Re: Interactivly adding layers in openmap application.

Excellent. This will be a welcome enhancement to the package. Thanks for
all your collective efforts.

Jeff
At 06:59 PM 10/17/2001 -0400, Donald Dietrick wrote:
>Hi Kai and Bernhard,
>
>I just wanted to drop a note to thank you very much for the patch. The
>functionality it provides is great, and I've incorporated it into the next
>release, albeit with a few changes, and I wanted to write to you (and the
>list) to let you know what those changes were, and get some comments on
>the changes.
>
>This might be confusing to those on the list that haven't checked out the
>package.
>
>I kept the LayerAddPanel the way it was, with the popup menu, text field
>and button. I did change the meaning of the text field so that it sets
>the name of the layer as it would be used in the application, i.e. the
>pretty name of the layer. I figured the prefix, as hidden as it is,
>really isn't something that the user needs to know about, and I create a
>prefix name off of the pretty name, changing it to lower case and
>exchanging any spaces with '_' characters.
>
>I moved the propertyeditor package from under the layers directory to
>com.bbn.openmap.util.propertyEditor, and moved the Inspector there, since
>the property editors can be used with any PropertyConsumer, and not just
>layers. I've added several PropertyEditors, too:
>
>- MultiDirectoryPropertyEditor.java - lets you append directories/files to
>each other, ';' separated, using a file chooser.
>- ColorPropertyEditor.java - brings up a OMColorChooser to set the color
>for a property
>- OnOffPropertyEditor.java - brings up on/off radio buttons to set
>true/false property
>- DirectoryPropertyEditor.java - brings up file chooser to choose one
>directory. Path of directory on button.
>- TextPropertyEditor.java - what was submitted, text field editor
>- FDUPropertyEditor.java - text field, with button for file chooser, to
>replace contents of text field. File chooser lets you choose a file or
>directory
>- TrueFalsePropertyEditor.java - brings up true/false radio buttons to set
>true/false property
>- FUPropertyEditor.java - text field, with button for file chooser, to
>replace contents of text field. File chooser lets you choose a file only
>- FilePropertyEditor.java - brings up file chooser, to choose one file.
>Path of file on button.
>- YesNoPropertyEditor.java - brings up yes/no radio buttons to set
>true/false property
>- NonEditablePropertyEditor - for properties that can't/shouldn't be
>edited, like class names, etc.
>
>If a property for a PropertyConsumer needs a specific editor, I think it
>should go in the PropertyConsumer's package - i.e., the
>VPFDatabasePropertyEditor will be moved to the vpf layer package.
>
>One more editor that I can think of is one that provides a limited list of
>options. I have a feeling that an abstract version can reside in the
>propertyEditor package, but specific instances need to reside in the
>PropertyCosumer's package.
>
>There were changes to the Inspector. The initProperties property was
>moved from Layer to PropertyConsumer, since it isn't limited to the
>layer. Its meaning was also changed within the Inspector, too - it now
>limits what properties are to be editable, or for the order they should be
>listed. If it is not defined, then all the properties are listed in the
>Inspector, and they are listed in alphabetical order. Also, if a property
>needs a specific editor to be used, the propertyname.editor property
>should be set (to the PropertyEditor classname) in the properties object
>returned from the getPropertiesInfo() method. I think this used to be set
>in the getProperties() method before, but I moved it, since it's a
>metadata thing.
>
>I modified the LayerAddPanel property called "addableLayers", that works
>like your property (I forget what it was called). It works the same way
>as yours did, defining a list of marker names, with markerName.class and
>markerName.prettyName needing to be defined for the GUI. PlugIns can also
>be added to this list, now, and if one is created, then a PlugInLayer is
>automatically created and wrapped around the PlugIn. As a side note, this
>is now true for the LayerHandler, which uses the openmap.layers property
>list to create layers - PlugIns will be able to be used directly in this
>list, too.
>
>The GraticuleLayer has been modified have a button on its palette that
>brings up the Inspector to change its current settings. This is a pretty
>cool use for the Inspector, and is probably something that will be added
>to all layers in the future.
>
>Speaking of the future, I haven't been able to update all of the layers
>and plugins to be fully compliant PropertyConsumers, using the interface
>to adjust all of their settings. I'll have a list of the layers/plugins
>that have been updated, and those that need work.
>
>To the openmap-users list: I'd appreciate any help I can get in finishing
>them off after the release. This will not only help get all the layers
>runtime-addable, but will also help in another new feature.
>The next release also has a couple of FileMenu options that let you load a
>properties file at runtime, kind of loading a different map. There is
>also an option to save the current settings of the map to a properties
>file. This could get troublesome for the layers that don't know how to
>respond to the PropertyConsumer methods properly. Also, with writing the
>map file, the openmap.components property is written out identically as it
>was read in from the startup openmap.properties file (the application
>doesn't change). There needs to be a widget to figure out how to write
>the components out in the proper order, since order does matter here for
>the appearance of the application. The objects out of the BeanContext are
>quite random, so if you try to create a new openmap.components list based
>on what's in the BeanContext, you get a funky application defined in the
>new properties file.
>
>That's about it. I'm trying to wrap up a couple of loose ends with the
>next release, but look for it in the middle of next week.
>
>Thanks again, Kai and Bernhard!
>
>Regards,
>
>Don
>
>
>On Tuesday, August 28, 2001, at 07:24 PM, Bernhard Reiter wrote:
>
>>This is the annoucement of Kai Lessmanns work to
>>make it easier to browse data with the OpenMap Application.
>>
>>The patch be downloaded from:
>> ftp://intevation.de/users/bernhard/openmap/
>>
>>Haven't checked if it still can be applied to openmap 4.3
>>without warnings. It took us a bit to get it published.
>>
>> Bernhard
>>ps.: Send be a carbon-copy of relevant replies as I am not on the
>>openmap-users list most of the time.
>>
>> From the Readme:
>>
>>This patch enhances the OpenMap Application (4.1.1). It adds a menu item to
>>add new layers to the map at runtime interactively. A framework to add any
>>layer type is provided, ShapeLayers in particular are supported.
>>
>>The main work is done in two classes: LayerAddPanel and Inspector, both
>>found
>>in the com.bbn.openmap.gui package. LayerAddPanel adds a menu item to the
>>Layers menu, which triggers a panel for interactively instantiating a Layer
>>object. Inspector queries a new Layer object (actually any PropertyConsumer)
>>through the PropertyConsumer interface to configure it.
>>
>>For details see the javadoc class documentation (might have to be rebuilt
>>(make
>>docs)).
>>
>>
>>--
>>Professional Service around Free Software
>>(intevation.net)
>>The FreeGIS Project
>>(freegis.org)
>>Association for a Free Informational Infrastructure
>>(ffii.org)
>>FSF Europe
>>(fsfeurope.org)
>
>
>

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