2 Copyright (C) 1998 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 This file is part of GNU Classpath.
6 GNU Classpath is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
7 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
8 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
11 GNU Classpath is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
12 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
13 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
14 General Public License for more details.
16 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
17 along with GNU Classpath; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the
18 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA
21 Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is
22 making a combined work based on this library. Thus, the terms and
23 conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole
26 As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you
27 permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an
28 executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent
29 modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under
30 terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked
31 independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that
32 module. An independent module is a module which is not derived from
33 or based on this library. If you modify this library, you may extend
34 this exception to your version of the library, but you are not
35 obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this
36 exception statement from your version. */
42 ** BeanInfo can be implemented in order to provide explicit information to the Introspector.
44 ** When you write a BeanInfo class, you implement this interface
45 ** and provide explicit information by returning a non-null
46 ** value from the appropriate method. If you wish the
47 ** Introspector to determine certain information in the normal
48 ** way, just return null (or in the case of int methods, return
49 ** -1). There is a class called SimpleBeanInfo which returns
50 ** null from all methods, which you may extend and only
51 ** override the methods you wish to override.<P>
53 ** When you have written the class, give it the name
54 ** <CODE><Bean Class Name>BeanInfo</CODE> and place it in
55 ** the same package as the Bean, or in the bean info search path
56 ** (see Introspector for information on search paths).<P>
58 ** A simple note about the way the Introspector interacts with
59 ** BeanInfo. Introspectors look at a Bean class and determine
60 ** if there is a BeanInfo class with it. If there is not a
61 ** BeanInfo class, it will behave as if the BeanInfo class
62 ** provided was a SimpleBeanInfo class (i.e. it will determine
63 ** all information automatically).<P>If there is a BeanInfo
64 ** class, then any methods that do *not* return null are
65 ** regarded as providing definitive information about the class
66 ** and all of its superclasses for those information types.
67 ** Even if a parent BeanInfo class explicitly returns that
68 ** information, it will not be used.
70 ** @author John Keiser
72 ** @version 1.1.0, 28 Jul 1998
75 public interface BeanInfo
{
76 /** Use this as a parameter for the getIcon() command to retrieve a certain type of icon. **/
77 int ICON_COLOR_16x16
= 1;
78 /** Use this as a parameter for the getIcon() command to retrieve a certain type of icon. **/
79 int ICON_COLOR_32x32
= 2;
80 /** Use this as a parameter for the getIcon() command to retrieve a certain type of icon. **/
81 int ICON_MONO_16x16
= 3;
82 /** Use this as a parameter for the getIcon() command to retrieve a certain type of icon. **/
83 int ICON_MONO_32x32
= 4;
85 /** Get the general description of this Bean type.
86 ** @return the BeanDescriptor for the Bean, or null if
87 ** the BeanDescriptor should be obtained by
90 BeanDescriptor
getBeanDescriptor();
92 /** Get the events this Bean type fires.
93 ** @return the EventDescriptors representing events this
94 ** Bean fires. Returns <CODE>null</CODE> if the
95 ** events are to be acquired by Introspection.
97 EventSetDescriptor
[] getEventSetDescriptors();
99 /** Get the "default" event, basically the one a RAD tool
100 ** user is most likely to select.
101 ** @return the index into the getEventSetDescriptors()
102 ** that the user is most likely to use. Returns
103 ** <CODE>-1</CODE> if there is no default event.
105 int getDefaultEventIndex();
107 /** Get the properties (get/set method pairs) this Bean
109 ** @return the PropertyDescriptors representing the
110 ** properties this Bean type supports.
111 ** Returns <CODE>null</CODE> if the properties
112 ** are to be obtained by Introspection.
114 PropertyDescriptor
[] getPropertyDescriptors();
116 /** Get the "default" property, basically the one a RAD
117 ** tool user is most likely to select.
118 ** @return the index into the getPropertyDescriptors()
119 ** that the user is most likely to use. Returns
120 ** <CODE>-1</CODE> if there is no default event.
122 int getDefaultPropertyIndex();
124 /** Get the methods this Bean type supports.
125 ** @return the MethodDescriptors representing the
126 ** methods this Bean type supports. Returns
127 ** <CODE>null</CODE> if the methods are to be
128 ** obtained by Introspection.
130 MethodDescriptor
[] getMethodDescriptors();
132 /** Get additional BeanInfos representing this Bean.
133 ** In this version of JavaBeans, this method is used so
134 ** that space and time can be saved by reading a BeanInfo
135 ** for each class in the hierarchy (super, super(super),
138 ** The order of precedence when two pieces of BeanInfo
139 ** conflict (such as two PropertyDescriptors that have
140 ** the same name), in order from highest precedence to
143 ** <LI>This BeanInfo object.</LI>
144 ** <LI><CODE>getAdditionalBeanInfo()[getAdditionalBeanInfo().length]</CODE></LI>
146 ** <LI><CODE>getAdditionalBeanInfo()[1]</CODE></LI>
147 ** <LI><CODE>getAdditionalBeanInfo()[0]</CODE></LI>
150 ** <STRONG>Spec Note:</STRONG> It is possible that
151 ** returning <CODE>null</CODE> from this method could
152 ** stop Introspection in its tracks, but it is unclear
153 ** from the spec whether this is the case.
155 ** @return additional BeanInfos representing this Bean.
156 ** <CODE>null</CODE> may be returned (see Spec
159 BeanInfo
[] getAdditionalBeanInfo();
161 /** Get a visual icon for this Bean.
162 ** A Bean does not have to support icons, and if it does
163 ** support icons, it does not have to support every single
164 ** type. Sun recommends that if you only support one
165 ** type, you support 16x16 color. Sun also notes that you
166 ** should try to use a type (like GIF) that allows for
167 ** transparent pixels, so that the background of the RAD
168 ** tool can show through.<P>
170 ** <STRONG>Spec Note:</STRONG> If you do not support the
171 ** type of icon that is being asked for, but you do
172 ** support another type, it is unclear whether you should
173 ** return the other type or not. I would presume not.
175 ** @param iconType the type of icon to get (see the
176 ** ICON_* constants in this class).
177 ** @return the icon, or null if that type of icon is
178 ** unsupported by this Bean.
180 java
.awt
.Image
getIcon(int iconType
);