TFORMer SDK - JAVA  7.0
Public Member Functions
DataField Class Reference

Provides access to DataField information. More...

List of all members.

Public Member Functions

void dispose () throws TFormerException
 Releases the resources allocated by this instance.
void dump (PrintStream s) throws IOException, TFormerException
 Dumps the current instance into a text stream.
String getCaption () throws TFormerException
 Gets the caption of the DataField.
String getComment () throws TFormerException
 Gets the comment of the DataField.
boolean getCriteria () throws TFormerException
 Gets a flag indicating whether this DataField should be used as a criteria for a print-job.
int getCriteriaColumn () throws TFormerException
 Gets the criteria column of the DataField.
String getCriteriaFormat () throws TFormerException
 Gets the criteria format of the DataField.
String getDefaultValue () throws TFormerException
 Gets the default value of the DataField.
String getDescription () throws TFormerException
 Gets the description of the DataField.
String getDisplayOrder () throws TFormerException
 Gets the display order of the DataField.
String getName () throws TFormerException
 Gets the name of the DataField.
DataField getNext () throws TFormerException
 Gets the next DataField defined in the Project.
DataFieldType getType () throws TFormerException
 Gets the type of the DataField.
String getValidationMessage () throws TFormerException
 Gets the validation message of the DataField.
String getValidationRule () throws TFormerException
 Gets the validation rule of the DataField.
void setCaption (String sCaption) throws TFormerException
 Sets the caption of the DataField.
void setComment (String sComment) throws TFormerException
 Sets the comment of the DataField.
void setCriteria (boolean bCriteria) throws TFormerException
 Sets a flag indicating whether this DataField should be used as a criteria for a print-job.
void setCriteriaColumn (int nCriteriaColumn) throws TFormerException
 Sets the criteria column of the DataField.
void setCriteriaFormat (String sCriteriaFormat) throws TFormerException
 Sets the criteria format of the DataField.
void setDefaultValue (String sDefaultValue) throws TFormerException
 Sets the default value of the DataField.
void setDescription (String sDescription) throws TFormerException
 Sets the description of the DataField.
void setDisplayOrder (String sDisplayOrder) throws TFormerException
 Sets the display order of the DataField.
void setName (String sName) throws TFormerException
 Sets the name of the DataField.
void setType (DataFieldType dataFieldType) throws TFormerException
 Sets the type of the DataField.
void setValidationMessage (String sValidationMessage) throws TFormerException
 Sets the validation message of the DataField.
void setValidationRule (String sValidationRule) throws TFormerException
 Sets the validation rule of the DataField.
String toString ()
 Returns a string representation of the instance.

Detailed Description

Provides access to DataField information.

Overview

A DataField is a place-holder for dynamic content in a FormLayout. One FormLayout can use an arbitrary number of DataFields (0..n). TFORMer Designer requires that a DataField is defined before it can be used. This definition takes place directly in the FormLayout (in the case of a stand-alone FormLayout) or in a user-defined Project (or the GlobalProject ) of a Repository.A DataField can be printed as text, as bar-code or may be used to provide the filename for image elements in the FormLayout. Besides this, a DataField can be used in element expressions and printing conditions.

Data Type

The type of a DataField influences its use in expressions within a FormLayout and the conversion method when reading a DataField from a JobData. 3 different data types are supported:

Naming Conventions

The name of a DataField must comply with JavaScript rules for valid identifiers (see Naming Rules). In short a name must begin with a letter or an underscore. Within the name letters, underscores and digits are allowed. Special characters (e.g. white spaces, tabs, hyphens, German Umlauts, ...) are invalid.Usually DataField names are not suitable for representing them to end-users. Refer to additional properties like Caption, Description, Comment and DisplayOrder for such purposes.

Data Field Values

For printing a FormLayout it is required to provide the DataField values via JobData. When a JobData is used to pass data to TFORMer SDK and a DataField is not set by this JobData the value of the DataField will be an empty string ("") or 0 (see also JobData.setReuseValues).

Data Field Default Values

The DefaultValue is the standard value of a DataField. The DefaultValue is only used by TFORMer Designer.

Validating DataFields

Use ValidationRules for validating values for DataField objects.ValidationRules are expressions which are used to check if the value of a DataField meets a certain criteria. Whenever a DataField value violates the assigned ValidationRule an error message is displayed (in TFORMer Designer) or an exception is raised (TFORMer SDK).

DataField Enumeration

In order to programmatically access the DataFields in a FormLayout you may either use the method Project.getDataField or you may iterate through all available DataField objects using Project.getFirstDataField and DataField.getNext. If you want to know, whether the returned DataField is actually used in the FormLayout use the method FormLayout.getDataFieldUsage.To determine if a specific DataField is used in a FormLayout iterate all data-fields of the Project and query the usage:
  // Enumerate all DataFields in the Project
  for (DataField field = project.getFirstDataField (); field != null; field = field.getNext ())
  {
    // Query the DataField usage in the given FormLayout
    DataFieldUsage usage = formlayout.getDataFieldUsage (field.getName ());

    // may the DataField value be set (this depends on the usage of the DataField within the FormLayout)
    if (usage == DataFieldUsage.Normal)
    {
      // Do something
    }
  }

Attention:
The DataField is only valid as long as it is available in the Project. If it is removed from the Project all instances of the DataField immediately become invalid.

Member Function Documentation

void dispose ( ) throws TFormerException

Releases the resources allocated by this instance.

Call this method in every case (even in case of exceptions) is this instance is not required anymore.

void dump ( PrintStream  s) throws IOException, TFormerException

Dumps the current instance into a text stream.

Parameters:
sInstance of the stream
String getCaption ( ) throws TFormerException

Gets the caption of the DataField.

Returns:
The caption of the DataField
String getComment ( ) throws TFormerException

Gets the comment of the DataField.

Returns:
The comment of the DataField
boolean getCriteria ( ) throws TFormerException

Gets a flag indicating whether this DataField should be used as a criteria for a print-job.

Returns:
true if this DataField is used as a criteria
Attention:
Internal use only

Gets the criteria column of the DataField.

Returns:
The criteria column of the DataField
Attention:
Internal use only

Gets the criteria format of the DataField.

Returns:
The criteria format of the DataField
Attention:
Internal use only
String getDefaultValue ( ) throws TFormerException

Gets the default value of the DataField.

Returns:
The default value of the DataField
See also:
DataField
String getDescription ( ) throws TFormerException

Gets the description of the DataField.

Returns:
The description of the DataField
String getDisplayOrder ( ) throws TFormerException

Gets the display order of the DataField.

Returns:
The display order of the DataField
String getName ( ) throws TFormerException

Gets the name of the DataField.

Returns:
The name of the DataField
See also:
DataField

Gets the next DataField defined in the Project.

A Project stores a list of DataField objects. You can use this method to iterate through the list. To retrieve the first DataField in the Project see Project.getFirstDataField.

Returns:
The next DataField object in the list or null

Sample: Iterate DataFields in a Stand-Alone FormLayout

  // Retrieve the global Project 
  // A stand-alone FormLayout contains only the global Project, the global Project holds all DataField definitions
  Project project = repository.getGlobalProject ();

  // Retrieve the first DataField
  DataField datafield = project.getFirstDataField ();
  while (datafield != null)
  {
    // Your code follows
    System.out.println (datafield.getName ());

    // Get the next DataField
    datafield = datafield.getNext ();
  }

Gets the type of the DataField.

Returns:
The type of the DataField
See also:
DataField

Gets the validation message of the DataField.

Returns:
The validation message of the DataField
See also:
DataField

Gets the validation rule of the DataField.

Returns:
The validation rule of the DataField
See also:
DataField
void setCaption ( String  sCaption) throws TFormerException

Sets the caption of the DataField.

Parameters:
sCaptionThe caption of the DataField
void setComment ( String  sComment) throws TFormerException

Sets the comment of the DataField.

Parameters:
sCommentThe comment of the DataField
void setCriteria ( boolean  bCriteria) throws TFormerException

Sets a flag indicating whether this DataField should be used as a criteria for a print-job.

Parameters:
bCriteriatrue if this DataField should be used as a criteria
Attention:
Internal use only
void setCriteriaColumn ( int  nCriteriaColumn) throws TFormerException

Sets the criteria column of the DataField.

Parameters:
nCriteriaColumnThe criteria column of the DataField
Attention:
Internal use only
void setCriteriaFormat ( String  sCriteriaFormat) throws TFormerException

Sets the criteria format of the DataField.

Parameters:
sCriteriaFormatThe criteria format of the DataField
Attention:
Internal use only
void setDefaultValue ( String  sDefaultValue) throws TFormerException

Sets the default value of the DataField.

Parameters:
sDefaultValueThe default value of the DataField
See also:
DataField
void setDescription ( String  sDescription) throws TFormerException

Sets the description of the DataField.

Parameters:
sDescriptionThe description of the DataField
void setDisplayOrder ( String  sDisplayOrder) throws TFormerException

Sets the display order of the DataField.

Parameters:
sDisplayOrderThe display order of the DataField
void setName ( String  sName) throws TFormerException

Sets the name of the DataField.

Parameters:
sNameThe name of the DataField
See also:
DataField
void setType ( DataFieldType  dataFieldType) throws TFormerException

Sets the type of the DataField.

Parameters:
dataFieldTypeThe type of the DataField
See also:
DataField
void setValidationMessage ( String  sValidationMessage) throws TFormerException

Sets the validation message of the DataField.

Parameters:
sValidationMessageThe validation message of the DataField
See also:
DataField
void setValidationRule ( String  sValidationRule) throws TFormerException

Sets the validation rule of the DataField.

Parameters:
sValidationRuleThe validation rule of the DataField
See also:
DataField
String toString ( )

Returns a string representation of the instance.

Returns:
A string representation of the instance

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