Package com.sri.emo.wizard

This package provides framework for wizard creation as well as EMO specific bindings.

See:
Description

Interface Summary

IWizardManager	Common interface for all wizard managers regardless of wizard type.
Link	Link to something else.
PageMetadata	Metadata for any wizard page.
Wizard	The interface for generic wizards.
WizardFactory	Interface for building a Wizard.
WizardFactorySPI
WizardMementoConverter	This interface is for controllers to allow Wizards to be transformed between usable wizards and opaque serializable objects that are meant to be as 'slim' as possible.
WizardMonitor	Monitor that often delegates to logging packages, but can be extended for more useful monitoring.
WizardPage	Interface for a wizard page.
WizardRepository	Location where all instances of Wizards may be retrieved.
WizDefinitionRepository	Repository Interface for wizard definitions.

Class Summary

AbstractWizard	Base class for wizard implementations.
ValidValueWithComment	ValidValueWithComment extends Expresso's idea of a Name/Value pair by being able to add an optional 3rd 'field' which is a comment field.

Exception Summary

WizardException

Exception for wizard-based exceptions.

Package com.sri.emo.wizard Description

This package provides framework for wizard creation as well as EMO specific bindings.

Overview

The following picture is a UML diagram showing the key interfaces and key methods of the Wizard package:

The key classes and their roles are:

• WizardFactory: This class' sole responsibility is to construct a wizard for the controller to use. If you are creating your own custom Wizard, you may or may not need to override the default behavior of EMOWizardFactory.
  
• Wizard: This is the interface by which you may interact with the wizard itself. For customization, the method processFinish() is of particular importance, and it has been designed for generic extension, including direct interaction with the underlying Expresso framework if desired.
  
• WizardPage: This is the interface by which individual data is retrieved. The data for any particular page is stored inside this interface, and may be retrieved but either a custom controller, or the wizard itself. Other than that, this interface represents a passive object that only stores and retrieves data and metadata.
  
• PageMetadata: This is the interface where specific metadata about an individual page is stored. Relevant information includes the page title, page directions, and page help. Other metadata may include static links, including the concept of whether a "Finish" button may be displayed on a particular page yet.
  
• WizardMonitor: This interface represents specific events that occur inside the wizard. The default implementation simply logs the events to the Log4j library. However, specific implementations are allowed to do fancy things such as trigger JMX events or send asynchronous events to a message queue. The actual capabilities are limited by the imagination of the developer.
  
• WizardController: This represents the actual object that controls the execution of the wizard itself. The default implementation is an Expresso controller, although theoretically this library could be adapted for rich client use as well. The Wizard controller is in charge of creating and destroying the Wizard from session as well as handling specific transitions between the user interface (JSP) and the underlying Wizard.
  
• WizardException: This is the base exception that has thrown by methods of this particular package.

Creating your own Wizard

Creating your own wizard involves several items:

1. Create your own Wizard Subclass. A good starting point is defaults.SequentialWizard
2. Create your own Expresso Controller. (may be optional) WizardController takes care of much of the needed handling of the wizard during execution.
3. Create your own editing controller (optional).
4. Hook into WizDefinition through the basic titles and labels and use the AdditionalInfo interface to be able to add your own persistence on top of WizDefinition.