialog box's caption.
setText("My First Dialog");
// DialogBox is a SimplePanel, so you have to set its widget property to
// whatever you want its contents to be.
Button ok = new Button("OK");
ok.addClickListener(new ClickListener() {
public void onClick(Widget sender) {
MyDialog.this.hide();
}
});
setWidget(ok);
}
}
public void onModuleLoad() {
Button b = new Button("Click me");
b.addClickListener(this);
RootPanel.get().add(b);
}
public void onClick(Widget sender) {
// Instantiate the dialog box and show it.
new MyDialog().show();
}
}
Here more information about the DialogBox.

Answer 2

Without seeing any of your code it's hard to tell what's going wrong. The following code works for me (ignore the missing styling...):
public void onModuleLoad() {
FlowPanel login = new FlowPanel();
Button create = new Button("create");
login.add(new TextBox());
login.add(new TextBox());
login.add(create);
create.addClickHandler(new ClickHandler() {
#Override
public void onClick(ClickEvent event) {
final DialogBox box = new DialogBox();
FlowPanel panel = new FlowPanel();
Button close = new Button("close");
close.addClickHandler(new ClickHandler() {
#Override
public void onClick(ClickEvent event) {
box.hide();
}
});
panel.add(new Label("some content"));
panel.add(close);
box.setWidget(panel);
box.center();
}
});
DialogBox firstBox = new DialogBox(false, true);
firstBox.setWidget(login);
firstBox.center();
}
Both boxes are draggable and shown in the center of your browser window.

Answer 3

Looks like you're overriding this method in Widget:
public void fireEvent(GwtEvent<?> event) {
if (handlerManager != null) {
handlerManager.fireEvent(event);
}
}
In Widget, handlerManager refers to a private HandlerManager.
Either add super.fireEvent(event) to your method or as you have done rename it.

Answer 4

Well, with vast amounts of trial and error I have found the problem, which was just this: I had a method in an object I'd based on DialogBox called fireEvent, which looked like this:
public void fireEvent(GwtEvent<?> event)
{
handlerManager.fireEvent(event);
}
Then, when a button was clicked on the DialogBox, an event would be created and sent off to the handlerManager to be fired properly.
And it turns out that if I change it to this (LoginEvent is a custom-built event):
public void fireEvent(LoginEvent event)
{
handlerManager.fireEvent(event);
}
... or to this ....
public void fireAnEvent(GwtEvent<?> event)
{
handlerManager.fireEvent(event);
}
the DialogBox is draggable. However, if the method begins with the line
public void fireEvent(GwtEvent<?> event)
then the result is a DialogBox which can't be dragged.
I'm a bit unsettled by this, because I can't fathom a reason why my choice of name of a method should affect the draggability of a DialogBox, or why using a base class (GwtEvent) instead of a custom class that extends it should affect the draggability. And I suspect there are dozens of similar pitfalls for a naive novice like me.
(Expecting the DialogBox to centre itself was simply my mistake.)