XAOS (ΧΑΟΣ – the primordial state of existence)

A JavaFX application framework based on JacpFX (Java Asynchronous Client Platform) made initially to create accelerator physics applications based on Open XAL, an open source development environment used for creating accelerator physics applications, scripts and services.

Application Layout

The framework will allow applications having a generic layout with the following components:

• A toolbar in the top area, with 3 groups of buttons:

  • On the left, the buttons controlling the display of the left and bottom views;
  • On the right, the button controlling the display of the right view;
  • On the center, application specific buttons.

  If the application will not use outer views, the corresponding buttons will not be displayed. Moreover, if no application specific buttons are added, the whole toolbar will not be displayed.

• A status bar in the bottom area, where status message and other informations are displayed. The status bar can be omitted it the application doesn't need it.

• Peripheral views (browser, navigator/overview, console/messages, palette, and inspector/properties), where the application can register content to be displayed. If some of the views are not used then will not be displayed. When displayed, the splitters will allow to resize them.

• The main view area used by the application to display its main content.

Outer View Areas

The complete application is made of 6 view areas, where the main one is always visible.

A view areas is visible only if at least one view is registered. The only exception is the main area, where views can be added dynamically, and no initial view is required.

Browser View Area

The browser view should be used to navigate high-level structures in order to find elements to be opened in dedicated views inside the main area.

Navigator/Overview View Area

This view area should be used to navigate the content of selected entities, or display an overview of a more detailed zone displayed in the currently visible main view.

Console/Messages View Area

The console view should be used to display messages from the application to the users, mirroring, for example, the standard System.out and System.err streams.

Palette View Area

The palette view area is where to display a set of (draggable or selectable) elements frequently used by the user.

Inspector/Properties View Area

This area should be used to display details of the element selected in the currently visible main view. Usually a table of name/value pairs is used to list the properties of the selected element, but other visualizations are possible too.

Main View Area

The main view area will contains one or more views (not necessarily "document-based") showing the data the use will act upon. The views in the main area can be opened from user's interaction in the browser and/or the navigation area, or programmatically.

How View Are Displayed

Inside the main and console view areas, views are displayed in a tab container. In the remaining view areas, the alternative between tab container or accordion can be chosen.

Tools and Utilities

Service Providers

The ServiceProvider annotation will simplify providing service implementations, taking care of publishing them in the proper file inside the META-INF/service folder.

package my.module;
import my.module.spi.SomeService;
import se.europeanspallationsource.framework.annotation.ServiceProvider;

@ServiceProvider(service=SomeService.class)
public class MyService implements SomeService {
  ...
}

Moreover, the ServiceLoaderUtilities class will complement the java.util.ServiceLoader one with few more methods.

Using XAOS

Maven

<dependency>
	<groupId>se.europeanspallationsource</groupId>
	<artifactId>xaos</artifactId>
	<version>0.1.0</version>
	<scope>compile</scope>
</dependency>