General Information

Question (arch-what): What is this project good for?
Answer:

The progress API is good for tracking progress of long lasting tasks in the IDE.

Question (arch-overall): Describe the overall architecture.
Answer:

The module will be autoload. There will be no pluggable extensions. Progress

Question (arch-usecases): Describe the main use cases of the new API. Who will use it under what circumstances? What kind of code would typically need to be written to use the module?
Answer:

Basic usage

There are 3 types of progress indication:

• 1. indefinite when it's not known how much time will be needed to complete
• 2. definite with time estimate for completion (UI shows time that remains)
• 3. definite without time estimate where the UI shows percentage completed.

The default location of the progress indication is the status bar which aggregates all tasks running in the IDE that show progress. However it's possible to exclude the task from the default location and show the progress in one's custom dialog component. In such a case the same task should not appear in the status line component as well.

It's possible to request cancelling the task from status line progress aggregator if the task allows cancelling.

Progress tasks that get started as a result of explicit user action takes precedence in the status line docked component over tasks that are triggered by the system. (say filesystem refresh for example)

The most common usecase of the API looks like this:

ProgressHandle handle = ProgressHandleFactory.creatHandle("My custom task");
...
// we have 100 workunits
// at this point the task appears in status bar.
handle.start(100);
...
handle.progress(10);
...
handle.progress("half way through", 50);
...
handle.progress(99);
// at this point the task is finished and removed from status bar
// it's not realy necessary to count all the way to the limit, finish can be called earlier.
// however it has to be called at the end of the processing.
handle.finish();

Advanced Usage

In case your usage of the API

• spans across multiple independent modules,
• requires adjusting of number of workunits or
• triggers additional action based on the current progress

then you should consider using the aggregating version of APIs which is similar to the simple APIs but has distinctive differences and additions that allow for more complex scenarios.

It allows to compose the progress bar from 1+ independent sources, all sharing proportional piece of the progress bar. Additionally you can monitor the task's overall progress from one central place and possibly add more contributing sources of the progress during processing.

        // let's have a factory for client code that performs some part of the job to be done..
        Lookup.Result res = Lookup.getDefault().lookup(new LookupTemplate(MyWorkerFactory.class));
        Iterator it = res.allInstances().iterator();
        ProgressContributor[] contribs = new ProgressContributor[res.allInstances().size()];
        int i = 0;
        while (it.hasNext()) {
            MyWorkerFactory prov = (MyWorkerFactory)it.next();
            contribs[i] = AggregateProgressFactory.createProgressContributor("Module X contribution");
            MyWorker worker = prov.createWorker(contribs[i]);
            //... snip ... do something with the worker..
            i = i + 1;
        }
        AggregateProgressHandle handle = AggregateProgressFactory.createHandle("My Task", contribs, null, null);
        // non-cancellable and with out output link.
        
        // calling start() at the time when the actual long running task starts processing
        handle.start("here we go");
        // ...snip...
        // now the individual MyWorker instances log their progress.
        // possibly in other threads too..
        // ... snip...
        // 
        if (myConditionThatSpawnsAnotherContributor()) {
            ProgressContributor cont = AggregateProgressFactory.createProgressContributor("Additional exceptional contribution");
            handle.addContributor(cont);
            // ... snip ...
        }
        
        // the task is finished when all the ProgressContributors finish..

Question (arch-time): What are the time estimates of the work?
Answer:

1-1.5 man/month

Question (arch-quality): How will the quality of your code be tested and how are future regressions going to be prevented?
Answer:

There are unit tests of API methods and assertions for proper use of the API.

Question (arch-where): Where one can find sources for your module?
WARNING: Question with id="arch-where" has not been answered!

Project and platform dependencies

Question (dep-nb): What other NetBeans projects and modules does this one depend on?
Answer:

Currently just openide, will also be dependent on module which will provide API for Status Line content. (not in current codebase yet)

Default answer to this question is:


These modules are required in project.xml file:

• UtilitiesAPI - The module is needed for compilation. The module is used during runtime. Specification version 6.2 is required.
• org.openide.awt - The module is needed for compilation. The module is used during runtime. Specification version 6.2 is required.
• DialogsAPI - The module is needed for compilation. The module is used during runtime. Specification version 6.2 is required.
• WindowSystemAPI - The module is needed for compilation. The module is used during runtime. Specification version 6.2 is required.
Question (dep-non-nb): What other projects outside NetBeans does this one depend on?
Answer:

No external dependencies.

Question (dep-platform): On which platforms does your module run? Does it run in the same way on each?
Answer:

Should run everywhere the same. There might be different LookAndFeel for each platform.

Question (dep-jre): Which version of JRE do you need (1.2, 1.3, 1.4, etc.)?
Answer:

1.4+

Question (dep-jrejdk): Do you require the JDK or is the JRE enough?
Answer:

JRE should be enough.

Deployment

Question (deploy-jar): Do you deploy just module JAR file(s) or other files as well?
Answer:

Just the module jar.

Question (deploy-nbm): Can you deploy an NBM via the Update Center?
Answer:

Yes.

Question (deploy-shared): Do you need to be installed in the shared location only, or in the user directory only, or can your module be installed anywhere?
Answer:

Anywhere.

Question (deploy-packages): Are packages of your module made inaccessible by not declaring them public?
Answer:

Yes.

Question (deploy-dependencies): What do other modules need to do to declare a dependency on this one?
Answer:

OpenIDE-Module-Module-Dependencies org.netbeans.api.progress/1 > 1.0

Compatibility with environment

Question (compat-i18n): Is your module correctly internationalized?
Answer:

yes

Question (compat-standards): Does the module implement or define any standards? Is the implementation exact or does it deviate somehow?
Answer:

Not to my knowledge.

Question (compat-version): Can your module coexist with earlier and future versions of itself? Can you correctly read all old settings? Will future versions be able to read your current settings? Can you read or politely ignore settings stored by a future version?
Answer:

There are no settings currently. The API should be backward compatible.

Access to resources

Question (resources-file): Does your module use java.io.File directly?
Answer:

No.

Question (resources-layer): Does your module provide own layer? Does it create any files or folders in it? What it is trying to communicate by that and with which components?
Answer:

No.

Question (resources-read): Does your module read any resources from layers? For what purpose?
Answer:

No.

Question (resources-mask): Does your module mask/hide/override any resources provided by other modules in their layers?
Answer:

No.

Lookup of components

Question (lookup-lookup): Does your module use org.openide.util.Lookup or any similar technology to find any components to communicate with? Which ones?
Answer:

No.

Question (lookup-register): Do you register anything into lookup for other code to find?
Answer:

it will be registered as part of the StatusLine.

Question (lookup-remove): Do you remove entries of other modules from lookup?
Answer:

No.

Execution Environment

Question (exec-property): Is execution of your code influenced by any environment or Java system (System.getProperty) property?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-component): Is execution of your code influenced by any (string) property of any of your components?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-ant-tasks): Do you define or register any ant tasks that other can use?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-classloader): Does your code create its own class loader(s)?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-reflection): Does your code use Java Reflection to execute other code?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-privateaccess): Are you aware of any other parts of the system calling some of your methods by reflection?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-process): Do you execute an external process from your module? How do you ensure that the result is the same on different platforms? Do you parse output? Do you depend on result code?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-introspection): Does your module use any kind of runtime type information (instanceof, work with java.lang.Class, etc.)?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-threading): What threading models, if any, does your module adhere to?
Answer:

The API can be called from any thread. However it is assumed that that the Progress indication starts, then progresses and then at last finishes.

Question (security-policy): Does your functionality require modifications to the standard policy file?
Answer:

No.

Question (security-grant): Does your code grant additional rights to some other code?
Answer:

No.

Format of files and protocols

Question (format-types): Which protocols and file formats (if any) does your module read or write on disk, or transmit or receive over the network? Do you generate an ant build script? Can it be edited and modified?
Answer:

Nothing.

Question (format-dnd): Which protocols (if any) does your code understand during Drag & Drop?
Answer:

No DND.

Question (format-clipboard): Which data flavors (if any) does your code read from or insert to the clipboard (by access to clipboard on means calling methods on java.awt.datatransfer.Transferable?
Answer:

Not applicable.

Performance and Scalability

Question (perf-startup): Does your module run any code on startup?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-exit): Does your module run any code on exit?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-scale): Which external criteria influence the performance of your program (size of file in editor, number of files in menu, in source directory, etc.) and how well your code scales?
Answer:

XXX no answer for perf-scale

Question (perf-limit): Are there any hard-coded or practical limits in the number or size of elements your code can handle?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-mem): How much memory does your component consume? Estimate with a relation to the number of windows, etc.
Answer:

XXX no answer for perf-mem

Question (perf-wakeup): Does any piece of your code wake up periodically and do something even when the system is otherwise idle (no user interaction)?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-progress): Does your module execute any long-running tasks?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-huge_dialogs): Does your module contain any dialogs or wizards with a large number of GUI controls such as combo boxes, lists, trees, or text areas?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-menus): Does your module use dynamically updated context menus, or context-sensitive actions with complicated and slow enablement logic?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-spi): How the performance of the plugged in code will be enforced?
Answer:

Events for the visual component will be collected and related events will be merged upon display.