UIParameter

UIParameters are parameters that are communicated to a ConfigurablePanel at the start of EMU or after saving a configuration. They are of different types:

UIParameter types	Type	Example use
BoolUIParameter	Boolean value	enable/disable a button hide/show a JPanel default value for a JComponent
ColorUIParameter	Color object	title color button color
ComboUIParameter	String value from a known array	default value of a JComboBox choice between several options
DoubleUIParameter	Double value	set an attribute value
IntegerUIParameter	Integer value	set an attribute value
StringUIParameter	String value	title or text comma separated values
UIPropertyUIParameter	String label of a UIProperty	to be able to query another UIProperty

In the configuration wizard, BoolUIParameter appear as a checkbox. The ColorUIParameter are rendered as a drop down list with the available colors and the ComboUIParameter as a drop down list with the choices passed as parameter during their instantiation. Finally, all the other UIParameters appear as a text field.

Declaring a UIParameter

private final String PARAM_KEY = "MyParameter";

@Override
protected void initializeParameters() {
    boolean default_val = true;
    addUIParameter(new BoolUIParameter(this, PARAM_BOOL, "Description.", default_val));
}

Naming conventions

If two UIParameters have the same label and the same type (e.g. IntegerUIParameter), then the first one is substituted in the second’s ConfigurablePanel. Only a single entry will appear in the configuration wizard table and will affect both ConfigurablePanels.

If the two have different types, then the second encountered UIParameter is discarded.

Implementing parameterhasChanged()

The parameterhasChanged(…) method is called upon configuration of the plugin. There, you can retrieve the new value of the parameter and use it to modify accordingly the ConfigurablePanel.

@Override
protected void parameterhasChanged(String parameterName) {
    if(PARAM_KEY.equals(parameterName))  {
        // retrieve the value of the UIParameter
        try {
			boolean newvalue = getBoolUIParameterValue(PARAM_BOOL);
            
            // Do something with the value
		} catch (IncorrectUIParameterTypeException | UnknownUIParameterException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
    }
}

The ConfigurablePanel class has the following methods to retrieve parameter values:

public boolean getBoolUIParameterValue(String PARAMETER_KEY);
public Color getColorUIParameterValue(String PARAMETER_KEY); 
public double getDoubleUIParameterValue(String PARAMETER_KEY); 
public int getIntegerUIParameterValue(String PARAMETER_KEY); 

// For StringUIParameter, ComboUIParameter and UIPropertyUIParameter
// (note that it would work for any UIParameter)
public String getStringUIParameterValue(String PARAMETER_KEY);

Note that these methods can throw an UnknownUIParameterException and/or an IncorrectUIParameterTypeException in case the PARAMETER_KEY is unknown or of the wrong type (therefore the method cannot return anything).

In general, parameters will update a JComponent. Snippets of code are available in the JComponent chapter or in the next section.

Examples

All examples are available in the source folder.

• Enable/disable a component using a BoolUIParameter
• Hide/show a panel using a BoolUIParameter
• Change the color of border title using a ColorUIParameter
• Select a default JComboBox element using a ComboUIParameter
• Set a double value using a DoubleUIParameter
• Set an integer value using an IntegerUIParameter
• Change a border title using a StringUIParameter
• Change a button text using a StringUIParameter
• Use a StringUIParameter to change multiple colors or texts

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