5.2 Web Widget Builders

5.2 Web Widget Builders
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5.2.1 JSP Widget Builders

5.2.1.1 DisplayTagWidgetBuilder

DisplayTagWidgetBuilder is a pluggable WidgetBuilder for the DisplayTag library. It is intended to be used in conjunction with the JSP HtmlWidgetBuilder, SpringWidgetBuilder or StrutsWidgetBuilder. It instantiates the following widgets for the following types of fields:

Widget		Type of field
`org.displaytag.tags`
	`TableTag`	Collections and arrays (except if hidden, or if have a lookup). The columns in the table are based on inspecting the component type of the array or the parameterized type of the Collection (if neither can be determined, the table will only have a single column)

5.2.1.2 HtmlWidgetBuilder

HtmlWidgetBuilder is the default WidgetBuilder for the JSP HtmlMetawidgetTag. Since JSP has only a light component model (ie. HTML tags such as <input> and <select> are just strings, not modelled as JSP tags), HtmlWidgetBuilder uses org.metawidget.jsp.tagext.LiteralTag to wrap string-based fragments. It returns the following literals for the following types of fields:

Widget		Type of field
	`<input type="checkbox">`	Primitive booleans and required Booleans
	`<input type="hidden">`	Hidden fields when `HtmlMetawidgetTag.setCreateHiddenFields` is set to true
	`<input type="password">`	Masked fields (except when read-only)
	`<input type="submit">`	Actions (except read-only actions)
	`<input type="text">`	Primitives (except booleans), Characters, Dates, Strings, and fields of unknown type. If the field has a maximum length, adds `maxlength="..."`
	`<select>`	Fields with lookups
	raw text	Read-only fields (except Collections and masked fields). If `HtmlMetawidgetTag.setCreateHiddenFields` is set to true, further adds a `<input type="hidden">` so that something gets POSTed back
	`<textarea>`	Large String fields
`org.metawidget.jsp.tagext`
	`StubTag`	Hidden fields, read-only actions, read-only masked fields and Collections

5.2.1.3 SpringWidgetBuilder

SpringWidgetBuilder is the default WidgetBuilder for SpringMetawidgetTag, albeit used in conjunction with the JSP HtmlWidgetBuilder. Like HtmlWidgetBuilder, it simply returns fragments of HTML. The JSP component model is too light to support returning tags containing child tags (ie. a SelectTag containing OptionTags). SpringWidgetBuilder returns the following widgets for the following types of fields:

Widget		Type of field
`org.springframework.web.servlet.tags.form`
	`CheckboxTag`	Primitive booleans and required Booleans
	`HiddenInputTag`	Hidden fields when `HtmlMetawidgetTag.setCreateHiddenFields` is set to true
	`InputTag`	Primitives (except booleans), Characters, Dates, Strings, and fields of unknown type. If the field has a maximum length, calls `setMaxlength`
	`PasswordInputTag`	Masked fields (except when read-only)
	raw text	Read-only fields (except Collections and masked fields). If `HtmlMetawidgetTag.setCreateHiddenFields` is set to true, further adds a `HiddenInputTag` so that something gets POSTed back
	`SelectTag`	Fields with lookups
	`TextareaTag`	Large String fields
`org.metawidget.jsp.tagext`
	`StubTag`	Actions

5.2.1.4 StrutsWidgetBuilder

StrutsWidgetBuilder is the default WidgetBuilder for StrutsMetawidgetTag, albeit used in conjunction with the JSP HtmlWidgetBuilder. Like HtmlWidgetBuilder, it simply returns fragments of HTML. The JSP component model is too light to support returning tags containing child tags (ie. a SelectTag containing OptionTags). StrutsWidgetBuilder returns the following widgets for the following types of fields:

Widget		Type of field
`org.apache.struts.taglib.html`
	`CheckboxTag`	Primitive booleans and required Booleans
	`SelectTag`	Fields with lookups
	`HiddenTag`	Hidden fields when `HtmlMetawidgetTag.setCreateHiddenFields` is set to true
	`PasswordTag`	Masked fields (except when read-only)
	raw text	Read-only fields (except Collections and masked fields).If `HtmlMetawidgetTag.setCreateHiddenFields` is set to true, further adds a `HiddenTag` so that something gets POSTed back
	`TextTag`	Primitives (except booleans), Characters, Dates, Strings, and fields of unknown type. If the field has a maximum length, calls `setMaxlength`
	`TextareaTag`	Large String fields
`org.metawidget.jsp.tagext`
	`StubTag`	Actions

5.2.2 GWT Widget Builders

5.2.2.1 ExtGwtWidgetBuilder

ExtGwtWidgetBuilder is a pluggable WidgetBuilder for the ExtGWT library. It is intended to be used in conjunction with the default GwtWidgetBuilder. It instantiates the following widgets for the following types of fields:

Widget		Type of field
`com.extjs.gxt.ui.client.widget.form`
	`DateField`	Dates

To build applications that use ExtGwtWidgetBuilder, include metawidget.jar and examples\gwt\metawidget-gwt-client.jar and examples\gwt\metawidget-gwt-extgwt-client.jar in the CLASSPATH during the GWTCompiler phase.

5.2.2.2 GwtWidgetBuilder

GwtWidgetBuilder is the default WidgetBuilder for GwtMetawidget. It instantiates the following widgets for the following types of fields:

Widget		Type of field
`com.google.gwt.user.client.ui`
	`Button`	Actions (except read-only actions)
	`CheckBox`	Primitive booleans and required Booleans
	`Label`	Read-only fields (except Collections and masked fields)
	`ListBox`	Fields with lookups
	`PasswordTextBox`	Masked fields (except when read-only)
	`SimplePanel`	Read-only masked fields
	`TextArea`	Large String fields
	`TextBox`	Primitives (except booleans), Characters, Dates, Strings, and fields of unknown type. If the field has a maximum length, calls `setMaxLength`
`org.metawidget.gwt.client.ui`
	`Stub`	Hidden fields, read-only actions and Collections

5.2.3 JSF Widget Builders

5.2.3.1 HtmlWidgetBuilder

HtmlWidgetBuilder is the default WidgetBuilder for the JSF HtmlMetawidget. It instantiates the following widgets for the following types of fields:

Widget		Type of field
`javax.faces.component.html`
	`HtmlCommandButton`	Actions (except read-only actions)
	`HtmlDataTable`	Lists, DataModels and arrays (except if hidden, or if have a lookup). The columns in the table are based on inspecting the component type of the array or the parameterized type of the `List` (if neither can be determined, the table will only have a single column)
	`HtmlInputHidden`	Hidden fields when `HtmlMetawidget.setCreateHiddenFields` is set to true
	`HtmlInputSecret`	Masked fields (except when read-only)
	`HtmlInputText`	Primitives (except booleans), Characters, Dates, Strings, and fields of unknown type. If the field has a maximum length, calls `setMaxlength`
	`HtmlInputTextarea`	Large String fields
	`HtmlOutputText`	Read-only fields (except Collections and masked fields)
	`HtmlSelectBooleanCheckbox`	Primitive booleans and required Booleans
	`HtmlSelectManyCheckbox`	Lists or Arrays with a lookup
	`HtmlSelectOneListbox`	Fields with lookups
`org.metawidget.faces.component`
	`HtmlLookupOutputText`	Read-only fields with lookup labels
	`UIStub`	Hidden fields, read-only actions, read-only masked fields and Collections

5.2.3.2 IceFacesWidgetBuilder

IceFacesWidgetBuilder is a pluggable WidgetBuilder for the JSF UIMetawidget. It is intended to be used in conjunction with the default JSF HtmlWidgetBuilder. For an example, see Section 1.3.5, “ICEfaces Example”. IceFacesWidgetBuilder instantiates the following widgets for the following types of fields:

Widget		Type of field
`com.icesoft.faces.component.ext`
	`HtmlCommandButton`	Actions (except read-only actions)
	`HtmlInputSecret`	Masked fields (except when read-only)
	`HtmlInputText`	Primitives (except booleans), Characters, Dates, Strings, and fields of unknown type. If the field has a maximum length, calls `setMaxlength`
	`HtmlInputTextarea`	Large String fields
	`HtmlSelectBooleanCheckbox`	Primitive booleans and required Booleans
	`HtmlSelectManyCheckbox`	Lists or Arrays with a lookup
	`HtmlSelectOneListbox`	Fields with lookups
`com.icesoft.faces.component`
	`SelectInputDate`	Dates Note: the ICEfaces SelectInputDate widget uses internal state to control its popup. Therefore Metawidget will not destroy and recreate it upon POSTback, as it does with most other widgets (in order to update them to reflect changes in business model state).

All components are instantiated with partialSubmit set to true.

5.2.3.3 RichFacesWidgetBuilder

RichFacesWidgetBuilder is a pluggable WidgetBuilder for the JSF UIMetawidget. It is intended to be used in conjunction with the default JSF HtmlWidgetBuilder. For an example, see Section 1.2.2.3, “Alternate Widget Libraries”. RichFacesWidgetBuilder instantiates the following widgets for the following types of fields:

Widget		Type of field
`org.richfaces.component.html`
	`HtmlCalendar`	Dates
	`HtmlColorPicker`	`java.awt.Color`
	`HtmlInputNumberSlider`	Primitives (except boolean and char) that have a maximum and minimum value
	`HtmlInputNumberSpinner`	Primitives (except boolean and char) and Numbers that have only one or neither minimum/maximum value
	`HtmlSuggestionBox`	Fields with `faces-suggest` lookups

5.2.3.4 TomahawkWidgetBuilder

TomahawkWidgetBuilder is a pluggable WidgetBuilder for the JSF UIMetawidget. It is intended to be used in conjunction with the default JSF HtmlWidgetBuilder. TomahawkWidgetBuilder instantiates the following widgets for the following types of fields:

Widget		Type of field
`org.apache.myfaces.custom`
	`HtmlInputFileUpload`	`org.apache.myfaces.custom.fileupload.UploadedFile`