Disable user interaction in a GWT container? - gwt

I want to disable/enable user interaction (mouse click more specificly) on many widgets like hyperlink, button, etc which are contained in a composite (flextable)
there are more than one click handlers, and I don't want to bother with removing and adding listeners according to mode (interaction enabled/disabled)
Any ideas would be appriciated...

You forgot to mention the version of GWT. In GWT 2.0 you can use this code snippet or something similar. This feature allows you to cancel events before they are handed over to the target widget.
Event.addNativePreviewHandler(new Event.NativePreviewHandler() {
public void onPreviewNativeEvent(NativePreviewEvent pEvent) {
final Element target = pEvent.getNativeEvent().getEventTarget().cast();
// block all events targetted at the children of the composite.
if (DOM.isOrHasChild(getElement(), target)) {
pEvent.cancel();
}
}
});

There is a GlassPanel compoent in google-web-toolkit-incubator. I am almost sure it does what you need. Either way, it is a good idea to cover a disabled component whit one of these.

Related

Set focus to an Input in a gwtbootstrap3 Modal

I want to set the focus to a certain field (org.gwtbootstrap3.client.ui.Input) in a dialog (org.gwtbootstrap3.client.ui.Modal) before the dialog shows up. The use case seem quite common, if you have a dialog with a single field like the Upload text or Add feed dialogs right here. However I could not figure out how to set the focus to this particular gwtbootstrap3 component.
The Input component does have a setFocus(true) method. I assumed that setting the focus before showing the dialog would not work, which it doesn't. So the logical solution is to put the method call inside a ScheduledCommand. Like this:
Scheduler.get().scheduleDeferred(new ScheduledCommand() {
#Override
public void execute() {
textField.setFocus(true);
}
});
That usually works with GWT standard components, but does not seem to help in this case. I found a way to get notified once the dialog is shown through a ModalShowHandler. Like this:
modal.addShowHandler(new ModalShowHandler() {
#Override
public void onShow(ModalShowEvent evt) {
textField.setFocus(true);
}
});
I even tried to combine both, adding a deferred call to the handle. No luck. Any ideas?
You should be listening on the ModalShownEvent (note: Shown, not Show).
ModalShowEvent is fired when the modal is requested (for example, programmatically) to be shown.
ModalShownEvent is fired when the modal is actually shown.
This somewhat confusing naming is based on the events of the native Bootstrap Modal's events: show.bs.modal and shown.bs.modal.
ModalShownEvent combined with the usual Scheduler#scheduleDeferred should do the trick.

GWT: Opening new mail window without browser tab opened

I am trying to open an email client just like using mail me tag.
But I want to use my custom widget, which is not hyperlink, anchor or so. I added a DOM handler to my widget to listen to clicks:
public class VContactWidget extends VHorizontalLayout implements ClickHandler {
private HandlerRegistration clickHandler;
public VContactWidget() {
// added some content here
clickHandler = addDomHandler(this, ClickEvent.getType());
}
#Override
public void onClick(ClickEvent event) {
Window.open("mailto:john.doe#mail.com", "_blank", "");
}
}
Everything is working fine except one detail: When the widget is clicked, new empty browser tab will open with url set to mailto:john.doe#mail.com. I don't want the new tab opened. Can I avoid it somehow?
Note I set _blank parameter, as used in many examples. I also tried to use empty string or some other values as well. I looked into documentation, but didn't find anything useful.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/window.open
One solution may be to use Anchor, but my component is more complex, not just single <a> link.
Another detail to note may be application server - I am using Tomcat 7 now.
Trying to fire native event on hidden Anchor programatically did not work for me. (Which does not mean it cannot be done.)
This is, how I actually solved my problem: Instead of Window.open(), I used following call:
public void onClick(ClickEvent event) {
Window.Location.assign("mailto:john.doe#mail.com");
}
This is not something that you can control. Whether this link opens in a new tab or a new window depends on the browser settings and user preferences.
I don't think it will make a difference if you use an Anchor or Window.open. In either case, the behavior may be different in different browsers. Also remember that for some users a click on this link will open Outlook or Mail, while for other users it will open Gmail in a browser window.
UPDATE:
If you want an exact behavior of an <a> element, create a hidden anchor element and fire a click on it when a user clicks on your composite widget.
Firing click event from code in gwt

Best Practices GWT Event Handling

I have a question regarding the event handling on client side in GWT.
In our application we have a quite complex structure of different modules and pages which are communicating via the gwt eventbus on client side. Now the amount of events is growing to fast for my opinion. E.g. I am opening a popup I need:
An event for opening the popup
An event for asking some data within the client
An event for getting back the data and fill in the dialog
An event for closing the popup
An event for handling the save Button
Am I thinking a little bit to complicated or missing something in the EventBus implementation? I just wanted to have some feedback out of the community as you are facing the same issues.
For what it's worth, I have lots of events and more growing. And yes, I wonder if I can do with less, but when I skip an event and link elements directly, I regret it.
Here's an example that I just fixed up yesterday. I have a DataGrid widget. I also support re-ordering of columns, hiding of columns, re-sizing columns, and coloring columns with a popup dialog. You click on a configure button, and a popup with the columns listed shows, and the user can click checkboxes to show or hide columns, click on a Move Up / Move Down button to re-order columns, and so on. Hit Apply on the popup and the popup disappears and the DataGrid re-configures.
Except that it didn't. You'd click on Apply and the popup would just sit there, the user would wonder what was going on, the DataGrid would re-configure underneath, and then the popup would go away. We're only talking a short amount of time -- maybe a second or a bit more -- but it was so so noticeable. Why was it happening? Because I got lazy and tied the popup directly to the configure button, and the Apply button directly to the DataGrid. You'd hit Apply, for example, and the call would be made to the DataGrid with the new configuration information. Only when the call returned would the popup would be torn down.
I knew it was bad when I did it, but I was being lazy. So I took the 20 minutes I needed to write up two messages and associated handlers in my mediator singleton. One message is issued by the DataGrid to start the configuration dialog, and one is issued by the popup to configure the DataGrid. Now the widgets are de-coupled, and the performance is much snappier. There is no sense of "stickiness".
Now to your example, can you not combine (1) and (2)? And also (3), (4), and (5)? When the user clicks the configure button on my app, the event carries with it the current configuration information (including a reference to the DataGrid that originated the request). You can call this information the "payload". When the user clicks the Apply button on the popup, the event payload includes all the new configuration information (including a reference to that original target DataGrid) that the event handler feeds to the target DataGrid when the event is handled. Two events -- one to kick off the configuration and one to apply the end result.
Yes there are a plethora of events in any app that does something interesting, but events can carry a lot of information, so I would look at whether your event organization is too fractured.
As a extra bit, here is the code I use. I shamelessly copied elements of this pattern from one of Google's examples.
The user can ask for help using a menu item:
#UiField
MenuItem help;
help.setCommand(new Command() {
#Override
public void execute() {
BagOfState.getInstance().getCommonEventBus().fireEvent(new MenuHelpEvent());
}
});
For the event (in this case, the event fired when the user clicks on the Help menu item):
public class MenuHelpEvent extends GwtEvent<MenuHelpEvent.Handler> {
private static final Type<Handler> TYPE = new Type<Handler>();
public interface Handler extends EventHandler {
void doMenuHelp();
}
#Override
public GwtEvent.Type<Handler> getAssociatedType() {
return TYPE;
}
#Override
protected void dispatch(Handler handler) {
handler.doMenuHelp();
}
public static HandlerRegistration register(EventBus eventBus, Handler handler) {
return eventBus.addHandler(TYPE, handler);
}
}
I have a singleton called Mediator in which ALL events are registered:
MenuHelpEvent.register(BagOfState.getInstance().getCommonEventBus(),
new MenuHelpEvent.Handler() {
#Override
public void doMenuHelp() {
new MenuHelp().execute();
}
});
Every event is mated with a Command object to do the work:
public class MenuHelp implements Command {
#Override
public void execute() {
new InfoMessage(BagOfState.APP_MSG.unimplementedFeatureCaption())
.setTextAndCenter(BagOfState.APP_MSG.unimplementedFeature());
}
}
Everything is decoupled. The menu widget is bound to a command that executes and then completes. The command fires the event on the bus then completes. The event fires off the execution of a Command and the completes. The Command shows the popup help panel (in this case, an "unimplemented" message to the user -- yeah, I'll get to it soon). Every interaction with a user's input is handled extremely quickly and resolves. It can kick off a series of events to perform a long action, but never tying up the GUI to do so. And of course, since the elements are decoupled, I can call the same elements in other places (for instance, call the help Command through a button push as well as a menu item).

Get the GWT ScrollPanel to start its vertical scrollbar at the bottom

I know there are some questions out there about the GWT ScrollPanel and how it works, but allow me to explain the situation.
I'm working on a project to implement QoS on routers. I'm now at the developping stage of the project and I need to make a webinterface to add protocols such as ssh and http and give them their bandwidth.
To save memory usage and network traffic, I do not use GWT-EXT or Smart GWT. So to set the bandwidths I use a ScrollPanel with an empty SimplePanel in it (which is way too big), leaving only the scrollbar.
Now here's the problem:
I want each scrollbar for each added protocol to start at the bottom, not the top. I can get it working through the code if I manually move the scrollbar first, then any function works, like a scrollToBottom(), or a setScrollPosition(). If I want to move scrollbars through code before moving the scrollbar manually, however, I can't call a function on it.
(I would post a picture but I can't yet - new user)
Summary:
So if I add a protocol (using a button called btnAjouter), the two slidebars (One for guaranteed bandwidth and one for the maximum bandwidth) for each protocol start at the top. I want them to start at the bottom on the load of the widget.
Is there a way to do this?
Thanks in advance!
Glenn
Okay, my colleage found the solution. It's a rather dirty one, though.
The thing is, the functions only work when the element in question is attached to the DOM. I did do a check with a Window.alert() to see if it was attached, and it was. But the prolem was that the functions were called to early, for example on a buttonclick it would've worked. The creation and attachment of the elements all happens very fast, so the Javascript can't keep up, this is the solution:
Timer t1 = new Timer()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
s1.getScroll().scrollToBottom();
s2.getScroll().scrollToBottom();
}
};
t1.schedule(20);
Using a timer isn't the most clean solution around, but it works. s1 and s2 are my custom slidebars, getScroll() gets the ScrollPanel attached to it.
You can extend ScrollPanel and override the onLoad method. This method is called immediately after a widget becomes attached to the browser's document.
#Override
protected void onLoad() {
scrollToBottom();
}
Could you attach a handler to listen to the add event and inside that handler do something like this:
panel.getElement().setScrollTop(panel.getElement().getScrollHeight());
"panel" is the panel that you add your protocol to. It doesn't have to be a ScrollPanel. An HTMLPanel will work.
You can wrap this method in a command and pass it to Schedule.scheduleDeferred if it needs to be called after the browser event loop returns:
Schedule.scheduleDeferred(new Scheduler.ScheduledCommand(
public void execute() {
panel.getElement().setScrollTop(panel.getElement().getScrollHeight());
}
));

google wave: how did they make divs clickable

As we are facing GWT performance issues in a mobile app I peeked into Google Wave code since it is developed with GWT.
I thought that all the buttons there are widgets but if you look into generated HTML with firebug you see no onclick attribute set on clickable divs. I wonder how they achieve it having an element that issues click or mousedown events and seemingly neither being a widget nor injected with onclick attribute.
Being able to create such components would surely take me one step further to optimizing performance.
Thanks.
ps: wasnt google going to open source client code too. Have not been able to find it.
You don't have to put an onclick attribute on the HTML to make it have an onclick handler. This is a very simple example:
<div id="mydiv">Regular old div</div>
Then in script:
document.getElementById('mydiv').onclick = function() {
alert('hello!');
}
They wouldn't set the onclick property directly, it would have been set in the GWT code or via another Javascript library.
The GWT documentation shows how to create handlers within a GWT Java app:
public void anonClickHandlerExample() {
Button b = new Button("Click Me");
b.addClickHandler(new ClickHandler() {
public void onClick(ClickEvent event) {
// handle the click event
}
});
}
This will generate an HTML element and bind a click handler to it. However, in practice this has the same result as using document.getElementById('element').onclick() on an existing element in your page.
You can hook functions to the onclick event using JavaScript. Here's an example using jQuery:
$(document).ready(function(){
$("#div-id").click(function(){
/* Do something */
});
});
If you're interested in optimizing performance around this, you may need to investigate event delegation, depending on your situation.
A click event is generated for every DOM element within the Body. The event travels from the Body down to the element clicked (unless you are using Internet Explorer), hits the element clicked, and then bubbles back up. The event can be captured either through DOM element attributes, event handlers in the javascript, or attributes at any of the parent levels (the bubbling or capturing event triggers this).
I'd imagine they've just set it in a .js file.
Easily done with say jQuery with $(document).ready() for example.