Re: Invocations

From:

Thomas Hawtin <usenet@tackline.plus.com>

Newsgroups:

comp.lang.java.programmer

Date:

Tue, 02 May 2006 15:08:18 +0100

Message-ID:

<4457741b$0$9239$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net>

Stefan Ram wrote:

Ian Wilson <scobloke2@infotop.co.uk> writes:

this.add( titleLabel,
new GBC( 0,0, 2,1, 0.0,0.0, GBC.WEST, GBC.NONE, 5,5,0,5, 0,0 ));

For readability, one would actually like to have keyword
arguments as in Smalltalk, SQL or VBA. As in

Does SQL have keyword arguments?

In Java one could use either

Or:

     GridBagConstraints cons = new GridBagConstraints() {{ // Evil...
             gridx = 0; gridy = 0; gridwidth = 2; gridheight = 1; ...
     }};

However, your colleagues might want to have words with you if they saw
that...

From 1.5 the constants can be imported with import static. My
preference is to subclass GridBagConstraints with a class that is more
suited as a builder. Also replace the use of int constants with enums. So:

import mypackage.layout.GridBag.Constraints;
import static mypackage.layout.GridBag.Constraints.Anchor.*;
import static mypackage.layout.GridBag.Constraints.Fill.*;
....
     Constraints cons = new Constraints()
         .gridLocation(0, 0)
         .gridSize(2, 1)
         .anchor(WEST)
         .fill(HORIZONTAL)
         .insets(5, 5, 0, 5);
....

Tom Hawtin
--
Unemployed English Java programmer
http://jroller.com/page/tackline/