The CSV Editor - The Beginning

-

What am I doing..? 

What began as a process to learn JavaFX has turned into a lengthy, mistake-driven, process. I have learnt a lot and gained an appreciation for creating something which has value and at the same time provides a pathway for learning.

CSV Editor - the starting point

It seemed a simple idea. Build a CSV Editor in JavaFX. 

I started by looking for an example and soon found this remarkable free tool CSVed. This editor did everything and much more. There isn't a feature that isn't covered by this tool and its long revision history ( dating back to 2008 !!! ) is a testament to software endurance.

I decided I wouldn't be as bold. 

I would play it safe, set the features small, and climb the software ladder one step at a time. I had years of Java experience but my JavaFX experience was minimal. 

The Features

So, using my loved Modelling tool, Sparx Enterprise Architect from Sparx Systems, I mapped out my main features. And so began a journey of rabbit holes, broken dreams and minor successes. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vaadin - GRID Component

-
Image
Introduction Vaadin 7.4 was recently released and it includes a new component called the GRID . It represents a 'Spreadsheet" type model from a UI perspective, however I think it lacks a lot of features you would expect from this type of component. Maybe this component will evolve over time and it will begin to have the functions that you expect from a spreadsheet. ( note: there is a commercial add on called the Spreadsheet from Vaadin ) Use Case The use case I am demonstrating below is a simple grid showing projected sales of Widgets over a five year period. Creation Creating a Grid is very simple and you have numerous options for sizing on the page. In the example below I setting it across the page. The Grid rows can be selected for editing, you can select single or multiple rows in a single action. myGrid = new Grid(); myGrid.setSizeFull(); myGrid.setSelectionMode(SelectionMode.SINGLE); Container Backing Similar to many other Vaadin componen...
Read more

Connecting a Vaadin SQL Container to a Combo Box

-
It must be me. But I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to connect a database table implemented as a Vaadin SQL Container to a Vaadin Combo Box. It seems such a simple concept. Anyway, here was my requirement. I needed a combo box to contain a list of Australia suburbs. The user would select a suburb which would filter the results in a table on the screen. My database table was very simple. A id field ( which was the primary key ) and a name field which contained the suburb name. The code for the SQL Container was simple. TableQuery q = new TableQuery("suburb", connectionPool); suburbContainer = new SQLContainer(q); Now code to establish the combo box and links to the SQL Container.   ComboBox suburbCB = new ComboBox();  suburbCB.addItem("");  suburbCB.setCaption("Filter by Suburb");  suburbCB.setContainerDataSource(app.getDatabase().loadSuburbs());  suburbCB.setItemCaptionPropertyId("name");  suburbCB.setItemC...
Read more

Vaadin and Google Maps

-
Vaadin and a Google Map Widget One of my major irritations with Vaadin has been its lack of support for Google Maps as a standard widget. The reality is that many commercial applications require some form of mapping feature and the lack of support for a standard Google Map widget has been a major problem. However this has changed with Version 7.x of Vaadin, a new Google Map Addon has appeared and it fills a very important gap in the Vaadin feature set. How to Use It. If you use Maven in your development process then using the Addon in your Vaadin project is very easy. Just place this dependency in your POM file and make sure you have the correct repository established for the Vaadin Add On's. <dependency>    <groupId>com.vaadin.tapio</groupId>    <artifactId>googlemaps</artifactId>    <version>0.6.2</version> </dependency> Here is some simple code to get you started. It creates a Googl...
Read more