DateSpinner - Description

Overview

Audience

This document is intended to be used by application builders who would like to build Java applications which provide date increment/decrement functionality. The application developer is expected to be familiar with the Java language and the JavaBeans architecture. The developer should be familiar with building applications by linking beans in an application builder tool. Familiarity with the functionality of DateSpinner would be advantageous, though not mandatory. No knowledge about the implementation of DateSpinner is required in order to use these beans.

How to Use This Guide

Guide Conventions

Typographical Conventions

Conventions	Description	Example
Text in italics	figures, reference to chapters and other sections, task name etc.	Figure 1, Overview, etc.
Round bullets	list of points	NumericSpinner Bean DateSpinner Bean TimeSpinner Bean
Text in Courier font	names of classes,methods, events, part of code included in the document, etc.	ActionPerformed

Images

Image	Used to
	navigate to the previous sub-heading
	navigate to the previous main heading
	return to the Table of Contents
	represent a Note information

Guide Organization

Overview - introduces the user to the DateSpinner bean. Provides information like intended audience, guide conventions, guide organization and copyrights

Bean at a Glance - gives a brief overview of the bean. It also provides information on the commonly used methods, events and properties.

Bean Description - explains the bean in detail. It provides information on dependencies, security, customization, etc.

Summaries - summarizes the properties, methods and events of the bean.

Reference to Properties - links to the respective properties.

Reference to Methods - links to the respective methods.

Reference to Events - links to the respective events.

Support Classes - provides information on the public classes.

See Also- links to related topics

Copyrights And Trademarks

IBM and VisualAge are trademarks of International Business Machines in the United States and/or other countries.

* Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc, in the U.S. and other countries.

Bean at a Glance

Bean Overview

public class DateSpinner extends Spinner
This bean is a component with two small direction buttons that lets the user modify the value in an input field or possibly enter a new legal date value directly in the input field. By setting the value of the specified property, the user can separately increase the year, month and day. It allows different date formats(i.e. mm/dd/yyyy or dd/mm/yyyy).

Commonly used Methods, Events and Properties

Creation Methods

DateSpinner()
DateSpinner(int mask_index)

Key Properties

currentValue
minValue
maxValue
stepValue
stepUnit
elapsedDays
dateMaskIndex

Commonly used Methods

getCurrent()
Gets the current date value of the DateSpinner.
setCurrent(Date cur_val)
Sets the current date value of the DateSpinner.

Key Events

Increment - The event is fired to all registered ActionListeners when the currrent value of DateSpinner increases.
Decrement - The event is fired to all registered ActionListeners when the currrent value of DateSpinner decreases.

Bean Description

Functional Overview

The DateSpinner allows

Configuring the date displaying format.
Setting the date change range in two ways(1.Specify the Start date and the End date;2. Specify the Start date and the number of days after the Start date).
Setting the minimum, maximum, incremental value and current value.
Indicating wether to display corresponding day of the current date value in the week.
Selecting the color of the up/down arrow.
Getting the string representation of the current date value.
Setting the style of the direction buttons.

Dependencies

The DateSpinner requires the services of

Its base class Spinner.

Security

Only Java security restrictions apply.

User Interface

The bean has a user-friendly GUI. Refer to the section User Interface in the Spinner Overall bean documentation for detailed information.

Introspection

public class DateSpinnerBeanInfo

Summaries

Property Summary

<Name>	[Constrained \| Bound \| Indexed ]	<Datatype>	<Description>	<default value>	<access type>
dateMaskIndex	Bound	int	Date format option	0	Read / Write
stepUnit	Bound	int	Step unit (year,month or day)	0	Read / Write
stepValue	Bound	int	Increment value	1	Read / Write
minValue	Bound	Date	Minimum value	1998-01-01	Read / Write
maxValue	Bound	Date	Maximum value	1998-12-31	Read / Write
currentValue	Bound	Date	Current value	1998-01-01	Read / Write
elapsedDays	Bound	int	Days between Minimum and Maximum value	364	Read / Write
dayDisplayEnabled	Bound	boolean	Day displaying option	true	Read / Write

Method Summary

Methods to add / remove listeners for the events fired by the bean :

addActionListener / removeActionListener

Methods that may be used by the application container to set / get properties of the DateSpinner. This list is a representative sample, please refer to the API reference for details.

setDateFormat - sets the date displaying format
getDateFormat - gets the current date displaying format
setCurrent - sets the current date value
getCurrent - gets the current date value

Event Summary

As Listener :

EventListener Interfaces -

ActionListener

EventObject -

ActionEvent

Reference to Properties

currentValue - indicates the current value

Type : Date
Get : getCurrent()
Set : setCurrent(Date cur_val)

dateMaskIndex - indicates the current date displaying format.

Type : int
Get : getDateFormat()
Set : setDateFormat(int mask_index)
Value : 0

dayDisplayEnabled - indicates the day displaying option

Type : boolean
Get : isDayDisplayEnabled()
Set : setDayDisplayEnabled(boolean disp_flag)
Value : true

elapsedDays - indicates the days between minimum and maximum value

Type: int
Get : getElapsedDays()
Set : setElapsedDays(int days)
Value : 364

maxValue - indicates the maximum value

Type : Date
Get : getMax()
Set : setMax(Date max_val)
Value : 1998-12-31

minValue - indicates the minimum value

Type : Date
Get : getMin()
Set : setMin(Date min_val)
Value : 1998-01-01

stepUnit - indicates the increment/decrement unit(year,month and day)

Type : int
Get : getStepUnit()
Set : setStepUnit(int unit)
Value : 1

stepValue - indicates the increment value

Type : int
Get : getStep()
Set : setStep(int step_val)
Value : 1

Reference to Methods

public void addActionListener(ActionListener l)
Adds the specified action listener to receive action events.

Parameters:
l - the ActionListener to be added.

public DateSpinner()

Constructor for DateSpinner. Constructs a DateSpinner with default settings. The GUI is constructed and initialized with pre-set values.

public DateSpinner(int mask_index)

Constructor for DateSpinner. Constructs a DateSpinner with specified date format.

Parameters:
mask_index - the date format index.

public Date getCurrent()

Gets the current date value.

Returns:
the current date value.

public int getDateFormat()

Gets the date format.

Returns:
the date format.

public int getElapsedDays()

Gets the elapsed days between the minimum and the maximum value.

Returns:
the elapsed days between the minimum and the maximum value.

public Date getMax()

Gets the maximum value.

Returns:
the maximum value.

public Date getMin()

Gets the minimum value.

Returns:
the minimum value.

public int getStep()

Gets the increment value.

Returns:
the increment value.

public int getStepUnit()

Gets the increment unit(i.e. year,month and day).

Returns:
the increment unit.

public boolean isDayDisplayEnabled()

Returns a boolean to indicate wether the day display option is selected.

Returns:
the day display option.

public void removeActionListener(ActionListener l)

Removes the specified action listener so that it will no longer receive action events.

Parameters:
l - the ActionListener to be removed.

public void setCurrent(Date cur_val)

Sets the current date value.

Parameters:
cur_val - the desired date value.

public void setDateFormat(int mask_index)

Sets the date format.

Parameters:
mask_index - the desired date format.

public void setDayDisplayEnabled(boolean disp_flag)

Sets the day display option.

Parameters:
disp_flag - boolean to indicate the day display option.

public void setElapsedDays(int val)

Sets the elapsed days between the minimum and the maximum value (Note that when the elapsed days changes to a different value, the maximum value will be changed accordingly).

Parameters:
val - the desired elapsed days between the minimum and the maximum value.

public void setMax(Date max_val)

Sets the maximum value.

Parameters:
max_val - the desired maximum value.

public void setMin(Date min_val)

Sets the minimum value.

Parameters:
min_val - the desired minimum value.

public void setStep(int step_val)

Sets the increment value.

Parameters:
step_val - the desired increment value.

public void setStepUnit(int unit)

Sets the increment unit(i.e. year, month and day).

Parameters:
unit -the desired increment unit.

Reference to Events

The DateSpinner fires the following events:

increment/decrement event to

All registered ActionListeners

As Listener

public class java.awt.event ActionEvent
Specifies the DateSpinner current increment/decrement value.

public interface java.awt.event.ActionListener
Event listener interface for ActionEvent. The methods contained in the interface are:

public abstract void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)

Indicates the current increment/decrement value.

Parameters:
e - ActionEvent.

Support Classes

None.