[gef-dev] Flyout Composite

["GRAZIADEI.Thomas" <T.GRAZIADEI@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi James, 

well to make the flyout mechanism usable for our application (GEF editor with Flyout Palette and Flyout Property Editor) we choose to make it a general component which is also usable for other proposes. 

So we first of all refactored the Flyout Composite class, which took quite a while because this is an I-can-do-everything class. After the refactoring it was possible to impelement also the docking locations NORTH and SOUTH. 

Then we added two interfaces: 

 	- IFlyoutControlProvider
	- IFlyoutMainControlProvider

Whereas IFlyoutControlProvider is responsible to fill the Flyout composite with the palette or the property editor or anything else you like, and the IFlyoutMainControlProvider is responsible to fill the main area (the area next to the flyout control, like the editor for example). 

And then in a third step we implemented a new GraphicalEditorWithFlyoutPalette class, which adds two new functions: 

	- initFlyoutControls()
	- addFlyoutControl()

And with these two functions you can customize your editor with whatever flyouts you want. 

The flyouts work perfectly for the editor but we have some "minor" problems in the refreshing mechanism if you add flyouts to normal views. 

We want to contribute the code back to GEF but I haven't had enough time yet to do anything about it. Do you know the formal way to contribute code to eclipse? But anyway we will have some work before, to clean up the code. 

If you have any more questions, where I can help, you are welcome. 

Kindly regards, 
 
Thomas Graziadei
Software Development
 
Bachmann electronic GmbH
Kreuzäckerweg 33
A-6800 Feldkirch
 
Phone  +43 (0) 55 22 / 34 97-434
Fax    +43 (0) 55 22 / 34 97-102
       t.graziadei@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
       www.bachmann.info