I'd pick "whenever" or "onCondition". "updateWhen" sounds like an update, which I think it is not. "when" seems too vague.
Disclaimer: English is not my native language. -andy From: openjfx-dev <openjfx-dev-r...@openjdk.org> on behalf of Kevin Rushforth <kevin.rushfo...@oracle.com> Date: Monday, 2022/11/14 at 09:40 To: openjfx-dev@openjdk.org <openjfx-dev@openjdk.org> Subject: Re: Discussion: Naming API method I also think this will be a useful feature to get into JavaFX. As for the name of the method, the only one of them I don't like is "conditionOn". That name doesn't suggest (to me anyway) what its purpose is. I think any of the ones with "when" in the name would work. I have a slight preference for "updateWhen", but could be talked into one of the others. -- Kevin On 11/14/2022 6:52 AM, John Hendrikx wrote: > Hi, > > I'm working on https://github.com/openjdk/jfx/pull/830 where I asked > for some opinions on the naming of a new method I'd like to introduce > in ObservableValue. > > I wrote a (perhaps too large) comment about the possible names and > rationales: > https://github.com/openjdk/jfx/pull/830#issuecomment-1304846220 > > I'd like to ask what others think what would be a good name for this > new method (Observable#when in the PR) in order to move the PR > forward, as I think it offers a very compelling feature to JavaFX > (moving from weak reference to deterministic behavior when it comes to > listener management). My opinion has always been that using weak > listeners for listener management is a crutch that relies far too much > on the internal workings of the JVM and Garbage Collector which offer > no guarantees as to the timely clean up of these references and the > listeners related to them. > > Leading contenders are (but not limited to these, if you have a better > name): > > 1) conditionOn > > 2) updateWhen > > 3) when > > 4) whenever > > Usage in code is nearly always going to be something like these > constructs: > > // keeps text property in sync with longLivedProperty when label > is shown: > label.textProperty().bind(longLivedProperty.**when**(label::isShownProperty)); > > > // keeps text property in sync with longLivedProperty when > container is shown: > label.textProperty().bind(longLivedProperty.**when**(container::isShownProperty)); > > > It can also be used to make a listener only actively listen when a > condition is met (the listener is added/removed immediately when the > condition changes, facilitating GC): > > // listen to changes of longLivedProperty when container is shown: > longLivedProperty.when(container::isShownProperty) > .addListener((obs, old, current) -> { ... change listener > ... }); > > Or it can be used to disable updates temporarily (or permanently): > > BooleanProperty allowUpdates = new SimpleBooleanProperty(true) > > // keeps text property in sync when updates are allowed: > name.textProperty().bind(model.title.when(allowUpdates)); > detail.textProperty().bind(model.subtitle.when(allowUpdates)); > asyncImageProperty.imageHandleProperty().bind(model.imageHandle.when(allowUpdates)); > > > This last example can be useful in Skin#dispose, but has uses outside > of skins as well, for example when you want to prevent updates until > things have settled down. > > Thanks for reading! > > --John > >