Describes the graphic view, a container for graphic objects to which it provides access.

The graphic view is a container for graphic objects to which it provides access. It is the physical space on the screen where these objects are drawn. In addition to storing the graphic objects created to represent the application data, the graphic view contains configuration and rendering information that is used to translate representation objects into graphic objects.

A graphic view is defined by the IlpGraphicView interface. This interface provides methods to:

Business objects and their representation objects are graphically represented on the screen by means of graphic objects. Graphic objects make it possible for you to create sophisticated, high-quality graphic representations in a flexible way.

Graphic objects are always associated with a representation object and optionally with a representation object attribute. They are created for a specific graphic view and according to the configuration defined for that view.

Graphic object classes can be associated with default graphic settings that can be overwritten at the level of the graphic object instance. These graphic settings are stored as properties which are configured using cascading style sheets. For detailed information, see Introducing cascading style sheets.

The graphic view renderer is responsible for creating the final graphic representation for an object in a certain graphic view. See Graphic view configuration.

The preferred way to create and customize your graphic objects is using cascading style sheets (CSS). Using CSS, you can define IlvGraphic or JComponent objects to draw your representation objects according to the business model information. You can create simple representations such as labels, buttons and icons; or you can create sophisticated graphic objects that are composed of several objects using composite graphics. (See IlvComponentGraphic for more information.)

Rogue Wave® JViews provides a set of convenience graphic objects that you can use directly when defining complex graphic representations:

Graphic object classes

JViews TGO provides all the necessary infrastructure for you to create applications that integrate both predefined business objects and custom business objects.

So that these business objects can be represented virtually in any type of graphic component (whether network, equipment, table, or tree), they are translated into representation objects specific to the graphic component in which they are to be displayed and then converted to graphic objects, ready to draw on the screen.

These graphic objects are defined by the interface IlpGraphic and can be either simple objects or composite ones. Simple graphics, also known as leaf graphics, are made up of a single graphic element, such as a label or an icon. Composite graphics consist of multiple graphic objects, which are grouped together by means of attachment rules.

JViews TGO supplies the following classes to help you create graphic objects and customize them:

A graphic holder is defined by the interface IlpGraphicHolder. It is responsible for storing the graphic objects created for a given graphic view. Note that in simple cases where graphic objects can be recreated when needed, it may not be necessary to store them in a graphic holder.

When creating a graphic view, you can use one of the following convenience implementations of IlpGraphicHolder.

JViews TGO provides support to customize the graphic representation of the objects in the different graphic components, and of the graphic components themselves by means of cascading style sheets (CSS). For details, refer to:

You can load the CSS file in the graphic view using the method setStyleSheets. The CSS is dynamically interpreted, which means that there is no need to rerun the application after changes. Once your style sheets are set, all objects currently visible in the graphic view are redecorated accordingly. For details, see Introducing cascading style sheets.