Adding a manager frame

Explains how to add and customize a frame around the objects in a nested manager.

Explains how to define a frame around the objects in a nested manager and how to set the margins.

Explains how to use the default frame around the objects in a nested manager.

Describes the behavior of the constant mode frame, which you can use instead of the default frame.

When a manager is nested, a frame can be drawn around the objects it contains.

A default frame is provided when you create a nested manager; the default frame is defined by the class IlvDefaultManagerFrame.

The frame around a nested manager is defined by the interface IlvManagerFrame. The IlvManagerFrame interface defines the margin that will be added around the manager. It defines how the frame is drawn and how hit testing on the frame is performed.

To specify the frame that must be drawn around the manager, you use the following methods of the IlvManager class:

Note that you can remove the frame from the manager using the setFrame method with a null parameter.

Defining the margins

The following methods of the IlvManagerFrame interface define the margins that are added around the manager:

Drawing the default frame

The IlvManagerFrame interface provides a method to draw the frame:

void draw(IlvManager manager, IlvRect bbox, Graphics g, IlvTransformer t)

This method provides the manager with its bounding box in the view coordinate system that already takes the margins into account. The IlvDefaultManagerFrame fills the background and makes a border around the manager. This class also puts a title at the top of the manager that corresponds to the name of the manager, as you can see in Manager frame margins.

If the frame implementation fills the background of the manager, the frame is an opaque frame and the following method must return true:

The IlvDefaultManagerFrame object can be opaque or transparent.

If the frame is opaque, graphic objects under the nested manager are hidden. This disallows manipulation of these graphic objects.

If the frame is transparent, graphic objects under the nested manager are visible. This allows manipulation of the graphic objects, whether covered by the frame or not.

To allow hit testing on the frame, the interface provides the contains method:

boolean contains(IlvManager manager, IlvPoint p, IlvPoint tp, IlvTransformer t)

If the frame is transparent, this method must return true for a possible border and not for the background.

Saving the frame to an IVL file

To be able to save the frame to an IVL file, the implementation must be a public class that also implements the IlvPersistentObject interface.

To be able to copy a manager that has a frame, the frame must implement the copy method of the interface in such a way that it creates a clone of the frame:

Instead of the IlvDefaultManagerFrame, you can use the IlvConstantModeManagerFrame, a manager frame supplied with Rogue Wave JViews that handles the resize event automatically when a user reshapes a submanager. IlvConstantModeManagerFrame keeps the zoom level of the submanager unchanged by adjusting the frame margins to match the required size.

A submanager with the IlvConstantModeManagerFrame frame set has the following behavior:

The frame reacts to the IlvManager.moveResize() method but not IlvManager.applyTransform(). Call IlvManager.applyTransform() to apply a specific transformation only.

While reshaping the submanager by dragging a handle, the margin next to the handle is adjusted first. If this margin is reduced to zero, the margin on the other side of the frame is adjusted.

When both left and right margins of a IlvConstantModeManagerFrame object become zero, the submanager stops the reshape operation.

IlvConstantModeManagerFrame objects listens for submanager or grapher content changes. When the bounding box of the submanager grows, in order to keep the global bounding box constant the frame first tries to reduce margins.