Develop a Fat-Client in Java

Fat-Client-Development – To Do List

* For this document and all references (links) please obey the hints and regulations concerning copyright, disclaimer and trademarks.

The owner of this web-site (www.javascout.biz) is not responsible for the content of web-sites linked within this document or linked within other documents of www.javascout.biz.
If this document or other documents of this web-site (www.javascout.biz) infringes your rights or you think that rights of others (third parties) are infringed, please inform the author.
An e-mail can be sent by clicking onto the 'hungry mailbox' in the upper right corner.

Last revision of this document:
2006-06-26

This document lists all the steps needed to develop a Fat-Client-Application in Java using Eclipse.
It refers to individual, detailed descriptions of the code and explains what is intended with the piece of code.

`Credits:`

None for this document; it is just an index of other documents.

Prerequisites:

Basic knowledge of Java. This project does not teach the instructions of Java at all !
If you switch from another object-oriented language (C++, Pascal, Modula) and you want to go directly to develop code (instead of tinkering around with theory), please browse at least through the following tutorials:
* JS_Base01 - HelloWorld.
* JS_Base02 - DataBase-Loader with a GUI.

Before starting to develop a Fat-Client-Application, you should - at least - have gained the following knowledge:
* Basic structures of programming (if, for, while, calling subroutines or functions and passing parameters to them).
* Basic knowledge of object-oriented programming (create an object, passing parameters).

Additionally you should be familiar (at least in theory) with the following:
* Knowledge of GUI-design in Java; I recommend the tutorial JS_Base02 - A DataBase-Loader with a GUI (Graphic User Interface).
* Basic knowledge about the structure of XML
To work through this tutorial, the Eclipse workbench with the plugin for the Visual Editor (VE) have to be installed.

`"To do" for creating a project in Eclipse:`

Task	Link to detailed description
Create a 'Project' within Eclipse Depending on the expected size (number of classes) of the application, either a new workspace is defined or the 'Project' is added to an existing workspace.	JS_FC01b - Create a new workspace and the project in Eclipse
Add the external JAR-files (Java-ARchives) for the JDOM methods (jdom.jar) and the JavaScout-base-classes (JSBS.jar) to the 'Java Build Path'.	JBase lesson 2, step 3 – Read parameters for the connection to the database > Preparation JS_FC01cb - Download the jar-file for the base-classes
Create the 'Command-Center' This class is derived from the 'StartFrame' class and controls the selection of the 'TaskFrames'; i.e. the frames where business-data is maintained. Recommended package name: project.clientframes Recommended class name: project_CommandCenter (Please replace project by your choosen project-code.)	JS_FC01d - Create and code the class for the GUI. Stop after you created the main method and if you want to use the prepared GUI-Elements explained in the next step !
Use the prepared GUI-elements from the base-class The base class for the Start-Frame (CommandCenter) has already GUI-elements to display and select available Sub-Tasks. Follow the link in the right column for an explanation.	JS_FC01b - Create a new workspace and the project in Eclipse.
A very simple Graphic User Interface is created. This is a prerequisite to test the code implemented in the following steps.	`JS_FC01ca - Create a project for the base-classes` or `JS_FC01cb - Download the jar-file for the base-classes` completed - and its prerequisites too. Recommended: JS_Base02 - DataBase-Loader with a GUI completed. This is not absolutely a prerequisite but gives you a more indepth knowledge about developing an application with a GUI.
A step with no visible result. A structure with variables for internal use is introduced and implemented. Part of this step is to determine in which subdirectory the files for the application are stored and to build the names of the subdirectories with various content.	`JS_FC01d - Create and code the class for the GUI.` completed - and its prerequisites too. Recommended: Directory Architecture read. This introduces the - fixed - names for the subdirectories and their content.
This step deals with Java-libraries to read files containing data in xml-format and to search within the xml-structure.	`JS_FC01e - Universal structure for parameters and getting the directory-names` completed - and its prerequisites too. Recommended: Structure of the xml-file with language-dependant strings for the user-interface read. This introduces the structure of the xml-tree with text-elements for the GUI. Base lesson 2, step 3 - Read parameters for the connection to the database implemented or read at least.
The ability to call methods recursively is used to 'pass by' all GUI-elements of the frame, determine their type (JFrame, JLabel, JText, etc) and search the XML-structure for language dependant text for the processed GUI-element.	`JS_FC01f - Base-Class for reading a file with XML-structure`completed - and its prerequisites too. Recommended: Structure of the xml-file with language-dependant strings for the user-interface read. This introduces the structure of the xml-tree with text-elements for the GUI. Building a GUI in Java using Panels read. This introduces the tree-structure (parent-child-relationship) of elements forming a GUI in Java.
The setting of properties, which was shown for JFrame in the previous step, is extended to JLabel, JTextField and JButton.	`JS_FC01g - Setting the properties of the GUI-elements`completed - and its prerequisites too.
A Graphic User Interface to maintain 'Projects' is created. The 'Task-Frame' is a child of the 'Command-Center', created by the click onto the button and has a user-interface to add or delete project-codes and -descriptions. For a description, how 'Projects' are placed within the whole data-model please refer to <Database-description>	`JS_FC01h - Setting the properties of the GUI-elements, Part 2`completed - and its prerequisites too.