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Excerpts from brainstorming notes related to SMNDesignView

For more information on SMN see SMN on Anandavala.

I am exploring the idea of developing a Netbeans 6.0 module, either as a plugin or as a rich-client application.

Things to consider:

I need a good vision of what I am building before I start designing it.

What is it that the SMN functionality seeks to provide the application user? What will people want the whole application or plugin to do?

What sorts of things will people want to be able to do with the GUI and with the model and with the simulation space itself via the GUI? How best can the GUI facilitate this?

If developed as a plugin then how will the SMN functionality be integrated into the rest of Netbeans?

If developed as a rich-client application then how will it come together as a single whole application?

How best to implement the matrix itself? As some kind of table? It needs to be programmatically controlled and not set in the code – we may want more or less rows or columns, we may want different types of elements altogether (e.g. instead of text fields they are buttons perhaps).

The matrix-view is a small window that allows for detailed access, but for large models we need a lower resolution but broader scope view, we could have subsystem / supersystem viewing levels for the matrix. One could view systems at the atomic scale, or as a single whole system, or at many different levels between these. The designer can click on systems (either by row, column, vector element or rowOp) and choose to collapse all sibling subsystem and show only their supersystem. Or they can drill into a supersystem and show all or selected subsystems.

The state vector needs to be represented somehow in the matrix-view so that the system designer can visualise the current state of the model. The multiple system viewing levels apply to the state vector as well.

Whether an SM or an SV element, at each level there is some screen graphic to represent it to the designer. If the element is an atomic system it shows a text field to display and edit the data. If it is a conceptual system then there is an icon that displays the subsystems as small squares within the element.

When the designer double-clicks on an element they drill into the system and reveal all subsystems. There is also a right-click option on elements that brings up a dialogue box for selecting which subsystems to show.

The main interface is a matrix-view into the SMN model so some kind of table UI is required, for example a JTable from Java.

The article at (http://www.codeguru.com/java/articles/162.shtml) describes how to create a JTable where the cells can be any Jcomponent.

A JTable “is meant to be placed in a JscrollPane.”

“Each JTable has three models: a TableModel, TableColumnModel, and ListSelectionModel. All table data is stored in a TableModel, normally in a 2-dimensional structure such as a 2D array or a Vector of Vectors. TableModel implementations specify how this data is stored, as well as manage the addition, manipulation, and retrieval of this data. ”

Perhaps the SystemMatrix can be concepualised as a TableModel and accessed via a JTable.

From the JTable entry of the Swing documentation at (http://java.sun.com/developer/Books/swing2/chapter18-01.html).

“18.1.2 The TableModel Interface

abstract interface javax.swing.table.TableModel

Instances of TableModel are responsible for storing a table's data in a 2-dimensional structure such as a 2-dimensional array or a vector of vectors. A set of methods is declared for use in retrieving data from a table's cells. The getValueAt() method should retrieve data from a given row and column index as an Object, and setValueAt() should assign the provided data object to the specified location (if valid). getColumnClass() should return the Class describing the data objects stored in the specified column (used to assign a default renderer and editor for that column), and getColumnName() should return the String name associated with the specified column (often used for that column's header). The getColumnCount() and getRowCount() methods should return the number of contained columns and rows respectively.

Note: The getRowCount() is called frequently by JTable for display purposes and should be designed with efficiency in mind because of this.

The isCellEditable() method should return true if the cell at the given row and column index can be edited. The setValueAt() method should be designed so that if isCellEditable() returns false, the object at the given location will not be updated.

This model supports the attachment of TableModelListeners (see below) which should be notified about changes to this model's data. As expected, methods for adding and removing these listeners are provided, addTableModelListener() and removeTableModelListener(), and implementations are responsible for dispatching TableModelEvents to those registered.

Each JTable uses one TableModel instance which can be assigned/retrieved using JTable's setModel() and getModel() methods respectively.”

I could use a JTable as a view into the system matrix and place into that view either standard table cells (data input / output) for atomic systems OR icons for conceptual system interfaces. For the state vector the cells can be either atomic data OR icons for conceptual system states. The rowOps are actually 'vSystem” objects, they are either simple data OR icons for operations that are defined elsewhere.

Some examples, all integer or double numerical data and summation operator, all strings and concatenation operator, conceptual systems with corresponding icons or a mixture of these.

The user can drag and drop columns around the place to rearrange the view, the corresponding row, rowOp and state vector element is moved as well. The columns are the only means by which the designer can rearrange the systems in the view.

I found some great code examples for tables with all kinds of useful enhancements like groupable rows and columns and so on... (http://www.crionics.com/products/opensource/faq/swing_ex/SwingExamples.html)

Some useful table extensions may be:

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