Magercise 5 - Help: The StickFigure Bean with BeanInfo Support

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[Magercise 5 | API Docs | Short Course | Magercises]

Help is available for each task.

Task 1

The first step is to create a working directory somewhere on your filesystem, hereafter referred to as workingdir.

To avoid confusion, create a new directory instead of using an existing directory that has existing/other files.

Task 2

Next, create the directory stickfigure (all lowercase characters) directly under workingdir.

To avoid subsequent confusion, create and verify that the directory name contains all lowercase characters. The directory stickfigure will house the StickFigure-related classes, which belong to the stickfigure package. The package and directory names must match exactly, and in some Bean-aware environments, they must be lowercase.

Task 3

Next, (1) save all the skeleton files, except the *.java files and GIF file, within workingdir and (2) save the *.java skeleton files and GIF file within stickfigure, that is, within workingdir/stickfigure.

Actually, the GIF file could be anywhere, but it is customary to locate it within the package directory, in this case, stickfigure.

Task 4

The next, and primary, task is to specify an icon for the StickFigure Bean. To do this, you must provide a bean-info class. In this case, start with the skeleton class definition in StickFigureBeanInfo.java. Implement a getIcon() method; see the JDK documentation, in particular, the BeanInfo interface and the SimpleBeanInfo class.

This is a very simple task, requiring approximately three lines of code. Basically, getIcon() simply invokes loadImage(), specifying stickfigure.gif as the argument.

Task 5

Compile all Java source files, *.java, from workingdir by including the stickfigure directory in the path specification.

From a command window type (excluding the prompt):

C:\workingdir>javac stickfigure\*.java   [DOS] or
/workingdir>javac stickfigure/*.java     [UNIX]

An alternative approach, if you prefer graphical tools, is to build the stickfigure package within your Java development environment.

Verify that StickFigure.class, StickFigureEvent.class, and StickFigureListener.class exist within the stickfigure directory by typing (excluding the prompt):

C:\workingdir>dir stickfigure
10/14/98  04:05p  <DIR>       .
10/14/98  04:05p  <DIR>       ..
10/14/98  04:10p        7,082 StickFigure.class
09/25/98  05:57a          912 stickfigure.gif
10/14/98  02:39p        8,176 StickFigure.java
10/14/98  04:10p          438 StickFigureBeanInfo.class
10/14/98  04:05p          213 StickFigureBeanInfo.java
10/14/98  04:10p          956 StickFigureEvent.class
10/01/98  09:25p          831 StickFigureEvent.java
10/14/98  04:10p          298 StickFigureListener.class
10/01/98  09:27p          191 StickFigureListener.java
              11 File(s)         19,097 bytes

Task 6

Build StickFigure.jar from workingdir by executing the file MakeStickFigureJar.bat (Windows) or MakeStickFigureJar.sh (UNIX).

From a command window type (excluding the prompt):

C:\workingdir>MakeStickFigureJar
jar cvmf stickfigure.txt StickFigure.jar
 stickfigure\*.class stickfigure\*.gif
adding: stickfigure/StickFigure.class (in=7082)
 (out=3195) (deflated 54%)
adding: stickfigure/StickFigureBeanInfo.class (in=438)
 (out=299) (deflated 31%)
adding: stickfigure/StickFigureEvent.class (in=956)
 (out=497) (deflated 48%)
adding: stickfigure/StickFigureListener.class (in=298)
 (out=214) (deflated 28%)
adding: stickfigure/stickfigure.gif (in=912) (out=567)
 (deflated 37%)

Task 7

Next, load the StickFigure Bean into the BeanBox (or a comparable tool) using "LoadJar..." from the BeanBox "File" menu.

Start up the BeanBox, select "LoadJar..." from the BeanBox "File" menu, and then navigate to your workingdir and open/load StickFigure.jar.

Task 8

Lastly, note the icon for the StickFigure Bean. In upcoming Magercises, the bean-info class will specify a custom property editor for the "mood" property, as well as a customizer class for the StickFigure Bean.

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