Custom Objects

Users can customize the Display Builder's Object Palette using SL's J-Developer product to generate dynamic Java based objects.

Creating Custom Java Objects with SL-GMS J-Developer

Use SL-GMS J-Developer to create a wide variety of primitive graphic objects or import object drawings from other programs like Microsoft® Visio.

SL-GMS J-Developer comes with SL-GMSDraw, a dynamic graphic editor that provides over fifty animated behaviors (color, size, rotation, fill, movement, etc.) that change based on real-time data input. Once objects are defined, SL-GMSDraw outputs Java code that can be compiled with J/Developer libraries. When objects generated with J/Developer are added to the Object Palette, their properties automatically appear in the Display Builder's Object Property list.

Objects generated with J/Developer are supported in all deployments, including Java application and thin client.

Refer to the Creating Custom Objects tutorial for an example of how to create custom objects with SL-GMS J-Developer and add them to the Object Palette.

Creating Custom Objects

This tutorial will teach you how to create custom objects with SL-GMS J-Developer and add them to the Object Palette in RTView.

Learn to:

• Use SL-GMSDraw to create customized dynamic graphic objects
• Convert objects to Java classes
• Add your custom objects to the Object Palette in RTView

Get Started

To get started you will need to install SL-GMS J-Developer in a separate directory from RTView. In order to proceed, you will need to register for a J-Developer license key.

Note: The key you received for RTView will not work for J-Developer.

Register for a License Key

Open the J-Developer registration dialog and follow the instructions in the dialog to receive your license key.

On Windows

1. Select:

Start-->Programs-->SL-GMS J-Developer-->Registration

On UNIX

1. In a GMS command prompt, type:

GmsRegister

Creating Customized Dynamic Graphic Objects

Start SL-GMSDraw

On Windows

1. Select:

Start-->Programs-->SL-GMS J-Developer-->GMSDraw_mfc

On UNIX

1. Open a UNIX terminal window.
2. In the terminal window, go to your J-Developer installation directory.
3. Initialize the terminal window:

type source gms_init

Note: Leave this initialized terminal window open, you will need to use it again later in this tutorial.

4. Start SL-GMSDraw:

type gmsdraw_xm

You are now ready to create a dynamic graphic object.

Create a Dynamic Graphic Object

At this point you have:

• Registered for a license key
• Started SL-GMSDraw
1. Select File>New
2. Click on the filled rectangle tool from the toolbar on the left of the window.

As you move the cursor over the drawing window, the position of the cursor is listed in the status bar in the bottom right corner.

3. Click at approximately 5, 10, and then click again at approximately 10, 5.

You should now have a blue rectangle.

4. Right-click and select Done to exit the rectangle mode.
5. If the rectangle is not selected, select it, then select Dynamics>Object Dynamic Properties.

The Object Dynamic Properties dialog displays, which allows you to enter dynamics for this object.

6. In this dialog type:

*

fpercent value

7. Click Apply, then Close.

You have now defined a dynamic that will cause the rectangle fill to move up and down according to the value of a variable called value.

8. If the rectangle is not selected, select it, then select Object>Move.

The dialog should already be set up to move the object to the point 0, 0.

9. Click Apply, then Close.
10. Select File>Change Directory and change your current directory to your RTView installation directory.
11. Change your current directory again to demos (located in your RTView installation directory) and then click Close.
12. Save your file in the demos directory and name it tutorial.m1.
13. To test the dynamics before you convert the graphic to a Java class, select Dynamics>Edit Data File.

In this window type:

value step 0. 100. 0. 10.

14. Click Save File, then Close.

You have now created a file called tutorial.dat that will simulate data changes to a variable called value, which will increment between 0 and 100.

15. If necessary, scroll the window so you can see the rectangle.
16. Select Dynamics>Preview Options and in the Preview Options dialog, click Start.

The rectangle should initially be unfilled and then the fill level will move up and down.

17. Click Stop to end the preview.
18. Exit SL-GMSDraw.

You are now ready to convert your object to a Java class.

Convert Object to Java Class

In order to add your object to the RTView Object Palette you must convert it to a Java class.

On Windows

1. Select Start-->Programs-->SL-GMS J-Developer-->GMS Command Prompt.
2. In the Command Prompt window, go to your RTView installation directory and type:

rtv_init

3. In the initialized Command Prompt window, go from your installation directory to the demos directory and confirm that your tutorial.m1 file is in this directory.
4. In the same initialized window, type:

make_rtvobject tutorial

You have now created a class file called tutorial.class. You are ready to add your object to the RTView Object Palette.

On UNIX

1. Open a UNIX terminal window.
2. In the terminal window, go to your RTView installation directory.
3. Initialize the terminal window.

csh bsh

type source rtv_init type . ./rtv_init.ksh

Note: You must initialize each new terminal window you open. See the Setup section for more details about setting up your environment.

4. In the initialized terminal window, go from your installation directory to the demos directory and confirm that your tutorial.m1 file is in this directory.
5. In the same initialized window, type:

make_rtvobject tutorial

You have now created a class file called tutorial.class. You are ready to add your object to the RTView Object Palette.

Add an Object to the RTView Object Palette

At this point you have:

• Created an object in SL-GMSDraw
• Converted your object to a Java class

Each tab in the Object Palette window is defined by an XML file. You will need to create this file and then modify the palette initialization file so that RTView will load your tab in the Object Palette. (A future version of RTView will provide an interface for modifying the Object Palette.)

1. In a text editor, such as Notepad or vi, create a new file and enter the following:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<palette>

<object name="Tutorial" class="tutorial" value="25">

</object>

</palette>

Note: The object name is arbitrary, but the class must match the name of the class file you created (without the .class extension). The value will set the initial value of the fill percent to 25.

2. Save this text file in the demos directory as tutorial.rtp.
3. Copy the PALETTE.ini file from the lib directory into the demos directory.
4. In a text editor, edit the new copy of PALETTE.ini:

Add the following line to the bottom of the file:

Tutorial tutorial.rtp

5. Save and close PALETTE.ini.

You are now ready to use your new object in RTView.

Use Custom Object in RTView

To use your custom object in RTView, you need to start the XML data simulator and login to the Display Builder.

Start the XML Data Simulator

In this exercise you start the XML Data Simulator which is the XML source used in this tutorial.

On Windows

1. In an initialized Windows command window (see Initializing a Command Prompt or Terminal Window ), go to the demos directory, and type:

start run_simdata

The XML data simulator is ready when dots appear across the screen.

On UNIX

1. In an initialized terminal window (see Initializing a Command Prompt or Terminal Window ), go to the demos directory, and start the XML Data Simulator by typing:

run_simdata &

The XML data simulator runs as a background process and is ready when dots appear in the console.

Start the Display Builder

On Windows

1. Start the Display Builder in your original, initialized terminal window by typing:

start run_builder

2. Login to the Display Builder. By default, the Display Builder does not require a login. Login can be enabled at setup to support Role-based Security. The default user name and password are:

User Name: admin

Password: admin

Note: It is possible that your system administrator may have configured another user name and password. In this case, you may also need to select a role.

You are now ready to create a display.

On UNIX

1. Start the Display Builder in your original, initialized terminal window:

type run_builder &

2. Login to the Display Builder. By default, the Display Builder does not require a login. Login can be enabled at setup to support Role-based Security. The default user name and password are:

User Name: admin

Password: admin

Note: It is possible that your system administrator may have configured another user name and password. In this case, you may also need to select a role. See Role-based Security for more information.

You are now ready to create a display.

Create A Display

At this point you have:

• Created an object in SL-GMSDraw
• Converted your object to a Java class
• Modified the PALETTE.ini file
• Started the XML data simulator
• Started the Display Builder

Add an XML Source to XML Source List

To animate your custom object, you will need to add an XML source, update.xml, to the XML Source List.

1. Select Tools>Options to open the Application Options dialog.
2. Select the XML Tab and click Add to open the Add XML Source dialog.
3. In the Add XML Source dialog:

XML Source Name - Enter update.xml

Note: The update.xml source is generated by the XML data simulator. See Creating XML Sources for technical details on creating and formatting your own XML source.

4. Click OK to close the Add XML Source dialog. The XML source appears in the list of available XML Data Sources.
5. Click OK to apply and close the Application Options dialog.

The XML source is now available for animating objects.

Attach Your Custom Object to Data

To attach your object to the XML data source, you will need to add it to a display and attach it to a Data Key called element1_load.

1. In the Object Palette, select the Tutorial tab and add your object to the display.

In the Object Properties dialog one of the available properties is value; this corresponds to the dynamic that you added to the object when you created your object in SL-GMSDraw.

2. In the Object Properties dialog:

value (category: Data) - Right-click in the Property Name field and select Attach to Data>XML

3. In the Attach to XML Data dialog:

XML Source - update.xml should already be selected.

Data Key - Select element1_load from the drop down menu.

4. Click OK to apply these values and close the Attach to XML Data dialog.

The rectangle is now animated with real-time data updates provided by the value of the element1_load Data Key.

Make Custom Palettes and Objects Available Throughout RTView

The palette and object that you created in this example will be available only when you start the Display Builder from the demos directory. In this exercise, you will replace the standard RTView files with your customized versions to make your customized palette and object available from other directories.

RTView looks for PALETTE.ini in the directory where you start the Display Builder. If it is not there, RTView searches under lib in your installation directory. Similarly, RTView looks for palette XML files (.rtp) and object classes (.class) in the directory where you start the Display Builder. If they are not there, RTView searches in the classpath. To add a .class file to the classpath, pack it into a .jar file and add it to the RTV_USERPATH environment variable.

Replace the standard PALETTE.ini with your custom version

1. Go to the lib directory, located in your RTView installation directory.
2. Rename PALETTE.ini to PALETTE.ini0. This will allow you to revert to the original PALETTE.ini if necessary.
3. Copy your customized version of PALETTE.ini into the lib directory.

Add your palette (.rtp) files and object class (.class) files to the classpath

1. In a GMS command window, go to the demos directory and type:

jar –cvf myclasses.jar *.rtp *.class

2. Add RTV_HOME\demos\myclasses.jar to the RTV_USERPATH environment variable.

Your customized palette and objects are now available throughout your version of RTView.

More Information About SL-GMSDraw

For more information on creating customized dynamic graphics with SL-GMSDraw, refer the J-Developer documentation in Start-->Programs-->SL-GMS J-Developer-->Documentation (PDF). On Unix, open jdoc\JDEV.pdf.