The basics of CompositeTable

The easiest way to learn the CompositeTable application program interface (API) is to review the snippets included in the download. Open CompositeTableSnippet1 and scroll down to the main method. You can see that the widget is created, and Header and Row objects are created. These objects determine how the CompositeTable displays headers and rows. If you look at the Header implementation, you see that it contains two Label widgets positioned using a GridLayout. Run the example, and the window is similar to that shown below.

Next, change the Header class, as shown below.

                    
public Header(Composite parent, int style) {
	super(parent, style);
    setLayout(new GridRowLayout(new int[] { 160, 100 }, false));
	Label first = new Label(this, SWT.NULL);
	first.setText("First Name");
	first.setForeground(Display.getCurrent().getSystemColor(SWT.COLOR_RED));
	first.setBackground(Display.getCurrent().getSystemColor(SWT.COLOR_BLACK));
	new Label(this, SWT.NULL).setText("Last Name");
}

Running the example now shows the Header changes, as displayed in Figure 10.

The other key component to the display of a CompositeTable is the Row object. Reviewing the Row class definition in CompositeTableSnippet1 reveals two Text widgets positioned using GridLayout. The final piece of the puzzle is the content provider added in the main method. For each row, the CompositeTable calls the refresh method, passing in a row offset and a Row object. The method is then responsible for retrieving the appropriate model data and setting it on the Row object for display.

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Table of contents

• Before you start
• Heavyweight and lightweight widgets
• Date and time widgets for SWT
• CDateTime setup
• Use CDateTime
• Using CDateTime for time selection
• Manipulate values and formats
• CompositeTable
• The basics of CompositeTable
• Implement common date functions with CompositeTable
• Nontraditional displays using CompositeTable
• The Nebula Grid widget
• Checkboxes, row headers, changing cell color, and cell selection
• Create trees of Grid items and column spans
• Column groups
• The Nebula PGroup widget
• The Nebula PShelf widget
• Conclusion
• Resources
• About the authors

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