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| <title>Meta-Data Processing Framework</title> |
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| <h1>Meta-Data Processing Framework</h1> |
| <br> |
| <h3>Overview</h3> |
| <p>This framework makes use of the meta-data contributed by the <a href="./metadata_framework.html">Design-time Meta-data Framework</a>. It's intention in this release is to simplify how services like Content Assist and Validation can be provided in source editors for tag library based attributes values.</p> |
| <p>The goal for this framework is to allow developers to assign "runtime type" information to an attibute's value using meta-data and then, because based on that type, "features" can naturally be exposed.</p> |
| <p>To make this more concrete, let's consider the example of the JSF Core <code>actionListener</code> tag and its <code>type</code> attribute. The value should resolve to a Java class type that implements the interface <code>javax.faces.event.ActionListener</code>. Having this knowledge is enough to provide:</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>Validation - ensure that the specified class can be found and implements the correct interface</li> |
| <li>Content Assist - provide a list of all of the classes that can be found that implement the interface</li> |
| <li>Quick Fix/Quick Assist - open the new Java class wizard with the required interface preset in the dialog</li> |
| </ul> |
| <h3>Types and Features</h3> |
| <p>In the above example, the "Type" is a Java class type and we have identified three "Feature" that the type implements. |
| <p>We have created an interface called <code><a href="../api_reference/org/eclipse/jst/jsf/metadataprocessors/ITypeDescriptor.html">ITypeDescriptor</a></code> that represents the runtime type of the attribute value of a tag. An implementor needs to return a list of feature adapters that this type supports. The features must implement the <code><a href="../api_reference/org/eclipse/jst/jsf/metadataprocessors/IMetaDataEnabledFeature.html">IMetaDataEnabledFeature</a></code> interface.</p> |
| <p>A default implementation, <code><a href="../api_reference/org/eclipse/jst/jsf/metadataprocessors/AbstractRootTypeDescriptor.html">AbstractRootTypeDescriptor</a></code> has been provided as a convenient starting point for implementing types, and it itself implements <code><a href="../api_reference/org/eclipse/jst/jsf/metadataprocessors/AbstractMetaDataEnabledFeature.html">AbstractMetaDataEnabledFeature</a></code>. This allows the type descriptor to implement features itself which should simplify development.</p> |
| <h3>Attribute Value Runtime Type Extension Point</h3> |
| <p>We bind a type identifier in meta-data to a class through an extension point. <code><a href="../extpts_reference/jsf/org_eclipse_jst_jsf_core_AttributeValueRuntimeTypes.html">org.eclipse.jst.jsf.core.AttributeValueRuntimeTypes</a></code>. Please see <a href="./metadata_framework.html">Design-time Meta-Data Framework</a> to see how the meta-data files are created.</p> |
| <p>The JSF Tools project has implemented a type descriptor class <code>org.eclipse.jst.jsf.core.attributevalues.JavaClassType</code>. In order to use this type, it must first be declared as an <code>AttributeValueRuntimeType</code> and then referenced in a meta-data file.</p> |
| <p>Below comes from the <code>org.eclipse.jst.jsf.core</code> plugin that declares this type:</p> |
| <div class="code"><pre> |
| <attributeValueRuntimeType |
| class="org.eclipse.jst.jsf.core.attributevalues.JavaClassType" |
| id="attributevalues.JavaClassType"/> |
| </pre></div> |
| <p>Below is the section of the jsf_core.xml meta-data file from the core plugin that supplies meta-data for the <code>actionListener</code> tag:</p> |
| <div class="code"><pre> |
| <entity id="actionListener"> |
| <entity id="type"> |
| <trait id="attribute-value-runtime-type"> |
| <value> |
| org.eclipse.jst.jsf.core.attributevalues.JavaClassType |
| </value> |
| </trait> |
| <trait id="valid-interfaces"> |
| <value>javax.faces.event.ActionListener</value> |
| </trait> |
| </entity> |
| </entity> |
| </pre></div> |
| <p>Notice that the value of the <code>attribute-value-runtime-type</code> trait uses the plugin qualified id of the AttributeValueRuntimeType extension. </p> |
| <p>For a complete list of implemented types and features, please see the <a href="../api_reference/org/eclipse/jst/jsf/taglibprocessing/attributevalues/package-summary.html">API reference</a> |
| <p>The <code>JavaClassType</code> implements two Features:</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li><a href="../api_reference/org/eclipse/jst/jsf/metadataprocessors/features/IValidValues.html">IValidValues</a> - an interface used by a WTP Validation framework validator class to check and provide validation error messages if invalid when being used in a non-EL context</li> |
| <li><a href="../api_reference/org/eclipse/jst/jsf/metadataprocessors/features/IPossibleValues.html">IPossibleValues</a> - an interface used by an extension to the WTP SSE editor for content assistance</li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>Although not applicable to the <code>JavaClassType</code>, the following round out the Features defined by this release:</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li><a href="../api_reference/org/eclipse/jst/jsf/metadataprocessors/features/IValidELValues.html">IValidELValues</a> - an interface used by a WTP Validation framework validator class to check and provide validation error messages if invalid when being used in an EL context</li> |
| <li><a href="../api_reference/org/eclipse/jst/jsf/metadataprocessors/features/IDefaultValue.html">IDefaultValue</a> - an interface for providing a default value</li> |
| <li><a href="../api_reference/org/eclipse/jst/jsf/metadataprocessors/features/ICreateValues.html">ICreateValues</a> - an unimplemented experimental interface with intentoin of being used for providing Quick Fix/Quick Assist services</li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>The Feature implementer can require additional information from meta-data. Notice that the <code>JavaClassType</code> calls back to the meta-data to get the list of <code>valid-interface</code> values. For a complete list of the property names used by the Types and Features from the core plugin see the <a href="../api_reference/constant-values.html" >constant values reference page</a></p> |
| <h3>How are these used?</h3> |
| <p>A client interested in requesting a set of all the Feature implementers for a given tag attribute will use the <code><a href="../api_reference/org/eclipse/jst/jsf/metadataprocessors/MetaDataEnabledProcessingFactory.html">MetaDataEnabledProcessingFactory</a></code> and the <code>getAttributeValueRuntimeTypeFeatureProcessors method</code>. |
| This method will lookup the runtime type from the meta-data file that it will identify from the passed context. |
| This method is currently being called by the <code>JSPSemanticValidator</code> with <code>IValidValues.class</code> and <code>IValidELValues.class</code> passed as the feature class along with the context. For content assist, <code>IPossibleValues.class</code> is being passed by the content assist processor.</p> |
| <h3>Creating New Behaviors</h3> |
| <p>Hopefully by now you know enough knowledge to create your own types, or reuse existing types in your meta-data files. But what if you wanted to associate a completely new behaviour(Feature) with a runtime type? This is handled by implementing a new <code>IMetaDataEnabledFeature</code> and registering it against a type identifier. |
| To register, use the <code><a href="../extpts_reference/jsf/org_eclipse_jst_jsf_core_MetaDataEnabledFeatures.html">org.eclipse.jst.jsf.metadataprocessing.MetaDataEnabledFeatures</a></code> extension-point. </p> |
| <h3>Other Resources</h3> |
| <ul> |
| <!-- <li>For more complete information on the meta-data processing framework, please see the MetaDataFrameworksSummary in CVS at /home/webtools/org.eclipse.jsf/components/jsf/developement/design/metadata .</li> --> |
| <li><a href="../tutorials/supplying_tag_library_metadata_for_apache_myfaces_tomahawk.html">Tutorial</a></li> |
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