Term Paper Of Component Based Software

Submitted to Preeti Sikka Submitted by Diwakar Sharma Reg No. 11113779

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A very big thanks to my teacher Preeti Sikka Madan,who taught me how to work for this term paper.She was very helpful,as she cleared all the concepts of a term paper to me.A special thanks to my colleages who helped me out in doing hard work in making this term paper,without their support this couldnt be possible.

Flex Component Life-cycle

What is it?

Sequence of steps that occur when you create a component object from a component class. As part of this process, Flex automatically calls component methods, dispatches events, and makes the component visible.

Component Life-cycle steps

Creation
Construction Configuration Attachment Initialization

Life

Invalidation Validation

Creation Construction

Purpose
Create an instance of a component class Configure the object by setting its initial properties

Examples
In Actionscript:
var b:Button = new Button(); b.label = test; b.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClick);

Creation Configuration
In MXML

<mx:Button label=test click=onClick(event) />

Purpose

Set initial properties with setters

Generic setter features

Check to see if the value has changed Set a private instance of the value Set a boolean flag to indicate the property has changed Schedule component for invalidation (if necessary) Dispatch binding events (optional)

Creation Configuration

Adobe does this in their component framework.

Check to see if the value has changed private var

_label:String = ; private var _labelChanged:Boolean = false; public function set label (value:String):void { if (_label != value) { } }

Set a private instance of the new value private var

_label:String = ; private var _labelChanged:Boolean = false;

Creation Configuration
public function set label (value:String):void { if (_label != value) { _label = value; } }

Set a boolean flag to indicate the value change

private var _label:String = ; private var _labelChanged:Boolean = false; public function set label (value:String):void { if (_label != value) { _label = value;

Creation Configuration
_labelChanged = true; } }

Schedule component for invalidation (optional)

private var _label:String = _labelChanged:Boolean = false; ; private var

public function set label (value:String):void { if (_label != value) { _label = value; _labelChanged = true; invalidateProperties(); invalidateSize(); invalidateDisplayList();

Creation Configuration
} }

Dispatch binding events (optional) private var

_label:String = ; private var _labelChanged:Boolean = false; public function set label (value:String):void { if (_label != value) { _label = value; _labelChanged = true; invalidateProperties(); invalidateSize(); invalidateDisplayList(); dispatchEvent(new Event(labelChanged));

Creation Configuration
} }

Dispatch binding events (optional)

[Bindable(labelChanged)] public function get label ():String { return _label; }

Creation Attachment

Purpose
Attach the component to the display list.

Component life-cycle is stalled after configuration until attachment occurs In Actionscript: panel.addChild(button); In MXML:

Creation
Don't need to do anything, the child is automatically added according to how it is nested. <mx:Panel
id=panel > <mx:Button id=button /> </mx:Panel>

Initialization

Consists of 1 life-cycle phase and 3 events

preinitialize event is dispatched on the component

Creation

Component is in a very raw state. Its children have not yet been added (including internal children) Use this event in rare circumstances (set the properties on a parent before the children are created)

createChildren() method is called by Flex on the component

override this method from UIComponent Add child components that make up your custom component Construct component, set properties, add to display list

Creation Initialization

Consists of 1 life-cycle phase and 3 events

initialize event is dispatched
At this point, the component's children have been added and the component's initial properties are set, but it has not been sized, positioned, or processed for layout Use this event to perform additional processing before layout

childAdd event is dispatched from parent

Creation

If the parent is also being initialized, its initialize event is dispatched when all of its children are added.

Life Invalidation

Deferred Validation
Flex uses a deferred validation for rendering components in their various states Central concept in the component life-cycle

Life
Use private variables and boolean flags to defer setting any render-related properties until the proper validation method is reached

Invalidation

Deferred Validation
3 methods that trigger validation methods

Life Validation

invalidateProperties() --> commitProperties()

Use this to set any of the component's properties

invalidateSize() --> measure()

Use this to change the component's default size

invalidateDisplayList() --> updateDisplayList()

Use this to change the component's size or position

Purpose
Apply the changes deferred until validation

3 Phases occur in validation

Life
commitProperties() measure() updateDisplayList()

Life Validation

commitProperties()
Purpose
Commit any changes to component properties Synchronize changes to occur at the same time or ensure that they are set in a specific order When is it called? Immediately after the initialize event during component creation Whenever invalidateProperties() is called

What is its phase order

Life Validation

This method is updateDisplayList()

called

before

measure()

or

This allows you to set property values that influence size or position

commitProperties()
Example

Life Validation

measure()
Purpose

Calculate the component's preferred width and height and its preferred minimum width and height When is it called? After commitProperties() during initialization When the invalidateSize() method is called NOTE: measure() will never be called if the component is given an explicit width or height What is its phase order? After commitProperties() and before updateDisplayList()

Life Validation

measure()
Caveats
Only 4 properties should normally be set in measure()
measuredHeight The default height of the component measuredWidth The default width of the component measuredMinHeight The default minimum height of the component measuredMinWidth

Life Validation

The default minimum width of the component

Use getExplicitOrMeasuredHeight() getExplicitOrMeasuredWidth() to get proportions.

and child

measure() Example

Life Validation
updateDisplayList()

Purpose

To position and size children Allow use of the Drawing API to draw on the component After measure() during the initialization process When invalidateDisplayList() is called What is it's After measure()

When is it called?

order?

Life Validation

updateDisplayList()
Caveats
Position children using move(x, y), size them using setActualSize(width, height) instead of using the x, y, width, height properties
Adobe recommends these methods because they work better with Container layouts. These methods are said to be quirky at times, so if they don't work for some reason just set the properties manually.

updateDisplayList()

Life Validation
unscaledWidth, unscaledHeight

Arguments for updateDisplayList() Indicate the width and height of the component as dictated by its parent. They do not take scaleX and scaleY properties into account, so you will have to calculate scaling manually if needs be.

updateComplete event is dispatched by the component after its updateDisplayList() is executed

Life Validation

Use this event for actions that must be performed each time a component's characteristics change, not just when it is created.

updateDisplayList()

Example

Reference
http://www.iamdeepa.com/ http://opensource.adobe.com/wiki/display/flexsdk/Gumbo http://opensource.adobe.com/wiki/display/flexsdk/Gumbo+Component+Architecture