Category Archives: equanda

INCA-awards, samenschrijven.be

PROGS is participating in the INCA-awards.

This requires building a new web site or widget. For this project, we built the base of a collaborative writing site. In a later stage, this should further evolve to something more social, with voting which stories are good, remembering your preferred storylines,…

The idea is to allow groups of people to write stories together. You could consider it as a written variant of improvisation theatre, only with thinking time and the possibility to explore different plots.

You can check it out (for now, only in Dutch) at samenschrijven.be.

The design is quite simple, based on the apple blossoms which are so beautiful at this time of year, with some transparency to let the background shine through.

Technically, the site is built in Java and running on JBoss 4.2. The persistency layer is generated using equanda and the web layer is built using tapestry5.
The display of the stories and choosing the desired storyline uses AJAX, which tapestry supports wonderfully. The ability to update multiple zones at once, the hot reloading, the very clean MVC separation made the site a joy to develop.

Still a lot more to do, but quite happy with the result so far. Fingers crossed for the actual awards, though looking at the competition, it is going to be tough.

equanda 0.9.4 released

equanda 0.9.4 has been released.

Full release notes can be found at
http://jira.equanda.org/secure/ReleaseNote.jspa?version=10031&styleName=Html&projectId=10000&Create=Create

The 0.9.4 release was mainly focussed on fixing bugs in the existing functionality.

For tapestry users the most important change is the upgrade to tapestry 5.1.0.3.
This specifically affects the equanda-t5navigation module. If you want to use equanda-t5navigation with tapestry 5.0.18 than 0.9.3 should be used.

The equanda-tapestry5 module contains a new component, “TextAreaAutoExpander”, a textarea which has a automatically changing size depending on the amount of the contents. A demo can be seen at http://app.spoon-it.be/t5example/

equanda is a framework which allows a highly customizable skeleton JEE application to be generated from the domain description. This contains both the persistence layer (EJB3) and web interface (using tapestry5).The domain model allows a lot of details for the application to be included, this way these are considered without requiring code to be written.Both the generated persistence layer and web interface are highly customizable. All changes in the code are maintained when the domain model is modified.The generated web interface has detailed authorization configuration capabilities.

Fixing scriptaculous’ slider

I needed a working slider component for my web application, and scriptaculous provides a component which “almost” works in my application.

Of course, you could say it doesn’t work. My application is built using equanda, and this allows client-side switching between display and edit mode of records. Unfortunately, the slider does not initialise correctly when hidden.
I have fixed this by passing the size of the crucial parts as parameters to the component instead (and then setting it on the objects) instead of querying the objects for their size.

Another (very minor) problem is that the component did not update my displayed value when just clicking. It works fine when dragging the control, but not when just clicking. Though this was actually because I listened only to the “onSlide” and not the “onChange” event, I personally believe it should still work.

Patched version :

// script.aculo.us slider.js v1.8.2, Tue Nov 18 18:30:58 +0100 2008

// Copyright (c) 2005-2008 Marty Haught, Thomas Fuchs
//
// script.aculo.us is freely distributable under the terms of an MIT-style license.
// For details, see the script.aculo.us web site: http://script.aculo.us/

// slightly modified from original to assure the increment is used and to allow the slider to be initially hidden
// for this, two extra parameters "trackLength" and "handleLength" are introduced, which set the style of the elements.

if (!Control) var Control = { };

// options:
//  axis: 'vertical', or 'horizontal' (default)
//
// callbacks:
//  onChange(value)
//  onSlide(value)
Control.ckSlider = Class.create({
  initialize: function(handle, track, options) {
    var slider = this;

    if (Object.isArray(handle)) {
      this.handles = handle.collect( function(e) { return $(e) });
    } else {
      this.handles = [$(handle)];
    }

    this.track   = $(track);
    this.options = options || { };

    this.axis      = this.options.axis || 'horizontal';
    this.increment = this.options.increment || 1;
    this.step      = parseInt(this.options.step || '1');
    this.range     = this.options.range || $R(0,1);

    this.trackLength = parseInt(this.options.trackLength || '200');
    this.handleLength = parseInt(this.options.handleLength || '5');

    this.value     = 0; // assure backwards compat
    this.values    = this.handles.map( function() { return 0 });
    this.spans     = this.options.spans ? this.options.spans.map(function(s){ return $(s) }) : false;
    this.options.startSpan = $(this.options.startSpan || null);
    this.options.endSpan   = $(this.options.endSpan || null);

    this.restricted = this.options.restricted || false;

    this.maximum   = this.options.maximum || this.range.end;
    this.minimum   = this.options.minimum || this.range.start;

    // Will be used to align the handle onto the track, if necessary
    this.alignX = parseInt(this.options.alignX || '0');
    this.alignY = parseInt(this.options.alignY || '0');

    if ( this.isVertical() )  {
        this.track.style.height=""+this.trackLength+"px";
        this.handles[0].style.height=""+this.handleLength+"px";
    } else {
        this.track.style.width=""+this.trackLength+"px"
        this.handles[0].style.width=""+this.handleLength+"px";
    }

    this.active   = false;
    this.dragging = false;
    this.disabled = false;

    if (this.options.disabled) this.setDisabled();

    // Allowed values array
    this.allowedValues = this.options.values ? this.options.values.sortBy(Prototype.K) : false;
    if (this.allowedValues) {
      this.minimum = this.allowedValues.min();
      this.maximum = this.allowedValues.max();
    }

    this.eventMouseDown = this.startDrag.bindAsEventListener(this);
    this.eventMouseUp   = this.endDrag.bindAsEventListener(this);
    this.eventMouseMove = this.update.bindAsEventListener(this);

    // Initialize handles in reverse (make sure first handle is active)
    this.handles.each( function(h,i) {
      i = slider.handles.length-1-i;
      slider.setValue(parseFloat(
        (Object.isArray(slider.options.sliderValue) ?
          slider.options.sliderValue[i] : slider.options.sliderValue) ||
         slider.range.start), i);
      h.makePositioned().observe("mousedown", slider.eventMouseDown);
    });

    this.track.observe("mousedown", this.eventMouseDown);
    document.observe("mouseup", this.eventMouseUp);
    document.observe("mousemove", this.eventMouseMove);

    this.initialized = true;
  },
  dispose: function() {
    var slider = this;
    Event.stopObserving(this.track, "mousedown", this.eventMouseDown);
    Event.stopObserving(document, "mouseup", this.eventMouseUp);
    Event.stopObserving(document, "mousemove", this.eventMouseMove);
    this.handles.each( function(h) {
      Event.stopObserving(h, "mousedown", slider.eventMouseDown);
    });
  },
  setDisabled: function(){
    this.disabled = true;
  },
  setEnabled: function(){
    this.disabled = false;
  },
  getNearestValue: function(value){
    value=Math.round(value/this.increment)*this.increment;
    if (this.allowedValues){
      if (value >= this.allowedValues.max()) return(this.allowedValues.max());
      if (value <= this.allowedValues.min()) return(this.allowedValues.min());

      var offset = Math.abs(this.allowedValues[0] - value);
      var newValue = this.allowedValues[0];
      this.allowedValues.each( function(v) {
        var currentOffset = Math.abs(v - value);
        if (currentOffset <= offset){
          newValue = v;
          offset = currentOffset;
        }
      });
      return newValue;
    }
    if (value > this.range.end) return this.range.end;
    if (value < this.range.start) return this.range.start;
    return value;
  },
  setValue: function(sliderValue, handleIdx){
    if (!this.active) {
      this.activeHandleIdx = handleIdx || 0;
      this.activeHandle    = this.handles[this.activeHandleIdx];
      this.updateStyles();
    }
    handleIdx = handleIdx || this.activeHandleIdx || 0;
    if (this.initialized && this.restricted) {
      if ((handleIdx>0) && (sliderValue<this.values[handleIdx-1]))
        sliderValue = this.values[handleIdx-1];
      if ((handleIdx < (this.handles.length-1)) && (sliderValue>this.values[handleIdx+1]))
        sliderValue = this.values[handleIdx+1];
    }
    sliderValue = this.getNearestValue(sliderValue);
    this.values[handleIdx] = sliderValue;
    this.value = this.values[0]; // assure backwards compat

    this.handles[handleIdx].style[this.isVertical() ? 'top' : 'left'] =
      this.translateToPx(sliderValue);

    this.drawSpans();
    if (!this.dragging || !this.event) this.updateFinished();
  },
  setValueBy: function(delta, handleIdx) {
    this.setValue(this.values[handleIdx || this.activeHandleIdx || 0] + delta,
      handleIdx || this.activeHandleIdx || 0);
  },
  translateToPx: function(value) {
    return Math.round(
      ((this.trackLength-this.handleLength)/(this.range.end-this.range.start)) *
      (value - this.range.start)) + "px";
  },
  translateToValue: function(offset) {
    return ((offset/(this.trackLength-this.handleLength) *
      (this.range.end-this.range.start)) + this.range.start);
  },
  getRange: function(range) {
    var v = this.values.sortBy(Prototype.K);
    range = range || 0;
    return $R(v[range],v[range+1]);
  },
  isVertical:  function(){
    return (this.axis == 'vertical');
  },
  drawSpans: function() {
    var slider = this;
    if (this.spans)
      $R(0, this.spans.length-1).each(function(r) { slider.setSpan(slider.spans[r], slider.getRange(r)) });
    if (this.options.startSpan)
      this.setSpan(this.options.startSpan,
        $R(0, this.values.length>1 ? this.getRange(0).min() : this.value ));
    if (this.options.endSpan)
      this.setSpan(this.options.endSpan,
        $R(this.values.length>1 ? this.getRange(this.spans.length-1).max() : this.value, this.maximum));
  },
  setSpan: function(span, range) {
    if (this.isVertical()) {
      span.style.top = this.translateToPx(range.start);
      span.style.height = this.translateToPx(range.end - range.start + this.range.start);
    } else {
      span.style.left = this.translateToPx(range.start);
      span.style.width = this.translateToPx(range.end - range.start + this.range.start);
    }
  },
  updateStyles: function() {
    this.handles.each( function(h){ Element.removeClassName(h, 'selected') });
    Element.addClassName(this.activeHandle, 'selected');
  },
  startDrag: function(event) {
    if (Event.isLeftClick(event)) {
      if (!this.disabled){
        this.active = true;

        var handle = Event.element(event);
        var pointer  = [Event.pointerX(event), Event.pointerY(event)];
        var track = handle;
        if (track==this.track) {
          var offsets  = Position.cumulativeOffset(this.track);
          this.event = event;
          this.setValue(this.translateToValue(
           (this.isVertical() ? pointer[1]-offsets[1] : pointer[0]-offsets[0])-(this.handleLength/2)
          ));
          var offsets  = Position.cumulativeOffset(this.activeHandle);
          this.offsetX = (pointer[0] - offsets[0]);
          this.offsetY = (pointer[1] - offsets[1]);
        } else {
          // find the handle (prevents issues with Safari)
          while((this.handles.indexOf(handle) == -1) && handle.parentNode)
            handle = handle.parentNode;

          if (this.handles.indexOf(handle)!=-1) {
            this.activeHandle    = handle;
            this.activeHandleIdx = this.handles.indexOf(this.activeHandle);
            this.updateStyles();

            var offsets  = Position.cumulativeOffset(this.activeHandle);
            this.offsetX = (pointer[0] - offsets[0]);
            this.offsetY = (pointer[1] - offsets[1]);
          }
        }
      }
      Event.stop(event);
    }
  },
  update: function(event) {
   if (this.active) {
      if (!this.dragging) this.dragging = true;
      this.draw(event);
      if (Prototype.Browser.WebKit) window.scrollBy(0,0);
      Event.stop(event);
   }
  },
  draw: function(event) {
    var pointer = [Event.pointerX(event), Event.pointerY(event)];
    var offsets = Position.cumulativeOffset(this.track);
    pointer[0] -= this.offsetX + offsets[0];
    pointer[1] -= this.offsetY + offsets[1];
    this.event = event;
    this.setValue(this.translateToValue( this.isVertical() ? pointer[1] : pointer[0] ));
    if (this.initialized && this.options.onSlide)
      this.options.onSlide(this.values.length>1 ? this.values : this.value, this);
  },
  endDrag: function(event) {
    if (this.active && this.dragging) {
      this.finishDrag(event, true);
      Event.stop(event);
    }
    this.active = false;
    this.dragging = false;
  },
  finishDrag: function(event, success) {
    this.active = false;
    this.dragging = false;
    this.updateFinished();
  },
  updateFinished: function() {
    if (this.initialized && this.options.onSlide)
      this.options.onSlide(this.values.length>1 ? this.values : this.value, this);
    if (this.initialized && this.options.onChange)
      this.options.onChange(this.values.length>1 ? this.values : this.value, this);
    this.event = null;
  }
});