CSE 132 (Spring 2015)
Lab 2b: KWIC Index with GUI

Abstract:

• This lab is due mid February, and we have labs and studios on concurrency in between.
• The extra time will allow you to work on your GUI, and we will have a contest for the best GUI, as judged by a distinguished panel.
• It's possible you'll find better ways of doing things than I suggest below. Please post ideas/suggestions on piazza.

Designing your GUI

Generally, design can be an iterative process in which a given approach is prototyped, evaluated, and improved.

As a point of reference, we provide a (let's go with: "straightforward") GUI just to give you an idea of what can be done straightforwardly.

I know you can do better.

• Recall the example GUI provided as part of studio3.
• What swing elements do you see?
• Critical analysis is an important skill in this course. Try to find 3 features to critique in this design.

Developing your GUI

OK, we can do this the hard way or the easy way. Or the medium way. Or the semi-medium-easy-hard way. Or the sort of hard with a touch of awkward-easy-difficult-challenging way.:

The hard way

You can write a bunch of swing code by hand that will instantiate the visual components you want and lay them out in the way you want to see them.

We estimate this might take you a good 15 hours of work to get something you really like. It's likely that in 7 hours of work you could get something you could turn in without too much loss of pride. However....

The easy way

Most people use design tools to design GUIs these days, so why not you? The WindowBuilder GUI Builder can help you do that, and it should take most of the hassle out of building the GUI.

Development notes

• Ensure that you are using Eclipse 3.7 or later. WindowBuilder is not part of earlier versions of Eclipse.
• Look over the description of WindowBuilder. In particular, check out the Swing JFrame Wizard.
• Navigate to your project that contains your kwic package from Lab 2a.
• Create a new JFrame via File -> New -> Other, expand WindowBuilder, expand SwingDesigner, select JFrame. Give it a name, then press Finish.
• Set the Layout to Absolute. You do this in the Design View, click on Absolute from among the Layouts (approx. 1/3 of the way down the Palette), then click on the window being constructed.

  If you don't see the Design View, for example in a subsequent editing session, right-click on the class file -> Open With -> WindowBuilder Editor.

• As your first component, consider placing a JButton that can be pressed to kick off the application. when the button is pressed, arrange for the following code to execute as the button's actionPerformed:

          kwic = new KWIC();
          pcs = kwic.getPCS();
          kwic.addPhrases(new File("fortunes.txt"));
          System.out.println("OK");`
  

  The variables kwic and pcs should to be instance variables, so they can be used by other parts of the GUI.
• If you expect a component to take a lot of vertical space, consider placing it inside a JScrollPane.
• Note that KWIC notifies interested objects about changes to its map using PropertyChangeSupport. An object expresses interest by:

  pcs.addPropertyChangeListener("Phrase Added", 
       new PropertyChangeListener() {
  
           @Override
           public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent evt) {
               // react to the list of words changing
           }
  
       }
  );
  

• If you have a JList component jl, you can set its contents by either of the following:
  • setListData

       Set wordset = kwic.getWords();
       Object[] labels   = wordset.toArray();
       jl.setListData(labels);  // will use the toString of each array element
    

  • DefaultListModel, as covered in lecture
• The above assumes that the toString() of Word is to your liking. If not, just modify it to get the effect you want for the labels.
• You might want to arrange for a method to execute based on a MouseClicked event. For example, clicking in a window containing a list may then trigger some action based on what is selected.
• If you have a JList component jl, you can find out which value is selected using getSelectedValue().

The above ideas are based on a brief excursion into GUI building. If you find better, more convenient, or clearer ways of dealing with the swing components via WindowBuilder, please share them via piazza.

Submitting your work

Grading rubric

Use the rubric below to self assess your work on this lab. The final grade will be assigned when the TAs gather to grade the labs and choose contest winner(s).

C

Bare minimum: loads KWIC, gets all phrases associated with a word

B- to B+

Additional functionality but not complete

A-

Full functionality, can add/delete words and phrases, possibly force associations between words and phrases

A to A+

Anything additional, this will ultimately be subject to TA discretion

Demo

When you done with this studio, you must be cleared by the TA to receive credit.

• Commit all your work to your repository!

  If you do not commit, the TAs cannot grade your work and you will receive a 0 for this assignment!

• Fill in the form below with the relevant information
• Have a TA check your work
• The TA should check your work and then fill in his or her name
• Click OK while the TA watches
• If you request propagation, it does not happen immediately, but should be posted in the next day or so

Features (TA, verify!):		bare minimum	Loads KWIC, gets all phrases associated with a word
		mostly	Additional functionality but not everything
		everything	Can add/delete words and phrases
		additional stuff	Can also force and drop associations
Does this merit consideration for the contest?	Contest entry?

	Last name	WUSTL Key	Propagate?
		(or your numeric ID)		Do not propagate
e.g.	Smith	j.smith
1				Copy from 1 to all others
2				Copy from 2 to all others

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TA: Make sure they commit their code before you sign them out!

TA: Password: