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P. Michael Hutchins · Guest

My class has the requisite:

public JcsPublisherGUI() {
try {
jbInit();
}
catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

(where:
public class JcsPublisherGUI
extends JFrame implements DocumentListener {
)

when I go into the designer, I get a red block that seems to be complaining about the top-level class..
...but the Messages I get are useless..
...eg:
Problems encountered while processing the source code. Please check for possible syntax errors or uninitialized fields and variables.
Failed to create live visual subcomponent this as . Creating a red component in its place
....
...and..
Failed to create live visual subcomponent publishJButton as JButton publishJButton = new JButton();. Creating using default constructor javax.swing.JButton
(I mean what could possibly be the default constructor except for the one it's saying I'm using?)

Thanks in advance,

-- M.

Lori M Olson [TeamB] · Guest

P. Michael Hutchins wrote:

P.Michael Hutchins · Guest

"Lori M Olson [TeamB]" <javadragon (AT) techie (DOT) com> wrote:

Lori M Olson [TeamB] · Guest

P.Michael Hutchins wrote:

Paul Furbacher [TeamB] · Guest

Lori M Olson [TeamB] wrote:

P.Michael Hutchins · Guest

First, THANK YOU! especially Paul's taking the trouble to give some more explanatory detail.
(I had never heard of anything like Beans.isDesignTime().)
(I don't use Beans (knowingly), so maybe that's one way in
which I'm missing out on the (implicit) background knowledge
required to use Designer, given that it doesn't bother to
tell you what's wrong.)

(I would appreciate a short response to this sub-issue.)

Now, ... I want to review a bit in order to explain what happened.

for ref., the info from JB Help:

--------------------
Handling red beans

If JBuilder can't create an instance of a component for the
designer, the component appears as a red box with its class name at the top.
This is called a red bean.

Red beans appear when:
o The class, or its constructor, is not public.
o The class threw exceptions on every constructor JBuilder
tried.
o The class is the this object and extends an abstract class.

Fix the first two issues by supplying a public default constructor.

The third issue is more complex.
When JBuilder needs to instantiate an object to be the this object, it can't instantiate the object you're designing.
To circumvent this problem, JBuilder instantiates the superclass of the this object.
If the superclass is abstract, it can't be instantiated.
It's necessary to provide a concrete (non-abstract) proxy class.
If this is what you need to do, please consult the Release Notes in the directory containing your JBuilder installation.
----------------------------

now...

I wasn't quite precise in my ZERO response..
...what *is* precise is the following:

The first item ("The class, or its constructor, is not public.") is not the case.

As for the second item, how in the world would I know, since JB doesn't bother to tell me?
(This is, IMHO, a serious shortcoming in JBuilder.)

The third item is not the case.

AND

The suggested fix ("Fix the first two issues by supplying a public default constructor.") does not work.

Only when I read through Paul's response did it dawn on me what's maybe going on.
:
Hypothesis:
What's implicit in the suggested fix is that there must be a
default constructor.
But what in fact is required is that JB must be able to
construct the object..
(& any other objects it requires)
..using *only* default constructors.

Do you see how these two things are very different?

So what the fix should say is that you have to go through all the code that's involved in creating your
object w/ the default constructor - looking for anything that uses other than the default constructor.

(and that's a pain in the butt; why in the world can't JBuilder tell us where it's having problems?)

If there's a better (read "higher productivity") way of finding the offender(s), PLEASE tell me!

And finally, Paul, it almost sounded like you were saying that using only default constructors is good
programming practice in general. Do you in fact assert that? I've never run across that point of view..
...and I have quite strong leanings in the opposite direction.

Thanks again,

-- M.

Paul Furbacher [TeamB] · Guest

P.Michael Hutchins wrote:

P.Michael Hutchins · Guest

Thank you again, Paul.

I had hoped for a reply to my remaining core questions; let me [re]state them in their current state:

I:

The only possibility that I can see as remaining for why Designer failed, yielding a "red bean" is:

o The class threw exceptions on every constructor JBuilder
tried.

As I said, it's hard to know whether (or *when*) this is the case, given that JB apparently doesn't bother to tell me this.

Am I missing something?

- - - - - -
II:

The suggested fix ("Fix the first two issues by supplying a public default constructor.") does not work.

Only when I read through Paul's response did it dawn on me what's maybe going on.
:
Hypothesis:
What's implicit in the suggested fix is that there must be a
default constructor.
But what in fact is required is that JB must be able to
construct the object..
(& any other objects it requires)
..using *only* default constructors.

Do you see how these two things are very different?

So what the fix should say is that you have to go through all the code that's involved in creating your
object w/ the default constructor - looking for anything that uses other than the default constructor.

(II.a: Do you agree?)

(and that's a pain in the butt; why in the world can't JBuilder tell us where it's having problems?)

If there's a better (read "higher productivity") way of finding the offender(s), PLEASE tell me!

(II.b: If there's not, would you please tell me that that's what you think too.)

- - - - - -
III:

Using a fine-toothed comb, I did manage to find some things that - apparently - gave Designer indigestion.

....but I haven't managed to find what's bothering it about four objects; here's all the code that'sxz in JBinit() for one of them:
if (Beans.isDesignTime()) {
destinationJComboBox = new JComboBox();
} else {
destinationJComboBox = new JComboBox(JAGUAR_enums.components);
}
//
destinationTitledBorder = new TitledBorder(
BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder(Color.white, new Color(148, 145, 140)), "Destination");
destinationJComboBox.setEnabled(false);
destinationJComboBox.setBounds(new Rectangle(10, 22, 291, 24));

(For this guy, Designer sez:
Failed to create live visual subcomponent destinationJComboBox as JComboBox destinationJComboBox;. Creating using default constructor javax.swing.JComboBox
)

I don't understand why; do you?

Finally, I'm going to create a new thread to ask about whatever other Designer issues there are that leave me with a featureless gray rectangle with all my components seemingly (bec. invisibly) with random sizes and locations.

Paul Furbacher [TeamB] · Guest

P.Michael Hutchins wrote:

P.Michael Hutchins · Guest

"Paul Furbacher [TeamB]" <pfurbacher (AT) mac (DOT) com> wrote: