JavaTM 2 Platform
Std. Ed. v1.4.1

java.beans
Class FeatureDescriptor

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--java.beans.FeatureDescriptor
Direct Known Subclasses:
BeanDescriptor, EventSetDescriptor, MethodDescriptor, ParameterDescriptor, PropertyDescriptor

public class FeatureDescriptor
extends Object

The FeatureDescriptor class is the common baseclass for PropertyDescriptor, EventSetDescriptor, and MethodDescriptor, etc.

It supports some common information that can be set and retrieved for any of the introspection descriptors.

In addition it provides an extension mechanism so that arbitrary attribute/value pairs can be associated with a design feature.


Constructor Summary
FeatureDescriptor()
          Constructs a FeatureDescriptor.
 
Method Summary
 Enumeration attributeNames()
          Gets an enumeration of the locale-independent names of this feature.
 String getDisplayName()
          Gets the localized display name of this feature.
 String getName()
          Gets the programmatic name of this feature.
 String getShortDescription()
          Gets the short description of this feature.
 Object getValue(String attributeName)
          Retrieve a named attribute with this feature.
 boolean isExpert()
          The "expert" flag is used to distinguish between those features that are intended for expert users from those that are intended for normal users.
 boolean isHidden()
          The "hidden" flag is used to identify features that are intended only for tool use, and which should not be exposed to humans.
 boolean isPreferred()
          The "preferred" flag is used to identify features that are particularly important for presenting to humans.
 void setDisplayName(String displayName)
          Sets the localized display name of this feature.
 void setExpert(boolean expert)
          The "expert" flag is used to distinguish between features that are intended for expert users from those that are intended for normal users.
 void setHidden(boolean hidden)
          The "hidden" flag is used to identify features that are intended only for tool use, and which should not be exposed to humans.
 void setName(String name)
          Sets the programmatic name of this feature.
 void setPreferred(boolean preferred)
          The "preferred" flag is used to identify features that are particularly important for presenting to humans.
 void setShortDescription(String text)
          You can associate a short descriptive string with a feature.
 void setValue(String attributeName, Object value)
          Associate a named attribute with this feature.
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
 

Constructor Detail

FeatureDescriptor

public FeatureDescriptor()
Constructs a FeatureDescriptor.

Method Detail

getName

public String getName()
Gets the programmatic name of this feature.

Returns:
The programmatic name of the property/method/event

setName

public void setName(String name)
Sets the programmatic name of this feature.

Parameters:
name - The programmatic name of the property/method/event

getDisplayName

public String getDisplayName()
Gets the localized display name of this feature.

Returns:
The localized display name for the property/method/event. This defaults to the same as its programmatic name from getName.

setDisplayName

public void setDisplayName(String displayName)
Sets the localized display name of this feature.

Parameters:
displayName - The localized display name for the property/method/event.

isExpert

public boolean isExpert()
The "expert" flag is used to distinguish between those features that are intended for expert users from those that are intended for normal users.

Returns:
True if this feature is intended for use by experts only.

setExpert

public void setExpert(boolean expert)
The "expert" flag is used to distinguish between features that are intended for expert users from those that are intended for normal users.

Parameters:
expert - True if this feature is intended for use by experts only.

isHidden

public boolean isHidden()
The "hidden" flag is used to identify features that are intended only for tool use, and which should not be exposed to humans.

Returns:
True if this feature should be hidden from human users.

setHidden

public void setHidden(boolean hidden)
The "hidden" flag is used to identify features that are intended only for tool use, and which should not be exposed to humans.

Parameters:
hidden - True if this feature should be hidden from human users.

isPreferred

public boolean isPreferred()
The "preferred" flag is used to identify features that are particularly important for presenting to humans.

Returns:
True if this feature should be preferentially shown to human users.

setPreferred

public void setPreferred(boolean preferred)
The "preferred" flag is used to identify features that are particularly important for presenting to humans.

Parameters:
preferred - True if this feature should be preferentially shown to human users.

getShortDescription

public String getShortDescription()
Gets the short description of this feature.

Returns:
A localized short description associated with this property/method/event. This defaults to be the display name.

setShortDescription

public void setShortDescription(String text)
You can associate a short descriptive string with a feature. Normally these descriptive strings should be less than about 40 characters.

Parameters:
text - A (localized) short description to be associated with this property/method/event.

setValue

public void setValue(String attributeName,
                     Object value)
Associate a named attribute with this feature.

Parameters:
attributeName - The locale-independent name of the attribute
value - The value.

getValue

public Object getValue(String attributeName)
Retrieve a named attribute with this feature.

Parameters:
attributeName - The locale-independent name of the attribute
Returns:
The value of the attribute. May be null if the attribute is unknown.

attributeNames

public Enumeration attributeNames()
Gets an enumeration of the locale-independent names of this feature.

Returns:
An enumeration of the locale-independent names of any attributes that have been registered with setValue.

JavaTM 2 Platform
Std. Ed. v1.4.1

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For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java 2 SDK SE Developer Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.

Copyright 2002 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Use is subject to license terms.