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The demo workplace (as well as the IDE workplace) provides examples of workplaces built on base of this framework.

The workplace framework bases on the multi frame page management described in the previous part. It offers the following:

• flexible arrangement of frames,

• predefined frames containing workplace logic,

• dynamic loading of available functions,

• possibility to change the environment at runtime via the Java API,

• execution of multiple tasks between which the user can switch ("multi document interface").

This document covers the following topics:

• Framework Overview

• Functions Frame: MFWPFUNCTIONS

• Active Functions Frame: MFWPACTIVEFUNCTIONS

• Content Frame: MFWPCONTENT

• Filling the MFWPFUNCTIONS Frame

• Tree Node Types

• Filling the MFWPFUNCTIONS Frame without any Java Coding: MFWPBOOTSTRAPINFO

• Customizing the MFWPFUNCTIONS Behavior

• Session Management inside the Workplace

• Other Frames

• Workplace API for Dynamic Manipulation

• Example - Double Line Menu Workplace

• Usage Example - Calling the Application Designer Workplace with Directly Opening a Page

Framework Overview

An Application Designer workplace is a certain arrangement of frames in a multi frame page. Some of the frames have predefined tasks. Have a look at the demo workplace in which you can already see the most important frames:

The "Functions" frame contains the available functions that can be chosen and invoked by the user. The "Content" frame contains the page or page sequence that is opened if a function is selected. The "Active Functions" frame shows the functions that were opened by the user and allows the user to navigate between the active functions.

Have a look at the XML layout definitions for this workplace; it consists of an inner definition in which the main frames are arranged and an outer definition that adds some additional decoration around. The inner page (com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFInner.xml) is:

<mfpage separation="rows" sizing="20,*">
    <mfwpactivefunctions resizable="false" withborder="false" scrolling="false" 
                         framestyle="border: 0px solid #000000">
    </mfwpactivefunctions>
    <mfframeset target="ZZZ" separation="cols" sizing="265,*">
        <mfframeset target="LEFTPART" separation="rows" sizing="*,87" border="true" 
                    framesetstyle="border: 1px solid #808080">
            <mfwpfunctions bootstrapclass="com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFDefaultBootstrapInfoProvider" 
                           serversidescrolling="false" framestyle="border: 1 solid #808080;">
            </mfwpfunctions>
            <mfhtmlframe target="NEWS" url="../HTMLBasedGUI/workplace/welcome.html" 
                         resizable="true" withborder="false" scrolling="true" 
                         framestyle="border: 1px solid #808080">
            </mfhtmlframe>
        </mfframeset>
        <mfwpcontent resizable="true" withborder="true" scrolling="false" 
                     framestyle="border: 1 solid #808080;">
        </mfwpcontent>
    </mfframeset>
</mfpage>

You see that there are three special frame controls that are used internally: MFWPFUNCTIONS, MFWPACTIVEFUNCTIONS and MFWPCONTENT. In addition, there is one HTML page arranged below the MFWPFUNCTIONS control.

Let us take a closer look at each of the three workplace frame controls.

"Functions" Frame: MFWPFUNCTIONS

This is the frame to hold the available functions to be selected by the user. The control has the following properties:

"Active Functions" Frame: MFWPACTIVEFUNCTIONS

This frame shows the functions that the user started and between which the user can switch.

"Content" Frame: MFWPCONTENT

This is the frame in which content is started that is selected from the functions area.

Filling the MFWPFUNCTIONS Frame

The MFWPFUNCTIONS frame itself connects to an instance of the class that is named inside the bootstrapclass property. This class must support a constructor without parameters and must support an interface com.softwareag.cis.workplace.IMFWorkplaceBootstrapInfoProvider2:

public interface IMFWorkplaceBootstrapInfoProvider2
{
    public MFWorkplaceInfo getWorkplaceInfo(IMFWorkplaceBootstrapInfo envInfo);
}

The interface contains one method getWorkplaceInfo(...) that returns an object of type MFWorkplaceInfo. Inside the MFWorkplaceInfo object, the logical structure of the functions that are offered to the user is defined.

The MFWPFUNCTIONS frame consists of certain subcomponents:

Each topic holds one function tree. The tree is opened when the user chooses the corresponding button. The tree contains nodes; each node is associated with a certain function, e.g. a node may start a page inside the content area of the workplace. Some nodes may be selected as favorites and are shown in a favorite bar.

The MFWorkplaceInfo object that is required by the interface definition above is the logical reflection of this structure. The following code shows the code for setting up the demo workplace:

public class MFDefaultBootstrapInfoProvider
	implements IMFWorkplaceBootstrapInfoProvider2,
               MFWorkplaceConstants
{
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    // public access
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    /** */
    public MFWorkplaceInfo getWorkplaceInfo(IMFWorkplaceBootstrapInfo envInfo)
    {
        MFWorkplaceTopic topic;
        MFWorkplaceTreeNodeFolder topNode;
        TREECollection tc;
        
        MFWorkplaceInfo workplaceInfo = new MFWorkplaceInfo("/HTMLBasedGUI/empty.html",
                                                          "../softwareag/styles/CIS_DEFAULT.css");
    
        // --------------------------------------------------------------------
        // Demo topic
        // --------------------------------------------------------------------
        
        topic = new MFWorkplaceTopic("Demos",workplaceInfo);
        tc = topic.getTree();
        
        topNode = new MFWorkplaceTreeNodeFolder("First Demo");;
        topNode.setOpened(TREECollection.ST_OPENED);
        tc.addTopNode(topNode,false);
        

        MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCISPage helloWorldNode = 
            new MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCISPage("Hello World!",
            "/cisdemos/DEMO_HelloWorld.html",true,true);
        tc.addSubNode(helloWorldNode,topNode,true,false);
        workplaceInfo.addFavourite(helloWorldNode,"images/fav_hello.gif");
        
        topNode = new MFWorkplaceTreeNodeFolder("Normal Controls");
        topNode.setOpened(TREECollection.ST_OPENED);
        tc.addTopNode(topNode,false);

        tc.addSubNode(new MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCISPage("Control Overview",
                      "/cisdemos/DEMO_ControlOverview.html",true,true),topNode,true,false);
        tc.addSubNode(new MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCISPage("Combo Box",
                      "/cisdemos/DEMO_ComboDyn.html",true,true),topNode,true,false);    }

        ...
        ...
        ...
        ...

        // --------------------------------------------------------------------
        // Development topic
        // --------------------------------------------------------------------
        
        topic = new MFWorkplaceTopic("Development",workplaceInfo);
        tc = topic.getTree();
        
        topNode = new MFWorkplaceTreeNodeFolder("Layout");
        topNode.setOpened(TREECollection.ST_OPENED);
        tc.addTopNode(topNode,false);

        tc.addSubNode(new MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCISPage("Project Manager",
                      "/HTMLBasedGUI/com.softwareag.cis.editor.projectmgr.html",true,true),
                      topNode,true,false);
        
        MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCISPage layoutNode = 
            new MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCISPage("Layout Manager",
            "/HTMLBasedGUI/com.softwareag.cis.editor.editorgenerate.html",true,true);
        tc.addSubNode(layoutNode,topNode,true,false);

        workplaceInfo.addFavourite(layoutNode,"DISTANCE");
        workplaceInfo.addFavourite(layoutNode,"images/fav_layoutpainter.gif");
        
        ...
        ...
        ...
        ...

        return workplaceInfo;
    }
}

See the Javadoc API documentation for more details on the API.

Tree Node Types

There are different types of tree nodes that you place inside a topic's tree. In the example above, you already saw two tree node types: MFWorkplaceTreeNodeFolder and MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCISPage. The complete list of tree node types is:

A detailed description of the Java API can be found in the Javadoc API documentation.

Filling the MFWPFUNCTIONS Frame without any Java Coding: MFWPBOOTSTRAPINFO

There is also the possibility to fill the MFWPFUNCTIONS frame without any Java coding by using the bootstrapinfourl property. This property expects an URL to an XML file that represents the workplace setup (for example, HTMLBasedGUI\workplace\defaultbootstrapinfo.xml).

Have a look at the corresponding XML file:

<mfwpbootstrapinfo
         defaultcontentpage="/HTMLBasedGUI/empty.html"
         workplacestylesheet="../cis/styles/CIS_DEFAULT.css"
         synchtabnavigation="true"
         showdustbin="true"
         withtakeouttopopup="false"
         withcloseallwindowsicon="false"
         mfworkplaceeventlistener="com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFDefaultEventListener"
         targetnameofresizableleftpart="AVAILABLEACTIVITIES"
         translationproject="cisdemos"
         translationreference="mfworkplace">

<!-- Start Topic 'Demos'-->
  <mfwptopic
         name="Demos"
         textid="topic.demos"
         treeclass="WORKPLACETOPIC1ClientTree">

<!--TREE Begin First Demo -->
    <mfwpfolder
         name="First Demo"
         draginfo="First Demo"
         opened="true">

      <mfwpopencispage
         name="Hello World!"
         activityurl="/cisdemos/DEMO_HelloWorld.html"
         onlyoneinstance="true"
         followpageswitches="true"
         draginfo="DEMO_HelloWorld">
      </mfwpopencispage>

    </mfwpfolder>
<!--TREE End First Demo -->

...

<!-- End Topic 'Demos'-->
  </mfwptopic>

...

</mfwpbootstrapinfo>

Note:
To make sure that you are using a proper bootstrapinfo.xml file, use the XML Schema editor.xsd (and all corresponding XSD files) to validate your XML file (for example, in XMLSpy).

Overview of the bootstrapinfo hierarchy:

<mfwpbootstrapinfo>         // root tag
    <mfwptopic>             // new topic
       <mfwpfolder>         // MFWorkplaceTreeNodeFolder
       <mfwpopencispage>    // MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCISPage
       <mfwpopencispopup>   // MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCISPopup
       <mfwpopencistarget>  // MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCISTarget
       <mfwpcallback>       // MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCallback
       <mfwpopenhtmlpage>   // MFWorkplaceTreeNodeHTMLPage
       <mfwpopenhtmlpopup>  // MFWorkplaceTreeNodeHTMLPopup
       <mfwpopenhtmltarget> // MFWorkplaceTreeNodeHTMLTarget

<mfwpfolder> can contain each of the other <mfwptopic> subtags including itself.

The following topics are covered below:

• MFWPBOOTSTRAPINFO Properties

• MFWPTOPIC Properties

• MFWPFOLDER Properties

• MFWPOPENCISPAGE Properties

• MFWPOPENCISPOPUP Properties

• MFWPOPENCISTARGET Properties

• MFWPCALLBACK Properties

• MFWPOPENHTMLPAGE Properties

• MFWPOPENHTMLPOPUP Properties

• MFWPOPENHTMLTARGET Properties

MFWPBOOTSTRAPINFO Properties

MFWPTOPIC Properties

MFWPFOLDER Properties

MFWPOPENCISPAGE Properties

MFWPOPENCISPOPUP Properties

MFWPOPENCISTARGET Properties

MFWPCALLBACK Properties

MFWPOPENHTMLPAGE Properties

MFWPOPENHTMLPOPUP Properties

MFWPOPENHTMLTARGET Properties

Customizing the MFWPFUNCTIONS Behavior

The mfworkplaceeventlistener property of MFWPBOOTSTRAPINFO defines a Java class name. This class listens to events raised by the workplace and reacts accordingly. Examples for such events are context menu requests, or reactions to opening, closing, removing or switching of content pages. You can write your own event handler class by providing a Java class which implements the com.softwareag.cis.workplace.IMFWorkplaceEventListener2 interface. See the Javadoc documentation (see also Developing Java Extensions in the Ajax Developer documentation).

Often, you do not want to write a complete event handler class. Instead, you would like to keep most of the default behavior, but simply customize pop-up messages and/or the shown context menus for the different nodes in the function tree. The following topics describe how to do simple customizations for the default event handler implementation.

You start with the class com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFCustomEventListener. If you only want to customize pop-up messages, you can simply extend this class. If you would like to customize context menus and/or reactions to other events, you can use the MFCustomEventListener class as a template for writing your own custom event listener. The MFCustomEventListener class extends the MFEventListenerBase class which implements basic event reactions.

The following topics are covered below:

• Customizing Pop-up Messages

• Customizing Context Menus

• Implementing Custom Event Reactions (Advanced)

• Source Code for com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFCustomEventListener

Customizing Pop-up Messages

If you only want to customize pop-up messages and keep the default context menu and event reaction, proceed as follows.

Create a class (for example, MyCustomEventListener) and implement the following methods (see also the example below):

• String getPopupMessageNumberOfWorkplaceActivitiesReached(...)

• String getPopupTitelMaxNumberOfWorkplaceActivitiesReached(...)

• String getPopupMessagePopupMenuClosedByUser()

• String getPopupTitelPopupMenuClosedByUser()

public class MyCustomEventListener extends MFCustomEventListener
{
protected String getPopupMessageNumberOfWorkplaceActivitiesReached(
                      int    maxactivities)
{
    return "THIS IS MY OWN MESSAGE";
}

protected String getPopupTitleNumberOfWorkplaceActivitiesReached(
                      int    maxactivities)
{
    return "THIS IS MY OWN POP-UP TITLE";
}

protected String getPopupMessagePopupMenuClosedByUser()
{
    return "THIS IS MY OWN MESSAGE";
}

protected String getPopupTitlePopupMenuClosedByUser()
{
    return "THIS IS MY OWN POP-UP TITLE";
}
}

Specify the MyCustomEventListener class in your bootstrapinfo (see below) and put the class file into the classpath of your web application.

<mfwpbootstrapinfo
    defaultcontentpage="/HTMLBasedGUI/empty.html"
         ...
         mfworkplaceeventlistener="com.mycompany.MyCustomEventListener"
...

Customizing Context Menus

If you would like to have your own context menus, you need to implement the following methods:

• TREECollection buildContextMenu(...)

• TREECollection buildDropMenu(...)

• TREECollection buildFunctionContextMenu(...)

• TREECollection buildMFTopicContextMenu(...)

All of these methods return a TREECollection object with the nodes for the context menu. For details of the different methods, see the corresponding Javadoc documentation of the com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFEventListenerBase class. See also Developing Java Extensions in the Ajax Developer documentation.

Recommendation:

1. Write your own class (for example, AnotherCustomEventListener) which extends MFEventListenerBase.

2. Use the MFCustomEventListener class as a template. Here you can see how a TREECollection object is built. You can copy all required information and paste it in your own class.

A TREECollection is an object which describes a tree of nodes. Each node implements some standard commands such as Remove, Cut or Paste. If you look at the MFCustomerEventListener class, you will see the class MFCustomMenuNodeInfo which extends the class MFMenuNodeInfoBase. The MFMenuNodeInfoBase class contains the implementation of a set of standard commands which are defined as CMDID_* fields in the class. See the corresponding Javadoc documentation for details (see also Developing Java Extensions in the Ajax Developer documentation). You can reuse the standard commands, or you can implement your own commands.

Recommendation for implementing your own commands:

1. Write your own node class (for example, MyCustomMenuNodeInfo) which extends MFMenuNodeInfoBase.

2. In the same way as the MFCustomEventListener class builds the TREECollection objects from MFCustomMenuNodeInfo nodes, your AnotherCustomEventListener class will build the TREECollection objects from the MyCustomMenuNodeInfo nodes.

To use your newly implemented event listener class AnotherCustomEventListener, specify the AnotherCustomEventListener class in your bootstrapinfo (see below) and put the class file into the classpath of your web application.

<mfwpbootstrapinfo
    defaultcontentpage="/HTMLBasedGUI/empty.html"
         ...
      mfworkplaceeventlistener="com.mycompany.AnotherCustomEventListener"
...

Implementing Custom Event Reactions (Advanced)

If you also want to implement own reactions to other events, you create your own class (for example, MyAdvancedEventListener) which implements the interface com.softwareag.cis.workplace.IMFWorkplaceEventListener2. See the Javadoc documentation for details (see also Developing Java Extensions in the Ajax Developer documentation).

Your class must implement the react* methods of this interface:

public class MyAdvancedEventListener implements IMFWorkplaceEventListener2
{
   public void reactOnDrop(...){...}
   public Boolean reactOnCloseWindowRequest(...){...}
   ...
}

To add your MyAdvancedEventListener class to the bootstrapinfo, proceed in the same way as described in the previous topics.

Source Code for com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFCustomEventListener

package com.softwareag.cis.workplace;

import com.softwareag.cis.server.util.TREECollection;

/**
 * This class is an example of a simple custom event listener based on the
 * <code>MFEventListenerBase</code> default implementation. The source code is
 * available in the documentation.
 * <p>
 * It shows how to simply customize pop-up messages, pop-up titles and/or context
 * menus without having to write a complete event listener.
 * <p>
 * 
 * @see com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFEventListenerBase
 * 
 */
public class MFCustomEventListener extends MFEventListenerBase
{

    /**
     * Objects of this class represent a context menu item. It extends the
     * default implementation for context menu items {@link #MFMenuNodeInfoBase}.
     * This default implementation defines default items for the basic commands
     * like CUT, PASTE, REMOVE.
     * <p>
     * 
     * @see com.softwareag.cis.workplace#MFMenuNodeInfoBase
     * 
     */
    public class MFCustomMenuNodeInfo extends MFMenuNodeInfoBase
    {
        /**
         * Constructor
         * 
         * @param eventListener the event listener
         */
        MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(MFEventListenerBase eventListener)
        {
            super(eventListener);
        }

        /* (non-Javadoc)
         * @see com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFMenuNodeInfoBase#init(java.lang.String, 
         *      java.lang.String, com.softwareag.cis.workplace.IMFWorkplace, 
         *      com.softwareag.cis.server.util.TREECollection, 
         *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral[], 
         *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral, 
         *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFWorkplaceTopic)
         */
        protected void init(String text,
                            String image,
                            IMFWorkplace workplace,
                            TREECollection tree,
                            MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral[] treeNodes,
                            MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral treeNode2,
                            MFWorkplaceTopic topic)
        {
            super.init(text, image, workplace, tree, treeNodes, treeNode2, topic);
        }

        /* (non-Javadoc)
         * @see com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFMenuNodeInfoBase#init(int, 
         *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.IMFWorkplace, 
         *      com.softwareag.cis.server.util.TREECollection, 
         *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral[], 
         *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral, 
         *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFWorkplaceTopic)
         */
        protected void init(int cmdid,
                            IMFWorkplace workplace,
                            TREECollection tree,
                            MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral[] treeNodes,
                            MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral treeNode2,
                            MFWorkplaceTopic topic)
        {
            super.init(cmdid, workplace, tree, treeNodes, treeNode2, topic);
        }

    }

    /*
     * (non-Javadoc)
     * 
     * @see com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFEventListenerBase#buildDropMenu(com.softwareag.cis.workplace.IMFWorkplace,
     *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFWorkplaceTopic,
     *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral,
     *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral[])
     */
    protected TREECollection buildDropMenu(IMFWorkplace workplace,
                                           MFWorkplaceTopic topic,
                                           MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral targetNode,
                                           MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral[] droppedItems)
    {
        TREECollection menu = new TREECollection();
        MFCustomMenuNodeInfo menuNode = null;
        if (targetNode.getOpened() == 2)
        {
            menuNode = new MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(this);
            menuNode.init(MFMenuNodeInfoBase.CMDID_MOVEBEFORE, workplace, topic.getTree(), droppedItems, targetNode, topic);
            menu.addTopNode(menuNode, true);
            menuNode = new MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(this);
            menuNode.init(MFMenuNodeInfoBase.CMDID_MOVEBEHIND, workplace, topic.getTree(), droppedItems, targetNode, topic);
            menu.addTopNode(menuNode, true);
        }
        else
        {
            menuNode = new MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(this);
            menuNode.init(MFMenuNodeInfoBase.CMDID_MOVEASFIRST, workplace, topic.getTree(), droppedItems, targetNode, topic);
            menu.addTopNode(menuNode, true);
            menuNode = new MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(this);
            menuNode.init(MFMenuNodeInfoBase.CMDID_MOVEASLAST, workplace, topic.getTree(), droppedItems, targetNode, topic);
            menu.addTopNode(menuNode, true);
        }
        return menu;
    }

    /*
     * (non-Javadoc)
     * 
     * @see com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFEventListenerBase#buildContextMenu(com.softwareag.cis.workplace.IMFWorkplace,
     *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFWorkplaceTopic,
     *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral,
     *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral[])
     */
    protected TREECollection buildContextMenu(IMFWorkplace workplace,
                                              MFWorkplaceTopic topic,
                                              MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral item,
                                              MFWorkplaceTreeNodeGeneral[] selection)
    {
        TREECollection tree = topic.getTree();
        TREECollection menu = new TREECollection();

        // --------------------- Show with sub menu
        MFCustomMenuNodeInfo menuNode = null;
        menuNode = new MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(this);
        menuNode.init(MFMenuNodeInfoBase.CMDID_SHOW, workplace, tree, selection, null, topic);
        menu.addTopNode(menuNode, false);

        MFCustomMenuNodeInfo subNode = null;
        subNode = new MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(this);
        subNode.init(MFMenuNodeInfoBase.CMDID_SHOW_CONTENT_FRAME, workplace, tree, selection, null, topic);
        menu.addSubNode(subNode, menuNode, true, false);

        subNode = new MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(this);
        subNode.init(MFMenuNodeInfoBase.CMDID_SHOW_NEW_WINDOW, workplace, tree, selection, null, topic);
        menu.addSubNode(subNode, menuNode, true, false);

        // --------------- CUT
        menuNode = new MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(this);
        menuNode.init(MFMenuNodeInfoBase.CMDID_CUT, workplace, tree, selection, null, topic);
        menu.addTopNode(menuNode, true);

        // --------------- PASTE
        menuNode = new MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(this);
        menuNode.init(MFMenuNodeInfoBase.CMDID_PASTE, workplace, tree, selection, null, topic);
        menu.addTopNode(menuNode, true);
        if (super.getClipboardSize() == 0 ||
            item.getOpened() == 2) menuNode.setInactive(true);

        // --------------- Separator
        menuNode = new MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(this);
        menuNode.init("&SEPARATOR", null, workplace, tree, selection, null, topic);
        menu.addTopNode(menuNode, true);

        // --------------- REMOVE
        menuNode = new MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(this);
        menuNode.init(MFMenuNodeInfoBase.CMDID_REMOVE, workplace, tree, selection, null, topic);
        menu.addTopNode(menuNode, true);

        return menu;
    }

    /*
     * (non-Javadoc)
     * 
     * @see com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFEventListenerBase#buildFunctionContextMenu(com.softwareag.cis.workplace.IMFWorkplace,
     *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFWorkplaceTopic)
     */
    protected TREECollection buildFunctionContextMenu(IMFWorkplace workplace,
                                                      MFWorkplaceTopic selectedTopic)
    {
        TREECollection menu = new TREECollection();
        MFCustomMenuNodeInfo menuNode = null;

        menuNode = new MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(this);
        menuNode.init(MFMenuNodeInfoBase.CMDID_REFRESHTOPIC, workplace, selectedTopic.getTree(), null, null, selectedTopic);
        menu.addTopNode(menuNode, true);

        menuNode = new MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(this);
        menuNode.init(MFMenuNodeInfoBase.CMDID_REMOVEALL, workplace, selectedTopic.getTree(), null, null, selectedTopic);
        menu.addTopNode(menuNode, true);

        return menu;
    }

    /*
     * (non-Javadoc)
     * 
     * @see com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFEventListenerBase#buildMFTopicContextMenu(com.softwareag.cis.workplace.IMFWorkplace,
     *      com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFWorkplaceTopic)
     */
    protected TREECollection buildMFTopicContextMenu(IMFWorkplace workplace,
                                                     MFWorkplaceTopic selectedTopic)
    {
        TREECollection menu = new TREECollection();
        MFCustomMenuNodeInfo menuNode = null;

        menuNode = new MFCustomMenuNodeInfo(this);
        menuNode.init(MFMenuNodeInfoBase.CMDID_REFRESHTOPIC, workplace, selectedTopic.getTree(), null, null, selectedTopic);
        menu.addTopNode(menuNode, true);
        return menu;
    }

    /*
     * (non-Javadoc)
     * 
     * @see com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFEventListenerBase#getMaxNumberActivitiesMode()
     */
    protected int getMaxNumberActivitiesMode()
    {
        return MAX_NUMBER_ACTIVITIES_POPUP;
    }

    /*
     * (non-Javadoc)
     * 
     * @see com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFEventListenerBase#getPopupMessageNumberOfWorkplaceActivitiesReached(int)
     */
    protected String getPopupMessageNumberOfWorkplaceActivitiesReached(int maxactivities)
    {
        // use default
        return null;
    }

    /*
     * (non-Javadoc)
     * 
     * @see com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFEventListenerBase#getPopupTitelMaxNumberOfWorkplaceActivitiesReached(int)
     */
    protected String getPopupTitelMaxNumberOfWorkplaceActivitiesReached(int maxactivities)
    {
        // use default
        return null;
    }

    /*
     * (non-Javadoc)
     * 
     * @see com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFEventListenerBase#getPopupMessagePopupMenuClosedByUser()
     */
    protected String getPopupMessagePopupMenuClosedByUser()
    {
        // use default
        return null;
    }

    /*
     * (non-Javadoc)
     * 
     * @see com.softwareag.cis.workplace.MFEventListenerBase#getPopupTitelPopupMenuClosedByUser()
     */
    protected String getPopupTitelPopupMenuClosedByUser()
    {
        // use default
        return null;
    }

}

Session Management inside the Workplace

When the user selects functions in the MFWPFUNCTIONS frame, then pages are opened in the content frame, or as pop-ups or in a named target frame.

The workplace offers a "multi document interface" - i.e. you can work in parallel in several activities and you can switch between these activities. This structure is reflected in the server-side session structure. The section Details on Session Management in the Special Development Topics explains this in a detailed way. However, some information is given below.

The session management of Application Designer knows sessions (typically representing a browser instance) and subsessions (reflecting a user activity with a defined life cycle). A session contains one or more subsessions. Inside one subsession, the adapter object are kept which are required by a page or a page sequence. Subsessions are isolated from one another.

The workplace proceeds in the following way:

• Every activity that is started inside the content is represented by a subsession of its own. If you have opened five Application Designer pages via the function tree inside the content area of the workplace, then there are five subsessions on the server side. If the user navigates between the activities (e.g. via the MFWPACTIVEFUNCTIONS frame), then from session point of view the user navigated between subsessions.

• The workplace itself also occupies one subsession. If Application Designer pages are opened in a pop-up or in a named target, then these pages are living inside the subsession of the workplace.

When programming content pages, you do not notice the session management: every page that you design and test in the Layout Painter behaves in the same way in the workplace. Due to the separation into subsessions, you are not aware of "neighboring" subsessions.

Other Frames

You can add any further frames to the multi frame page of the workplace, as described in the section Multi Frame Pages. The workplace is just a functional framework using this technology - but not limiting it somehow.

Example: in the demo workplace, you see a NEWS frame below the MFWPFUNCTIONS frame that holds a certain HTML document.

Via the node types MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCISTarget and MFWorkplaceTreeNodeHTMLTarget, you can directly load pages into given frames, but you can also use the frames from your normal applications.

Workplace API for Dynamic Manipulation

Internally, the workplace is started when the workplace frameset page is loaded. So far you got to know the framework to set up the workplace in a dynamic way by implementing the bootstrap class referenced in the MFWPFUNCTIONS frame. "In a dynamic way" means that there is a program to provide for the required data - the program can build the function trees on its own, e.g. based on the user's role.

But you can also dynamically manipulate the workplace. There are two typical usages:

• You can exchange all workplace definitions dynamically. Maybe you offer the user a "reduced" workplace just allowing the user to log on at the beginning. Afterwards, the "real" workplace for the user is built up - containing all functions available for the user.

• You can manipulate workplace definitions in an existing workplace. For example, you modify the title of an activity that is shown in the MFWPACTIVEFUNCTIONS area. Or you want to add certain nodes to an existing tree.

For this purpose, there is a Java API containing the workplace functions that you can use from your adapter code.

Interface IMFWorkplace

The interface IMFWorkplace contains the methods you can call. The interface is accessible inside an adapter through the session context in the following way:

IMFWorkplace wp = (IMFWorkplace)findSessionContext().
                  lookup(IMFWorkplace.IWORKPLACE_LOOKUP,false);

Pay attention: the interface instance is only returned if the page is running inside the workplace. If a page is running, for example, inside the Layout Painter or if a page is directly started via the "StartCISPage" servlet, then "null" will returned.

The IMFWorkplace interface contains a set of methods for accessing and manipulating the workplace. There is one method updateWorkplace(...) that is especially important: when changing the workplace you have to call this method at the end to make the changes visible in the user interface. The method expects an adapter to be passed: this is the adapter that currently processes the request from the browser.

Exchanging complete MFWorkplaceInfo

Via the method exchangeMFWorkplaceInfo(...), you can exchange the complete settings of the workplace. Example: you may have a logon screen in which the adapter method for handling the logon looks as follows:

public void onLogon()
{
    // check user and password
    ...
    ...
    // build up workplace for user
    MFWorkplaceInfo wi = new MFWorkplaceInfo();
    ...
    ...
    ...
    // exchange workplace
    IMFWorkplace wp;
    wp = (IMFWorkplace)findSessionContext,lookup(IMFWorkplace.IWORKPLACE_LOOKUP,false);
    wp.exchangeMFWorkplaceInfo(wi);
    wp.updateWorkplace(this);
}

Opening Pages in the Workplace

There are the functions that you can use to open new pages in the content area:

• showPageInWorkplace

• addPageToWorkplace

• showHTMLPageInWorkplace

• addHTMLPageToWorkplace

You either open Application Designer pages (...Page...) or URLs (...HTML...). Pages are either added as new activities (add...) or the workplace first finds out whether a page with the same name was already started before opening a new one (show...).

There is the method with which you can switch to an already opened activity inside the workplace:

• switchToSubsession

Fine Granular Updates

There is a method that you use in order to update the title that is shown for the page in the MFWPACTIVEFUNCTIONS frame:

• updatePageTitle

There is a method that passes back the currently active MFWorkplaceInfo object:

• getMFWorkplaceInfo

Inside the MFWorkplaceInfo object, there are various methods for updating the object.

Example - Double Line Menu Workplace

With the available framework components

• multi frame pages,

• workplace frame controls, and

• workplace API,

you can build your own powerful workplaces that do not look like the "typical" Application Designer workplaces. Have a look at the following workplace:

In the workplace, a small set of functions is arranged in a double line menu. When selecting the functions from the menu, the content is shown in the content frame.

The workplace's multi frame page is defined in the following way:

<mfpage separation="rows" sizing="*" border="0">
    <mfframeset target="AAA" separation="rows" sizing="0,41,25,*" border="0">
        <mfwpfunctions bootstrapclass="com.softwareag.cis.test25.DLWPInit">
        </mfwpfunctions>
        <mfcisframe target="DLMENU" cisurl="/cisdemos/25_dlworkplacemenu.html">
        </mfcisframe>
        <mfhtmlframe target="CURRENTACTIVITIES" url="../HTMLBasedGUI/workplace/loading.html">
        </mfhtmlframe>
        <mfhtmlframe target="CONTENT" url="../HTMLBasedGUI/workplace/loading.html">
        </mfhtmlframe>
    </mfframeset>
</mfpage>

The workplace holds the three workplace frames you know from a previous section: the MFWPFUNCTIONS frame, though it is sized to be invisible ("0"). The bootstrap class that is referenced (com.softwareag.cis.test25.DLWPInit) is only a dummy and returns an empty MFWorkplaceInfo object.

There is a frame, DLMENU, in which by using a normal Application Designer page (/cisdemos/25_dlworkplacmenu.html), the double line menu is displayed. The implementation of this page on the server side looks like:

package com.softwareag.cis.test25;

// This class is a generated one.

import java.util.*;
import com.softwareag.cis.server.*;
import com.softwareag.cis.server.util.*;
import com.softwareag.cis.util.*;
import com.softwareag.cis.workplace.IWorkplace;

public class DLWPMenuAdapter
    extends Adapter
{
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    // property access
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    public class MyDLMenuSubItem extends DLMenuSubItem
    {
        String m_url;
        public MyDLMenuSubItem(DLMenuTopItem topItem, 
                               String text,
                               String url)
        {
            super(topItem, text);
            m_url = url;
        }

        public void invoke()
        {
            showPage(m_url,getText());
        }
    }

    DLMenu m_dlmenu = new DLMenu();
    public DLMenu getDlmenu() { return m_dlmenu; }

    // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    // public usage
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    public void init()
    {
        // fill menu
        DLMenuTopItem top;
        
        top = new DLMenuTopItem(m_dlmenu,"First Demo");
        new MyDLMenuSubItem(top,"Hello world","/cisdemos/DEMO_HelloWorld.html");       
        
        top = new DLMenuTopItem(m_dlmenu,"Normal Controls");
        new MyDLMenuSubItem(top,"Control Overview","/cisdemos/DEMO_ControlOverview.html");       
        new MyDLMenuSubItem(top,"Combo Box","/cisdemos/DEMO_ComboDyn.html");       
    }
    
    public void showPage(String url, 
                         String text)
    {
        IWorkplace wp = (IWorkplace)findSessionContext().
                        lookup(IWorkplace.IWORKPLACE_LOOKUP,false);
        if (wp != null)
        {
            wp.showPageInWorkplace(url,text);
            wp.updateWorkplace(this);
        }
    }

}

The class uses the workplace API for opening pages in order to make the right page visible in the content area when the user clicks into the double line menu.

Usage Example - Calling the Application Designer Workplace with Directly Opening a Page

Let us imagine the following scenario: you want to open an Application Designer workplace from somewhere else (e.g. from a portal application), showing your workplace setup just as normal. In the workplace, you want one (or more) application(s) to be already opened.

To do so, you have to:

• define one starter page that you call from the "somewhere else" application,

• pass the name of the HTML page to be opened inside the workplace as a parameter to this starter page; the adapter of the starter page will write this parameter into the session context and will then execute a "switch page" to the workplace,

• define an empty page inside the workplace that looks at the session context and uses the workplace API functions to start the application inside the workplace.

Step by step:

The name of the starter page in this example is /cisworkplace/starter_withStartPage.html. Its XML code is quite simple:

<page model="StarterWithStartPageAdapter">
    <pagebody>
    </pagebody>
    <statusbar withdistance="false">
    </statusbar>
</page>

The adapter code is:

import java.util.*;
import com.softwareag.cis.server.*;
import com.softwareag.cis.server.util.*;
import com.softwareag.cis.util.*;

public class StarterWithStartPageAdapter
    extends Adapter
{
    String m_pageToBeStarted;
    public void setPageToBeStarted(String value)
    {
        m_pageToBeStarted = value;
    }
    
    public void reactOnDataTransferEnd()
    {
        super.reactOnDataTransferEnd();
        if (m_pageToBeStarted != null)
        {
            // prepare empty for starting
            findSessionContext().bind("test/pageToBeStarted",m_pageToBeStarted);
            // start workplace
            switchToPage("workplace_withStartPage.html");
        }
        else
        {
            outputMessage(MT_ERROR,"No page found to be started!");
        }
    }
    
}

As you can see from the code, the starter page's adapter does nothing else than providing the property pageToBeStarted and a method reactOnDataTransferEnd that is processed at the end of the set phase. In the method, the pageToBeStarted property is written into the session context and a switch to the workplace page workplace_withStartPage.html is done.

This starter page is opened in the following way:

http://<host>:<port>/<webapp>/servlet/StartCISPage?PAGEURL=/cisworkplace/starter_withStartPage.html&pageToBeStarted=/<project>/<page.html>

The starter page itself will only become visible if an error occurs (e.g. no parameter pageToBeStarted is passed). Otherwise, it will always switch to the workplace page.

The workplace page is just a normal Application Designer workplace that you build using Application Designer's Layout Painter:

<mfpage separation="rows" sizing="40,20,*">
    <mfhtmlframe target="TITLEPAGE" url="../cisworkplace/workplace/header.html" resizable="false" 
     withborder="false" scrolling="false" framestyle="border: 0px solid #000000" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">
    </mfhtmlframe>
    <mfwpactivefunctions resizable="false" withborder="false" scrolling="false" 
     framestyle="border: 0px solid #000000">
    </mfwpactivefunctions>
    <mfframeset target="ZZZ" separation="cols" sizing="265,*">
        <mfframeset target="LEFTPART" separation="rows" sizing="*,87">
            <mfwpfunctions bootstrapclass="WorkplaceWithStartPageProvider" 
            serversidescrolling="false" framestyle="border: 1 solid #808080;">
            </mfwpfunctions>
            <mfhtmlframe target="NEWS" url="../cisworkplace/workplace/welcome.html" resizable="true" 
             withborder="false" scrolling="true" framestyle="border: 1px solid #808080">
            </mfhtmlframe>
        </mfframeset>
        <mfwpcontent resizable="true" withborder="true" scrolling="false" framestyle="border: 1 solid #808080;">
        </mfwpcontent>
    </mfframeset>
</mfpage>

It somewhere contains the MFWPFUNCTIONS frame that internally points to a class, called "bootstrap" class. This is the class that (as runtime object) configured the workplace with its topics and function trees:

public class WorkplaceWithStartPageProvider 
    implements IMFWorkplaceBootstrapInfoProvider2
{
    public MFWorkplaceInfo getWorkplaceInfo()
    {
        // create workplace info object, define the page that is shown
        // in content area if no other content page is shown
        MFWorkplaceInfo result = new MFWorkplaceInfo("/cisworkplace/empty_withStartPage.html");
        
        MFWorkplaceTopic topic;
        TREECollection tree;
        MFWorkplaceTreeNodeFolder folder;
        MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCISPage page;
        
        // create first topic
        topic = new MFWorkplaceTopic("Topic 1",result);
        tree = topic.getTree();
        folder = new MFWorkplaceTreeNodeFolder("Simple Demos");
        tree.addTopNode(folder,false);
        page = new MFWorkplaceTreeNodeCISPage("Hello World","/cisdemos/DEMO_HelloWorld.html",true,true);
        tree.addSubNode(page,folder,true,false);
        ...
        ...
        ...

This is a "just normal" bootstrap class implementation, opening the page /cisworkplace/empty_withStartPage.html as an empty page. Remember: the empty page is the one that is shown inside the workplace content when no other application is opened. It is shown as the default content page inside the workplace with no active function.

Now let us have a look at the empty page. The XML code is again very simple (typically the empty page is some kind of background page that, for example, contains some nice images).

<page model="EmptyWithStarterAdapter">
    <pagebody>
    </pagebody>
</page>

The important thing is what happens inside the adapter of the empty page:

import java.util.*;
import com.softwareag.cis.server.*;
import com.softwareag.cis.server.util.*;
import com.softwareag.cis.util.*;
import com.softwareag.cis.workplace.IWorkplace;

public class EmptyWithStarterAdapter
    extends Adapter
{
    boolean m_firstCall = true;
    
    public void reactOnDataTransferEnd()
    {
        super.reactOnDataTransferEnd();
        // call workplace
        if (m_firstCall == true)
        {
            String pageToBeStarted = 
                (String)findSessionContext().lookup("test/pageToBeStarted",false);
            if (pageToBeStarted != null)
            {
                IWorkplace wp = 
                    (IWorkplace)findSessionContext().lookup(IWorkplace.IWORKPLACE_LOOKUP,false);
                if (wp != null)
                {
                    wp.addPageToWorkplace(pageToBeStarted,"Page to be started");
                    wp.updateWorkplace(this);
                }
            }
            m_firstCall = false;
        }
    }
}

The first time the adapter is called (i.e. the first time the page is shown), it checks if someone left an information inside the session context to start a certain page - exactly the information that is written into the context in the starter page. If there is some information, the corresponding page is opened as the content page of the workplace.

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