diff options
author | toma <toma@283d02a7-25f6-0310-bc7c-ecb5cbfe19da> | 2009-11-25 17:56:58 +0000 |
---|---|---|
committer | toma <toma@283d02a7-25f6-0310-bc7c-ecb5cbfe19da> | 2009-11-25 17:56:58 +0000 |
commit | 114a878c64ce6f8223cfd22d76a20eb16d177e5e (patch) | |
tree | acaf47eb0fa12142d3896416a69e74cbf5a72242 /lib/widgets/propeditor/Mainpage.dox | |
download | tdevelop-114a878c64ce6f8223cfd22d76a20eb16d177e5e.tar.gz tdevelop-114a878c64ce6f8223cfd22d76a20eb16d177e5e.zip |
Copy the KDE 3.5 branch to branches/trinity for new KDE 3.5 features.
BUG:215923
git-svn-id: svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/branches/trinity/kdevelop@1054174 283d02a7-25f6-0310-bc7c-ecb5cbfe19da
Diffstat (limited to 'lib/widgets/propeditor/Mainpage.dox')
-rw-r--r-- | lib/widgets/propeditor/Mainpage.dox | 116 |
1 files changed, 116 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/lib/widgets/propeditor/Mainpage.dox b/lib/widgets/propeditor/Mainpage.dox new file mode 100644 index 00000000..6bc81be0 --- /dev/null +++ b/lib/widgets/propeditor/Mainpage.dox @@ -0,0 +1,116 @@ +/** +@mainpage The KDevelop Property Editing Library + +<b>Link with</b>: -lkdevelop + +<b>Include path</b>: -I\$(kde_includes)/kdevelop/propeditor + + +\section whatis What is Property Editor? + +%Property editor is a collection of facilities to store and edit the +properties of an object. For example, look at %Qt Designer. Each widget +has a list of properties that can be edited in a nice table form. +Same ideology is used to edit properties in Kugar Report Designer +(from KOffice distribution). In KDevelop project manager can also display +the properties of currently selected build item in property editor. + +\section over Library Overview + +This PropertyEditor library is a redesign of Kugar property editing library +with the goal to be more generic and extensible. + +Library provides a @ref PropertyLib::Property class which stores property name, value and some +more important information like description or the list of possible values. +Using @ref PropertyLib::Property class adds more overhead over Q_PROPERTY but provides more +flexibility. You can subclass @ref PropertyLib::Property and create your custom properties. +Custom properties can have either predefined type (see @ref PropertyLib::Property::PropertyType) or +custom type. Custom type should be used if a custom property editor widget is +necessary. + +Properties are organized into lists. @ref PropertyLib::PropertyList is designed +to store such lists in most efficient manner. It also allows to group +properties (for example think about "geometrical" properties like "x", "y", etc.). + +Property lists can be displayed in @ref PropertyLib::PropertyEditor widget which will +display them in a table form. @ref PropertyLib::PropertyEditor takes a pointer to a @ref PropertyLib::PropertyList object so @ref PropertyLib::PropertyBuffer can be used too. + +@ref PropertyLib::PropertyBuffer is designed to provide a method to access an intersection +of property lists. For example, let's consider object A with property list a_list +abd object B with list b_list. Now let's imagine we want to display common properties +from a_list and b_list in one @ref PropertyLib::PropertyEditor widget. Obviously, we need to +"intersect" a_list with b_list and display the result of intersection. +This is why @ref PropertyLib::PropertyBuffer is used for editing. If we change +the value of a property in the editor, @ref PropertyLib::PropertyBuffer will update +both properties from underlying a_list and b_list. + +@ref PropertyLib::PropertyEditor at the same time shows only one editor for selected +property in the list. Each @ref PropertyLib::Property::PropertyType has corresponding @ref PropertyLib::PropertyWidget +which displays property editor or draws a property in the list if it is not edited. +More exactly, if @ref PropertyLib::PropertyEditor needs to display editor widget, it displays +@ref PropertyLib::PropertyWidget, else it calls @ref PropertyLib::PropertyWidget::drawViewer function. +Custom property widgets should be subclasses of @ref PropertyLib::PropertyWidget. + +To create property widgets at runtime, a factory is used. Factory class is +called @ref PropertyLib::PropertyMachineFactory. Static function @ref PropertyLib::PropertyMachineFactory::getInstance +can be used to obtain the reference to the factory instance. Factory creates and returns +so-called @ref PropertyLib::Machine for each registered property type (either predefined or user defined). + +@ref PropertyLib::Machine contains @ref PropertyLib::PropertyWidget and a list of "detailed" machines. +Usually only property widget is necessary for a property but there are +complex properties like "Font" for example. We would like to see separate editors +for font family, size, etc. and a button to choose all of these in the dialog. +For that "Font" property, a PropertyWidget with a "choose font" button +and also number of detailed widgets like "font family" combo, etc. can be created. + +\section Examples +A simple example on how to create a property editor and use it with one property list: +\code + using namespace PropertyLib; + + PropertyEditor *m_editor = new PropertyEditor(this); + + PropertyList *list = new PropertyList; + list->addProperty("My Group", new Property(Property::Integer, "First Property", + "This is my first property", -5)); + list->addProperty("My Group", new Property(Property::String, "Second Property", + "This is my second property", "Hello")); + list->addProperty(new Property(Property::Color, "Third Property", + "This is my third property", QColor("green"))); + + m_editor->populateProperties(*list); +\endcode +\image html propeditor1.png "Simple property editor" + +More advanced example with property buffers and list intersection: +\code + using namespace PropertyLib; + + PropertyEditor *m_editor = new PropertyEditor(this); + + PropertyList *list = new PropertyList; + list->addProperty("My Group", new Property(Property::Integer, "First Property", + "This is my first property", -5)); + list->addProperty("My Group", new Property(Property::String, "Second Property", + "This is my second property", "Hello")); + list->addProperty(new Property(Property::Color, "Third Property", + "This is my third property", QColor("green"))); + + PropertyList *list2 = new PropertyList; + list2->addProperty("My Group", new Property(Property::Integer, "First Property", + "This is my first property", -7)); + list2->addProperty("My Group", new Property(Property::String, "Second Property", + "This is my second property", "Hello")); + list2->addProperty(new Property(Property::String, "Third Property", + "This is my third property", "green")); + + PropertyBuffer buf(list); + buf.intersect(list2); + + m_editor->populateProperties(&buf); +\endcode +\image html propeditor2.png "Result of property list intersection" +In this example only properties named "First Property" and "Second Property" will be shown in editor. +"Third Property" has different types in list and list2 and will not be included in intersection. + +*/ |