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The ROWTABLEAREA2 is a container control that allows other controls to be arranged inside its grid management.

This document covers the following topics:

• Example

• Using rowcount and height

• Making Grids Look like Grids

• Special Events in ROWTABLEAREA2 Processing

• ROWTABLEAREA2 Properties

• STR Properties

Example

There is a grid that contains a header row and 10 lines. Each line contains one check box and two fields. Some of the lines are highlighted.

The XML layout definition is:

<rowarea name="Grid">
    <rowtablearea2 griddataprop="lines" rowcount="10" width="100%" withborder="true">
        <tr>
            <hdist>
            </hdist>
            <label name="First Name" asheadline="true">
            </label>
            <label name="Last Name" asheadline="true">
            </label>
        </tr>
        <repeat>
            <str valueprop="selected">
                <checkbox valueprop="selected" flush="screen" width="30">
                </checkbox>
                <field valueprop="firstname" width="50%">
                </field>
                <field valueprop="lastname" width="50%">
                </field>
            </str>
        </repeat>
    </rowtablearea2>
    <vdist height="10">
    </vdist>
    <itr>
        <button name="Add new Line" method="onAddLine">
        </button>
        <hdist>
        </hdist>
        <button name="Remove selected Lines" method="onRemoveLines">
        </button>
    </itr>
</rowarea>

Note the following:

• There is a ROWTABLEAREA2 definition with the property griddataprop="lines". There is a rowcount definition of "10". This is the same as for the text grid processing: the grid container is bound to a server-side collection. Similar to the TEXTGRIDSSS2 definition, there is a row count that defines the number of lines.

• Inside the ROWTABLEAREA2 definition, there is first the definition of a normal table row (TR) in which a distance and two labels are defined. The labels are rendered with asheadline="true".

• Inside the REPEAT definition, there is a special table row definition "STR" (selectable table row) that itself contains one CHECKBOX and two FIELD definitions. CHECKBOX and FIELDs are bound to properties themselves.

• After the ROWTABLEAREA2 definition, there is a vertical distance and a row that contains two buttons with which a user can manipulate the grid.

The content of the REPEAT block is repeated as many times as defined inside the rowcount definition of ROWTABLEAREA2. The content holds a table row (STR) - therefore the result is a grid.

The Java code of the adapter is:

// This class is a generated one.

import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.Vector;

import com.softwareag.cis.server.Adapter;
import com.softwareag.cis.server.util.GRIDCollection;

public class rowtabarea2_adapterAdapter
    extends Adapter
{
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    // inner classes
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    // class >LinesItem<
    public class LinesItem
    {
        // property >firstname<
        String m_firstname;
        public String getFirstname() { return m_firstname; }
        public void setFirstname(String value) { m_firstname = value; }

        // property >lastname<
        String m_lastname;
        public String getLastname() { return m_lastname; }
        public void setLastname(String value) { m_lastname = value; }

        // property >selected<
        boolean m_selected;
        public boolean getSelected() { return m_selected; }
        public void setSelected(boolean value) { m_selected = value; }
    }
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    // property access
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    // property >lines<
    GRIDCollection m_lines = new GRIDCollection();
    GRIDCollection getLines() { return m_lines; }

    // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    // public adapter methods
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    /** */
    public void onAddLine()
    {
        LinesItem l = new LinesItem();
        m_lines.add(l);
    }

    /** */
    public void onRemoveLines()
    {
        Vector v = new Vector();
//      collect all elements to be deleted
        Iterator iter = m_lines.iterator();
        while (iter.hasNext())
        {
            LinesItem l = (LinesItem)iter.next();
            if (l.getSelected() == true)
                v.addElement(l);
        }
//      delete elements
        iter = v.iterator();
        while (iter.hasNext())
            m_lines.remove(iter.next());
    }
}

Programming the grid is very simple. Define an instance of the class GRIDCollection in which you hold the items. This instance is referenced by the griddataprop definition inside the ROWTABLEAREA2 tag.

Each element inside the collection itself supports the properties that are referenced by the controls inside the REPEAT block. In our example, the properties are referenced by the STR, CHECKBOX and FIELD controls.

Use any "normal controls" inside the REPEAT block. For example, use either the BUTTON control or the ICON control. Properties of these included controls are called inside the item class lines and not directly in the adapter class.

The class GRIDCollection is the parent of TEXTGRIDCollection. It manages all aspects of server-side scrolling that is used internally.

Using rowcount and height

Similar to the TEXTGRIDSSS2 control, the ROWTABLEAREA2 controls offers two properties for defining its height:

• rowcount and

• height

If only rowcount is defined, the control will be always rendered with exactly the same number of lines - the one defined by the rowcount property.

If the height is specified additionally, the height of the grid will follow the height definition. The number of rows consequently follows the available vertical space. In this case, rowcount is the maximum number of rows that is exchanged.

Background information: if you have a look at the generated HTML page for an XML layout definition containing a ROWTABLEAREA2 grid, then you will see that each row of the grid is rendered into corresponding controls. If a ROWTABLEAREA2 contains 10 lines where each line has three FIELD controls, then the result will be an HTML page containing 30 fields.

Consequently, the rowcount property - when also specifying the height - should be carefully selected. You must not simply define a rowcount of "100" because then you will get very large HTML pages that become too large to be operated in a fast way. On the other hand, the rowcount should fit into normal screen sizes and should not be too low. Have in mind the screen sizes of your users and decide accordingly.

When does it make sense to have a height and a rowcount definition? Typically, it does not make sense to define a fixed height (for example, "200") for ROWTABLEAREA2 controls: instead of defining fixed heights, you should size the grid by using rowcount only. But it makes sense if you have flexible heights, for example, a height of "100%". In this case, the actual height depends on the size of the user's screen and the grid can thus be sized in a flexible way.

Making Grids Look like Grids

Fields typically contain a high number of FIELD controls. Typically, a FIELD control has a certain rendering that renders a field with a border and with a certain background color.

Be aware that inside the FIELD definition, there are two important properties:

• noborder - if set to "true", no border will be drawn

• transparentbackground - if set to "true", the field will always take over the background of the controls in which it is positioned (e.g. STR row).

Have a look at the difference between the following screens. One screen uses the properties, the other screen does not use them.

This is a grid:

This is collection of fields:

For information on how to build the lines of a grid dynamically, see the description of the FLEXLINE control.

Special Events in ROWTABLEAREA2 Processing

If using input controls (FIELD, CHECKBOX, COMBOBOX) inside a grid, then there are two special events that may be passed to your application.

• FWDTABKEYMETHOD of ROWTABLEAREA2: this is the method that is called when the user presses the TAB key within the rightmost field of the grid.

• BWDTABKEYMETHOD of ROWTABLEAREA2: this is the method that is called when the user presses SHIFT+TAB on the leftmost control of the grid.

You can use these events for various purposes:

• You may create a new item below the existing one when the user leaves the rightmost field.

• You may want to trigger the scrolling of the grid if the user tabs through the last right field.

In the following example, every time the user leaves the rightmost field of the grid, a new item is created:

When the user now presses TAB in the last field, the screen will look as follows:

The XML layout is:

...
...
...
<rowtablearea2 griddataprop="lines" rowcount="10" fwdtabkeymethod="endofLineProcessing">
    <tr>
        <label name=" " width="30" asheadline="true" labelstyle="text-align:center">
        </label>
        <label name="Item" width="30" asheadline="true">
        </label>
        <label name="Article" width="400" asheadline="true">
        </label>
        <label name="Quantity" asheadline="true" labelstyle="text-align:right">
        </label>
        <label name="Price" width="50" asheadline="true" labelstyle="text-align:right">
        </label>
    </tr>
    <repeat>
        <str valueprop="selected">
            <checkbox valueprop="selected" flush="screen" width="30">
            </checkbox>
            <textout valueprop="itemNumber" width="30" textoutstyle="text-align:center">
            </textout>
            <field valueprop="article" width="100%" noborder="true"
                   transparentbackground="true">
            </field>
            <field valueprop="quantity" width="50" noborder="true"
                   transparentbackground="true">
            </field>
            <field valueprop="price" width="50" noborder="true"
                   transparentbackground="true" datatype="float" decimaldigits="2">
            </field>
            <hdist>
            </hdist>
        </str>
    </repeat>
</rowtablearea2>
...
...

Be aware that the method that is associated with the "tab" event is called in the item object in which the "tab" event was thrown.

The server-side processing looks as follows:

...
...
public class rowtab2_specEventsAdapter
    extends Adapter
{
    // class >LinesItem<
    public class LinesItem
    {
        public LinesItem(int itemNumber)
        {
            	m_itemNumber = itemNumber;
            	m_focussedItemNumber = itemNumber;
        }

        public String getArticleStatus()
        {
            if (m_itemNumber == m_focussedItemNumber)
                return "FOCUS";
            else
                return "EDIT";
        }

        int m_itemNumber;
        public int getItemNumber() { return m_itemNumber; }
        public void setItemNumber(int value) { m_itemNumber = value; }

        int m_focussedItemNumber;
        public int getfocussedItemNumber() { return m_itemNumber; }
        public void setfocussedItemNumber(int value) { m_itemNumber = value; }

        // property >article<
        String m_article;
        public String getArticle() { return m_article; }

        // property >price<
        double m_price;
        public double getPrice() { return m_price; }

        // property >quantity<
        int m_quantity;
        public int getQuantity() { return m_quantity; }

        // property >selected<
        boolean m_selected;
        public boolean getSelected() { return m_selected; }
        public void setSelected(boolean value) { m_selected = value; }

        public void endOfLineProcessing()
        {
            if (m_itemNumber == m_lines.size())
            {
                LinesItem item = new LinesItem(m_lines.size() + 1);
                m_lines.add(item);
                m_lines.displayItem(item);
            }
        }
    }
...
...

Inside the method endOfLineProcessing() that is defined on item level, the new item is created. In addition, you see that there is a certain focus management behind the field representing the article: the focus management is used in a way that the focus is directly set into the article field when a new item is created.

The full XML and code is available inside the project cisdemos.

ROWTABLEAREA2 Properties

STR Properties

STR (selectable table row) is a normal table row (TR) that highlights its background depending on an adapter property.

In the above example, the selection itself is done by a CHECKBOX. Both CHECKBOX and STR definitions are bound to the same Boolean value property (selected). Because of the flush definition inside the CHECKBOX, the table row is highlighted immediately after clicking the check box.

Inside the REPEAT definition, you can use also normal table rows (TR instead of STR). You cannot use ITR table rows to form a well-structured grid, because all columns have to be synchronized in their width.

It is recommended to use STR rows. The reasons are:

• The STR row refers to a property representing its selection status (property valueprop). If this property is not available, the STR row automatically deactivates its contained controls. This means: if the STR row is not represented by a corresponding data object on the server side (because the grid contains more rows than are made available by the grid collection), then all controls of the STR row are automatically deactivated.

• Special grid functions like up/down cursor navigation and cut/paste operations with the right mouse button are only available with the STR row, not with TR.

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