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BlueDecode Basic Tutorial
Index:
Prerequisites
1. Task Management
2. GUI XML
3. Utilizing the GUI
Creating your first BlueDecode GUI Project
The BlueDecode GUI framework allows the users to create a dynamic and rich user interface
with custom graphics. The frame work has the following components:
• GUI Window (a window which holds the interface)
• Rendering Panel (the render engine used to draw the widgets on screen)
• TaskManager (a abstract class which holds all the scripting and execution)
Prerequisites
You will need to download the both the framework jar file itself and the sample project
files and follow through with the tutorial.
The user will have to install and set up the classpath for the project. To do this, the user
will need to point the class path to the frameworks jar file.
eg. Classpath = <drive>:<directory>\BlueDecode.jar
1. Task Management
For the first project, we will start by creating the task manager for our window. The task
manager allows users to customize their program and run time sequences without needing to
toy around with too many window options. It achieves this by separating the logic
programming from the window drawing part.
The Task Manager does the following things:
1) Execute scripted actions when widgets are clicked on by the user
2) Do an infinite while loop method.
In this tutorial we will create a testTask class which extends the abstract object TaskManager.
The testTask class will implement the doRun and doWidgetAction abstract methods of the TaskManager.
On the above example code, during the while loop, the task manager does a run time loop
which cycles through all of the screens and all the widgets in its screen to change the rotation
of objects which are rotation enabled.
We've also implemented the doWidgetAction method, which takes in a widget's action and
depending on the command perform the built in changeScreen method which changes the
screen being displayed.
2. GUI XML
The next step is to create the GUI XML file used to put in the widget components into the
screens. Please follow the code provided in the next page for reference.
The beauty of the GUI XML system is that it allows developers to hard code the functionality
of the program through scripts into the widget, and the logical execution into the task
manager. This allows developers to develop the GUI interface and functionality in parallel
without needing to recompile and hard code the interface design every time.
The GUI hierarchy is as follows:
ScreenList(holds all the screen objects)
Screen (holds widgets)
Widgets(individual widgets and other components)
Screen
A basic screen object which is used to hold and organize widget objects
<screen>
<screenName> The screen ID
<visible> Determines if this screen is visible or not.
</screen>
Note: only the last screen with the a visibility set to true is visible at run time.
Widget Object
A basic widget object which is used as an interactive visual component
<widget>
<id> Id of the widget
<X> X location
<Y> Y location
<bX> X boundary length
<bY> Y boundary length
<angle> initial angle of the widget
<cmd> command used
<frame> initial image used (can use a number of frame objects for animations)
note: the Java run time about to take in JPEG, GIF, and BMP images by default. To get
transparency to work for images, the image must be saved as a GIF with a transparent
background.
<hint> mouse over hint to be used
<rotatable> rotation enabled is set to true if this object can be rotated, false otherwise
<rotation> degrees being rotated by
<target> target ID (used when scripting screen changes, and widget interaction)
</widget>
3. Utilizing the GUI
Than finally, to utilize the XML, we create a constructor and main function entry for the
program. To do this need to do the following:
1. instantiate the taskManager object
2. instantiate the GUIwindow object
3. pass both the path to the XML file and the taskManager object to the GUIwindow object
Compile, and you are set ! Now if user doesn't like what they have create for the graphics, or
dislike the layout of the interface, they can always go back to the XML file change the layout
and sizes, and even edit the graphics without needing to recompile hard coded interface
components again.
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