Creating a custom host component
- From the File > New > ZIETrans Component menu in ZIETrans Toolkit
- From the ZIETrans > New > Component menu in ZIETrans Toolkit
- From the context (right-click) menu of a ZIETrans project, select New ZIETrans > Component
There are two panels of the Create Component wizard. On the first panel, you provide the name of the project, the name of the new component, and the name of the Java™ package for the component. Optionally, you can select a check box to include stub methods that allow you to define a GUI panel for configuring the settings used by the new component (see ZIETrans Toolkit support for custom component and widget settings for more information). On the second panel, you enter the name you want displayed for the new component in the ZIETrans Toolkit and select the widgets to associate with the component. Widget association is not necessary to complete the wizard. You can define the association of components and widgets later. Refer to Registering your component or widget for more information about associating components and widgets.
- Extends the host component abstract class,
com.ibm.hats.transform.components.Component
.If one of the ZIETrans host components is very similar to what you need, it will be easier to extend that component. See Extending component classes for more information.
- Adds the constructor method. This method, named for your component,
must accept a com.ibm.hats.common.HostScreen object. For example:
The constructor should initialize parameters that thepublic MyComponent(HostScreen hostScreen) { super(hostScreen); }
recognize()
method will require, based on the host screen object. - Adds the
recognize()
method.
Thepublic ComponentElement[] recognize(BlockScreenRegion region, Properties settings)
recognize()
method has a different implementation in each host component class. It accepts the region and settings passed to it and returns an array of component element objects. You should implement this method to implement your own pattern recognition logic.The
recognize()
method must return an array of ComponentElement objects, as defined in com.ibm.hats.transform.elements.ComponentElement. Each ZIETrans component returns a slightly different set of elements that extend ComponentElement. For example, the SelectionListComponent returns an array of SelectionComponentElement objects. This array of component elements is passed to the specified widget, so be sure to return an array of elements that can be accepted by the widget you want to use.For a description of the arguments of this method, refer to the ZIETrans API References (Javadoc) for the
recognize()
method of the Component class. See Using the API documentation (Javadoc). - Adds the source code for the component into the Source folder of your project
- Compiles the new component .java file, if you have Build Automatically checked in the Eclipse workbench preferences (Window > Preferences > General > Workspace or Project > Build Automatically). If the component is not compiled into a .class file, it is not available for use in the ZIETrans Toolkit.
- Registers the new component in the
ComponentWidget.xml
file. See Registering your component or widget for more information about registering components.
- Method to return the number of pages in the property settings:
public int getPropertyPageCount() { return (1); }
- Method to return the settings that can be customized:
public Vector getCustomProperties(int iPageNumber, Properties properties, ResourceBundle bundle) { return (null); }
- Method to return the default values of the settings that can be
customized:
public Properties getDefaultValues(int iPageNumber) { return (super.getDefaultValues(iPageNumber)); }
See ZIETrans Toolkit support for custom component and widget settings for more information about the methods necessary to support your custom component.
public void setConsumedRegion(BlockScreenRegion region)
Refer to the ZIETrans API References (Javadoc) for the ComponentElement
class for more information. See Using the API documentation (Javadoc).