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Bug 2678 - Could provide useful context help for standard GUI components.
Summary: Could provide useful context help for standard GUI components.
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: usersguide
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Code (show other bugs)
Version: 3.x
Hardware: All All
: P3 enhancement (vote)
Assignee: AlyonaStashkova
URL:
Keywords:
: 22826 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 1999-07-22 21:45 UTC by Jesse Glick
Modified: 2012-06-13 13:50 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Issue Type: ENHANCEMENT
Exception Reporter:


Attachments

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Description Jesse Glick 1999-07-22 21:45:45 UTC
Would be possible to collect a list of all AWT/Swing classes (incl. layouts and borders) used in the Component Palette by default; then in util.SwingBeanInfos or util.Utilities, for each such class,
 modify its returned BeanInfo so that it has a BeanDescriptor and that descriptor specifies a helpID string, which should be the same as the fully-qualified class name.

Then, in the user`s guide, create a special JDK map that would collect all such and map them like this:

javax.swing.JLabel -> http://localhost:8081/repository/javax/swing/JLabel.html

Now anyone who has a copy of the JDK docs mounted in their Repository will be able to hit F1 on any component in the Component Palette or Component Inspector and immediately get the Javadoc for that c
omponent class, which is pretty cool. At least people using Pro/Enterprise would normally have the JDK mounted, and people with just Entry could do it too, since the HTTP server is included in Entry a

nd this functionality works.

It is also necessary of course that the web server be running and set to port 8081 (the default).

[Ian suggests] Rather than pointing to the JavaDoc, instead point to the Swing tutorials on Sun`s site.
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/components/index.html
http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/docs/api/java/awt/package-summary.html
Components should be all in Component Palette, plus form containers, plus menu items of various sorts. See FormEditorModule for a shortcut for the first part.

[later] Not clear where to do this. Form Editor module, just on RADComponentNode and ComponentPaletteItem? com.netbeans.developer.impl.beaninfos? Utilities.getBeanInfo (which the Form Editor does not
call, to its detriment)?

[later still] Utilities.getBeanInfo should now be in use.

[later yet] The correct IDs are now being produced, need only to map them -> Patrick.
Comment 1 Jan Zajicek 2001-01-23 09:31:59 UTC
Automated change of version from Other to Dev.
Comment 2 Jan Chalupa 2001-05-06 15:16:01 UTC
Target milestone -> 3.3
Comment 3 Patrick Keegan 2001-10-05 22:10:15 UTC
Closing this issue as "Remind". In the old days when this Enhancement 
was requested, help was displayed through the IceBrowser, not 
JEditorPane. Currently, the help system displays no outside links. 
This bears reconsidering if it becomes possible to open up the user's 
preferred web browser from a link clicked in the help window.

cc'ing Brenda Bowden who writes the Form Editor docs.
Comment 4 Jesse Glick 2001-10-06 16:07:34 UTC
Clarification: you *can* display outside links from the JavaHelp
browser, assuming the proxy is set correctly, however rendering
quality may not be acceptable (and the browser is not selectable).
Anyway linking to network resources without some warning is always
dubious; the original suggestion was actually to link to local JDK API
documentation which would not make a network connection (but you
cannot be assured that the user in fact has JDK documentation mounted
in Javadoc/).
Comment 5 Quality Engineering 2003-07-01 15:22:04 UTC
Resolved for 3.3.x or earlier, no new info since then -> closing.
Comment 6 Quality Engineering 2003-07-01 15:24:36 UTC
Resolved for 3.4.x or earlier, no new info since then -> closing.
Comment 7 Patrick Keegan 2003-07-10 13:52:01 UTC
Reopening. I don't know when we'll get around to something like this,
but it is worth keeping in mind for the future.
Comment 8 Irina Filippova 2010-02-17 10:58:58 UTC
It is useful to keep this issue for future consideration. However, setting the target milestone value as tbd as this type of work is out of scope for the next release.
Comment 9 Kenneth Ganfield 2011-11-24 11:31:35 UTC
reassigning to alyona for evaluation
Comment 10 Jeffrey Rubinoff 2011-11-24 12:32:55 UTC
Adding Patrick because I think his comment is at the end and maybe he remembers something about this. Don't know if he remembers much of a bug from 1999. I believe in some jurisdictions this bug could be legally married.
Comment 11 Patrick Keegan 2011-11-24 13:18:16 UTC
A few disjointed thoughts:

*Help for each component would be useful, if only to point out things that users are mostly likely to need to fiddle with, e.g. the model property for lists and tables, and to help them understand the GUI editor way of doing things (e.g working with the Properties window to generate setters, understanding guarded blocks) versus hand-coding. There are a ton of properties for each component, so it can be overwhelming for newbies trying to do common things. The tooltips help somewhat but are probably most valuable for people who are already oriented. 

*The help for the palette and the design view point back to general GUI editor topics. I think it's possible to point to more specific topics depending on which component is selected (especially in the palette). We just never got around to writing those topics.

*Writing specialized help for each component would be a pretty significant undertaking, though significantly less daunting for someone versed in both the Swing Tutorial and NetBeans. Another possibility would be do simple intro topics for each component and then link off to the appropriate part of the Swing tutorial from that topic.

*Quick fix: the context-sensitive topics on the palette and the design view could use links to the Java Tutorial. I can't believe that we haven't already done that (as I point an accusing finger at myself).

*It also might be worth noting in those topics that, in the source view, you can right-click a class or method name and choose Show Javadoc to get the API docs for that element.
Comment 12 AlyonaStashkova 2011-11-28 10:34:03 UTC
Jeff, thank you for adding Patrick!

Patrick, thank you for useful thoughts!

The quick fix approach make sense to me.

Setting the target milestone to 7.2.
Comment 13 AlyonaStashkova 2012-04-09 09:48:47 UTC
Added a link pointing to Swing components specific info in the Java Tutorial (http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/components/index.html) to the csh topics on the Palette (Palette Window) and the Design view (Designing Java GUIs with the GUI Builder)
https://hg.netbeans.org/main/rev/18d66f6b197c
Comment 14 AlyonaStashkova 2012-04-13 10:09:47 UTC
added links work, verified using Build 201204120400
Comment 15 AlyonaStashkova 2012-06-13 13:50:21 UTC
*** Bug 22826 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***