noteworthy/3.1/_news-M5.html

<div>

  <h2>New service interface ClientFileLoader</h2>

  </p>
    Custom widgets often require their own CSS file to be loaded on the client.
    We already supported loading Javascript files using the <code>JavaScriptLoader</code> service,
    but we had no service to load CSS files.
  </p>
  <p>
    So we've introduced a new service interface named <code>ClientFileLoader</code> that can load
    both, JS and CSS files.
    The service provides two methods, <code>requireJs</code> and <code>requireCss</code>, that both
    accept a URL to load.
    The ClientFileLoader ensures that every file is loaded only once per session, so you can safely
    use it in the constructor of a custom widget.
  </p>
<pre lang="java">
ClientFileLoader loader = RWT.getClient().getService( ClientFileLoader.class );
loader.requireJs( JS_URL );
loader.requireCss( CSS_URL );
</pre>
  <p>
    This new service replaces the existing <code>JavaScriptLoader</code> service, which has been
    deprecated.
  </p>

  <h2>Badge support for CTabItem</h2>

  <p>
    The CTabItem widget now supports badges:
  </p>

  <img class="framed" alt="Badges on CTabItems" src="./images/ctabitem-badges.png"/>

  <p>
    Those badges can be set using a data key:
  </p>

  <pre lang="java">ctabItem.setData( RWT.BADGE, "7" );</pre>

  <p>
    The given string is displayed at the top-right of the item. To adjust the look of badges, the
    <em>Widget-Badge</em> element can be used. It currently supports the properties <em>font</em>,
    <em>color</em>, <em>background-color</em>, <em>border</em> and <em>border-radius</em>.
  </p>

  <h2>Partial redraw</h2>

  <p>
    The implementation of method <code>Control#redraw(int, int, int, int, boolean)</code> has been
    improved. Now, only the provided rectangle is redrawn on the client without clearing rest of the
    drawing area.
  </p>

  <h2>Use API extensions to replace RWT utility classes</h2>

  <p>
    In those rare cases where RAP requires a slightly different API than SWT, we've used to
    provide additional methods in utility classes like <code>BrowserUtil</code> and <code>DialogUtil</code>.
    These utilities contain non-blocking version of the SWT methods <code>Browser.evaluate()</code>
    and <code>Dialog.open()</code>, that are needed for the JEE compatible mode.
    We avoided making extensions to classes and interfaces from SWT.
  </p>
  <p>
    Reconsidering this approach, we think that it makes the developer's life harder, as these
    methods cannot be found directly, and the separation does not bring a real advantage.
    So we decided to take the freedom to add those few extensions directly to the SWT classes.
    For example, instead of:
  </p>
<pre lang="java">
DialogUtil.open( dialog, returnCode -> {
  if( returnCode == SWT.OK ) {
    // do something
  }
});
</pre>
  <p>
    you can now write:
  </p>
<pre lang="java">
dialog.open( returnCode -> {
  if( returnCode == SWT.OK ) {
    // do something
  }
});
</pre>
  <p>
    The non-blocking methods are now available on <code>Dialog</code> and <code>Browser</code>,
    respectively.
    <code>DialogUtil</code> and <code>BrowserUtil</code> have been deprecated.
  </p>

  <h2>New Chart component in Incubator</h2>

  <img class="framed" alt="Charts" src="./images/chart.png"/>

  <p>
    A new component for creating charts has been added to the RAP Incubator.
    It provides an extensible class <code>Chart</code> that is based on the famous
    <a href="http://d3js.org/">D3.js</a> library.
    Moreover, it contains some basic chart widgets that use
    <a href="http://nvd3.org/">NVD3</a>, a chart library that builds on top of d3.
    Currently, there is a PieChart, a BarChart, and a LineChart widget with a basic set of properties,
    that is going to be extended.
  </p>
  <p>
    See <a href="http://eclipsesource.com/blogs/2016/02/04/new-in-the-rap-incubator-charts-with-d3-and-nvd3/">the blog post</a> for details.
  </p>

</div>