Overview (I/O APIs) - NetBeans API Javadoc (Current Development Version)

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          Description

I/O APIs
org.openide.windows	Interfaces for working with input/output tabs.

InputOutputAPI

Just an API/SPI for defining the output window.

What is New (see all changes)?

• Jul 19 '06 No need to require IOProvider token anymore

  If your module depends on org.openide.io > 1.11 or higher there is no need to specify that it also requires an implementation of the API by use of OpenIDE-Module-Requires: org.openide.windows.IOProvider, this token will be requested automatically by the org.openide.io module itself.

• Jan 12 '05 Added API to add actions to output's toolbar

  Added an additional method InputOutput getIO(String name, Action[] additionalActions) that accepts additional array of javax.swing.Action instances. It allows to define domain-specific additional actions that can be performed on the content of the output.

  The method should be ideally abstract but because it's uncertain how many implementations of IOProvider are there, the method is non-abstract and in it's default impl, delegates to the InputOutput getIO(String name, boolean newIO) method. Implementors of the class are encourages to implement the new method.

• Nov 11 '04 Added API to mark OutputListeners a important

  Added an additional method OutputWriter.println(String, OutputListener, boolean) that accepts additional boolean parameter (is Important or not). It allows the API users to mark the line and it's listener as important. Such a line can be marked in different color, the output can stop there to draw user's attention etc.

  The method should be ideally abstract but because it's uncertain how many implementations are there, the method is non-abstract and in it's default impl, delegates to the OutputWriter.println(String, OutputListener) method, ignoring the boolean parameter. Implementors of the class are encourages to implement the new method.

Use Cases

InputOutput io = IOProvider.getDefault().getIO("My Window", true);
io.select();
OutputWriter w = io.getOut();
w.println("Line of plain text.");
OutputListener listener = new OutputListener() {
    public void outputLineAction(OutputEvent ev) {
        StatusDisplayer.getDefault().setStatusText("Hyperlink clicked!");
    }
    public void outputLineSelected(OutputEvent ev) {
        // Let's not do anything special.
    }
    public void outputLineCleared(OutputEvent ev) {
        // Leave it blank, no state to remove.
    }
};
w.println("Line of hyperlinked text.", listener, true);

Exported Interfaces

Implementation Details

What do other modules need to do to declare a dependency on this one, in addition to or instead of a plain module dependency?

You will very likely also want to declare

OpenIDE-Module-Requires: org.openide.windows.IOProvider

to ensure that an Output Window implementation is in fact enabled.

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