enable the serializer to initialize components written in java code
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Key: PIVOT-542
URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/PIVOT-542
Project: Pivot
Issue Type: Improvement
Reporter: Appddevvv
The current serializer performs two funtions: creating objects and initializing
them. The typical use case is to create your component (say java code) then
call the serializer to create the content. Then within your class, attach the
content and initialize your object in various application specific ways.
However, since your object is typically a java object and often a Component
subclass, for those writing new components as composites of others, you have to
manually write some (not all) initialization code that could also be performed
in the BXML file.
To initialize your object using bxml content, you can use annotations etc.
However, if the bxml file also defines user data or other elements, you also
have to manually bring that in from the bxml and do some wiring. In addition,
it is currently impossible to initialize some pivot objects that you subclass
from, say the splitpane, with content from bxml without having to create an
intermediate container or use two bxml files for the left and right child. For
example, if you subclass from SplitPane, an underlying bxml file that holds
your content must have another container in order to define your left and right
children in or you have to use two separate bxml files per child--this may or
may not be a good thing and complicates the implementation.
To support the use case of creating subclasses of Components (and pivot likes
to use OO inheritance) and allowing the initialization of that component to be
matched by a bxml file, the serializer needs to be able to "apply" itself to
the component as if the bxml file and the subclassed component were a
reflection of the other. Bindable was designed to help with this, however, the
bxml file is still considered at level below (the content) of the Component you
are writing.
The benefits are:
a) A cleaner code style that has implied semantics--i.e. this bxml file is the
mirror image of your subclassed component at the same logical tree level.
b) More consistent coding conventions for novice programmers.
The capability to do this can be implemented in different ways including the
current approaches of course. The small patch allows a new style of Component
creation blending code and bxml in a more seamless way. Its no longer something
you instantiate to "get" content, it is the content. It helps Component writers
who want to simply subclass another component. It looks like a trivial change
but it is a different perspective on initialization that has natural semantics
for programmers. It also reduces complexity for creating subclasses of
Components that have properties representing the tree e.g. SplitPane.
This is similar in spirit to "code-behind" in other frameworks.
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