Text2

Text2<T> is one line of input, converted to and from a T. It is the control most of a DomUI application is built out of: a string, a number, an amount of money and a date all arrive through it.

Text2<String> title = new Text2<>(String.class);
Text2<Integer> copies = new Text2<>(Integer.class);
Text2<BigDecimal> price = new Text2<>(BigDecimal.class);

FormBuilder fb = new FormBuilder(cp);
fb.label("Album title").control(title);
fb.label("Copies in stock").control(copies);
fb.label("Price").control(price);

• The type is the point
• What getValue() checks
• The three states
• How the box looks
• Buttons inside the control
• What it renders
• Making one from a property

The type is the point

The class handed to the constructor is what the control converts to, and what getValue() hands back:

Text2<Integer> copies = new Text2<>(Integer.class);
copies.setValue(12);
Integer number = copies.getValue();      // an Integer, not a String

new Text2<>() with no argument is Text2<String>.

The type decides three things at once:

The keyboard filter is the NumberMode, set from the constructor's type and overridable with setNumberMode(). It only stops keys in the browser; nothing depends on it, and the conversion happens on the server regardless.

What getValue() checks

Text2<String> email = new Text2<>(String.class);
email.setMandatory(true);
email.addValidator(new EmailValidator());

getValue() runs the whole chain, in this order, and stops at the first thing that fails:

1. mandatory - an empty box on a mandatory control is Mandatory field. An empty box on a control that is not mandatory is simply null, and nothing else is checked.
2. the regular expression, when one is set - it is applied to the raw text, before any conversion.
3. the converter - the one set with setConverter(), otherwise the one the registry has for the type.
4. the validators, in the order they were added, each getting the converted value.

A failure is reported on the control (the box goes red, the message becomes its tooltip and appears in the page's error display) and thrown as a ValidationException, which the framework catches - so a handler reading three fields simply stops at the first one that cannot deliver. hasError() asks the same question without the exception, and getValueSafe() returns null instead of throwing.

The result of one validation is remembered until the raw text changes, so calling getValue() five times costs one check.

The three states

control.setReadOnly(true);                       // shows the value, cannot be changed
control.setDisabled(true);                       // greyed out
control.setDisabledBecause("Already shipped");   // greyed out, and says why on hover

setDisabledBecause() is setDisabled() plus a tooltip, and passing null enables the control again. A read-only Text2 keeps its box but refuses input; a disabled one is grey and sends nothing back.

How the box looks

Both setSize() and setMaxLength() return the control, so they chain: new Text2<>(String.class).setSize(10).setMaxLength(6).

Buttons inside the control

Text2<String> search = new Text2<>(String.class);
search.addButtonSmall(Icon.faSearch, () -> doSearch(search.getValue()));
search.addButtonSmall(Icon.faEraser, () -> search.setValue(null));

A button added this way is rendered inside the control, right of the box, so it travels with the control wherever it is put and lines up with it. The control gets the css class ctl-has-addons while it has any.

DateInput2 is built exactly this way: it is a Text2<Date> with a calendar button and a today button added.

What it renders

<div class="ui-txt2 ctl-has-addons">
    <div class="ui-control">
        <input class="ui-input" type="text" value="Yesterday">
    </div>
    <button class="ui-button ui-sib2">…</button>
</div>

The control is a Div, not an <input>: that is what lets it carry buttons and an error state of its own. getForTarget() returns the inner input, which is what a <label> has to point at - Label.setForTarget(control) follows it, and keeps following it when the control rebuilds.

Making one from a property

The static methods build a control already configured from the metadata of a property - its length, its converter, its validators, the display size computed from precision and scale:

A form builder does this for you: fb.property(album, Album_.title()).control() asks the control factory registry and gets a configured Text2 back. Use the static methods when you build a control outside a form.