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The Node API now allows a node not to be displayed without expand handles, if it currently has no children (see #23720). This enhancement is not yet used in the Looks API (org.netbeans.api.looks), but IMHO it should. I've set the priority to P1 because it seems that this enhancement is necessary for production use of the Looks API. The handles are too bewildering for users.
My proposal is: Add a method "boolean Look.knownToHaveNoChilds(Look.NodeSubstitute)" (returns "false" in DefaultLook). The look node calls this method. Whenever the method returns "true", the handle is not drawn.
There is already isLeaf(Look.NodeSubstitute); it works fine for most cases. The only case where you need a special API is when it can be quickly determined that a parent currently has no children, yet it is possible that it may later get children. This is true e.g. of displayed XML files: if you have a DOM tree already and are showing a node for some element with no content, you want to suppress the expand handle, yet permit it to be added later if a subelement is added.
Whay applies to XML applies even more to the MDR explorer and similar apps. Here the handles on empty nodes are *very* announing !
Implemented in current looks version - openide/looks