| /******************************************************************************* |
| * Copyright (c) 2000, 2003 IBM Corporation and others. |
| * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials |
| * are made available under the terms of the Common Public License v1.0 |
| * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at |
| * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/cpl-v10.html |
| * |
| * Contributors: |
| * IBM Corporation - initial API and implementation |
| *******************************************************************************/ |
| package org.eclipse.ui.forms; |
| |
| /** |
| * Classes that implement this interface can be added to the managed |
| * form and take part in the form life cycle. The part is initialize |
| * with the form and be asked to accept focus. The part can receive |
| * form input and can elect to do something according to it (for |
| * example, select an object that matches the input). |
| * <p>The form part has two 'out of sync' states in respect to |
| * the model(s) that feed the form: <b>dirty</b> and <b>stale</b>. |
| * When a part is dirty, it means that the user interacted with |
| * it and now its widgets contain state that is newer than the |
| * model. In order to sync up with the model, 'commit' needs to |
| * be called. In contrast, the model can change 'under' the form |
| * (as a result of some actions outside the form), resulting |
| * in data in the model being 'newer' than the content presented |
| * in the form. A 'stale' form part is brought in sync with the |
| * model by calling 'refresh'. The part is responsible to notify |
| * the form when one of these states change in the part. The |
| * form reserves the right to handle this notification in the |
| * most appropriate way for the situation (for example, if |
| * form is in a page of the multi-page editor, it may do |
| * nothing for stale parts if the page is currently not showing). |
| * <p>When form is disposed, each registered part is disposed |
| * as well. |
| * Parts are responsible for releasing any system resources |
| * they created and for removing themselves as listeners |
| * from all event providers. |
| * @see IManagedForm |
| * @since 3.0 |
| * |
| */ |
| public interface IFormPart { |
| /** |
| * Initializes the part. |
| * |
| * @param form the managed form that manages the part |
| */ |
| void initialize(IManagedForm form); |
| /** |
| * Disposes the part allowing it to release allocated resources. |
| */ |
| void dispose(); |
| /** |
| * Returns true if the part has been modified with respect to |
| * the data loaded from the model. |
| * @return |
| */ |
| boolean isDirty(); |
| /** |
| * If part is displaying information loaded from a model, this method |
| * instructs it to commit the new (modified) data back into the model. |
| * |
| * @param onSave |
| * indicates if commit is called during 'save' operation or for |
| * some other reason (for example, if form is contained in a |
| * wizard or a multi-page editor and the user is about to leave |
| * the page). |
| */ |
| void commit(boolean onSave); |
| |
| /** |
| * Notifies the part that an object has been set as overall form's input. |
| * The part can elect to react by revealing or selecting the object, or do |
| * nothing if not applicable. |
| * @return <code>true</code> if the part has selected and revealed |
| * the input object, <code>false</code> otherwise. |
| */ |
| boolean setFormInput(Object input); |
| /** |
| * Instructs form part to transfer focus to the widget that should has |
| * focus in that part. The method can do nothing (if it has no widgets |
| * capable of accepting focus). |
| */ |
| void setFocus(); |
| /** |
| * Tests whether the form part is stale and needs refreshing. |
| * Parts can receive notification from models that will make |
| * their content stale, but may need to delay refreshing |
| * to improve performance (for example, there is no |
| * need to immediately refresh a part on a form that is |
| * current on a hidden page). |
| * <p>It is important to differentiate 'stale' and 'dirty' |
| * states. Part is 'dirty' if user interacted with |
| * its editable widgets and changed the values. In contrast, |
| * part is 'stale' when the data it presents in the widgets |
| * has been changed in the model without direct user |
| * interaction. |
| * @return <code>true</code> if the part needs refreshing, |
| * <code>false</code> otherwise. |
| */ |
| boolean isStale(); |
| /** |
| * Refreshes the part completely from the information freshly |
| * obtained from the model. The method will not be called |
| * if the part is not stale. Otherwise, the part is |
| * responsible for clearing the 'stale' flag after refreshing |
| * itself. |
| */ |
| void refresh(); |
| } |