Developers guide

8 SkinnedTextField

8.1 Introduction

Given the complex architecture of the APT System, the development of a rich user interface in

Java will require a high level of programming skills and proficiency with the Java Swing

framework.

In order to gain Insight into the internal architecture of Swing itself, I decided to develop a

customised, reusable Swing component, the SkinnedTextField, which uses images, as opposed to

fonts, to render each letter within a text label. This concept is based on the creative images from

Digit Mania[ 36]. It is ideal for displaying the APT telemetry information and is also used in the

Spectrum Scanner application discussed in Chapter 9.

This component can be seamlessly integrated into other Java applications. Particularly

engineering and hardware interfacing systems due to its clear digital readout. The Skins can also

be configured to simulate the real readouts on the hardware itself, enabling unfamiliar users to

quickly identify the semantics of the data.

8.2 Requirements

• Dynamic switching of skins

• Synchronization without performance degradation

• Skin images may be of any size

• Not all images within a given skin have to be the same size

8.3 Design

There are four classes used to implement the SkinnedTextField:

• SkinnedTextField

This is the component. Created directly by the user. It behaves in much the same way as

a JLabel. More information on its API is included in Figure 8-1

• SkinnedTextFieldDemo

Sample code to test and demonstrate SkinnedTextFields

• SkinnedTextFieldManager

Currently there is no need for the user to access this class. It keeps track of all the

SkinnedTextField instances and controls the popup menu.

• TextSkin

This abstracts the mapping of images to individual characters.