Overview (NetBeans Windows API) - NetBeans API Javadoc 5.0.0

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Windows API
org.openide.windows	Most parts of the IDE do not manipulate windows directly, but use special top components.

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What is New (see all changes)?

• Oct 31 '05 Added the TopComponent.getHtmlDisplayName, TopComponent.setHtmlDisplayName and WindowManager.topComponentHtmlDisplayNameChanged methods.

  The TopComponent.getHtmlDisplayName and TopComponent.setHtmlDisplayName methods was added to allow TopComponents to have display name that contains html tags differentiated from regular display name. Regular display name should be used for tasks like alphabetical sorting while html display name is used for labels and titles that support html, like editor tabs. WindowManager.topComponentHtmlDisplayNameChanged was also added to let window system implementation know about html display name change.

• Mar 21 '05 Added the TopComponent ability to bring their parent Window to front of other windows.

  The TopComponent class has a new method toFront() that attempts to bring the parent Window of the TopComponent to front of other top-level windows. The method is implemented in the WindowManager class using AWT's java.awt.Window#toFront().

• Nov 17 '04 TopComponent can request attention

  TopComponent.requestAttention(boolean) and TopComponent.cancelRequestAttention added to allow components to signal that they require user's attention or the attention is no longer required. It's up to the current TopComponent container to decide how to attract user's attention. If the user activates the attention-requiring component, the container assumes the goal was achieved and the action is cancelled. The methods are thread-safe.

  For those implementing WindowManager class, there is an incompatible change where abstract methods topComponentCancelRequestAttention(TopComponent) and topComponentRequestAttention(TopComponent) were added.

• Jan 20 '04 Allow association of Lookup with TopComponent later than in constructor.

  Adding TopComponent.associateLookup to allow late (in middle of constructor) association of Lookup with component. This is especially useful in org.openide.explorer.ExplorerUtils.

• Jan 7 '04 Method TopComponent.getPersistenceType() is added to replace usage of client property PersistenceType.

  Method to get TopComponent persistence type is added to API.

Use Cases

   protected void componentDeactivated ()
   {
       // close window group containing propsheet, but only if we're
       // selecting a different kind of TC in the same mode
       boolean closeGroup = true;
       Mode curMode = WindowManager.getDefault().findMode(this);
       TopComponent selected = curMode.getSelectedTopComponent();
       if (selected != null && selected instanceof FooTopComponent)
           closeGroup = false;
             if (closeGroup)
       {
           TopComponentGroup group = WindowManager.getDefault().findTopComponentGroup(TC_GROUP);
           if (group != null)
           {
               group.close();
           }
       }
   }     
    

Exported Interfaces

Implementation Details

What do other modules need to do to declare a dependency on this one?

Read more about the implementation in the answers to architecture questions.