Diff for "TooltipsAndContextMenusForRender"

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About this document

This is an official Request for Comment (RFC) for adding tooltip and context menu functionality to the Cytoscape 2.3 renderer.

For details on RFCs in general, check out the [http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Request+for+Comments&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&linktext=Request%20for%20Comments Wikipedia Entry: Request for Comments (RFCs)]

Status

revised 19 May 2006 (Allan Kuchinsky)

How to Comment

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Try to keep your comments as concrete and constructive as possible. For example, if you find a part of the RFC makes no sense, please say so, but don't stop there. Take the extra step and propose alternatives.

Proposal

Context Menus

Cytoscape 2.3 will feature a redesigned scheme for context menus which are designed to work with the new renderer.

The scheme is based upon two new interfaces called NodeContextMenuListener and EdgeContextMenuListener, each of which has one method for adding menu items to a context menu:

void addNodeContextMenuItems (NodeView nodeView, JPopupMenu menu);
void addEdgeContextMenuItems (EdgeView edgeView, JPopupMenu menu);

The CyNetwork interface defines methods for adding node and edge context listeners, so when you have a class that implements these interfaces, you add objects of that class to the current network view, e.g.

Cytoscape.getCurrentNetworkView().addNodeContextMenuListener(this);
Cytoscape.getCurrentNetworkView().addEdgeContextMenuListener(this);

The routines for building the context menus are in the InnerCanvas class. Basic idea is that the InnerCanvas instantiates the popup menu, then, depending upon whether a NodeView or EdgeView is the object right-clicked upon, calls the addNodeContextMenuItems() method on each NodeContextMenuListener or the addEdgeContextMenuItems() method on each EdgeContextMenuListener , then shows the menu.

Each NodeContextMenuListener and EdgeContextMenuListener can add JMenuItems, separators, basically do whatever it wants with the JPopupMenu that is passed in to it, all of this using the conventional swing methods for building up menu items. Under the current scheme, each NodeContextMenuListener and EdgeContextMenuListener is responsible for checking whether the JMenuItem already exists on the menu and doing other sanity checks.

This is a more direct and simpler scheme than what has been done for context menus under Cytoscape 2.2.

Tooltips

We have been able to add NodeView tooltip functionality to the renderer without requiring any changes to plugins and other code that uses tooltips.

The renderer's InnerCanvas class is a JComponent, thus one can setToolTipText() on it. We modified the DNodeView class -- not a JComponent -- to maintain an instance variable that is set whenever a call to setToolTip() is made, e.g. when the literature search calls NodeView.setToolTip(). Then, when the mouse hovers over a node on the canvas, the canvas does a call to DNodeView.getToolTip() for that node, then does a setToolTipText() on itself using the text retrieved from the DNodeView.

For performance reasons, tooltips on EdgeViews are not implemented in Cytoscape 2.3.

Biological Questions / Use Cases

General Notes

Requirements

Deferred Items

Open Issues

Are we supposed to use the m_spacial index in DGraphView to figure out which node(s) have been clicked on? Is that the right approach?

How do we figure out what edges have been clicked on?

What's with all of the bitwise complements? Why are these necessary?

What is the reason for the star shaped polygon requirement?

Backward Compatibility

The changes to context menu handling are not backward compatible with earlier versions of Cytoscape. There is no migration path for the previous context menu handling methods, which were tightly coupled to Piccolo.

We should give plugin writers ample time to accommodate these changes and test their plugins.

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-It appears possible to add tooltip functionality to the renderer without requiring any changes to plugins and other code that uses tooltips.
+We have been able to add Node''''''View tooltip functionality to the renderer without requiring any changes to plugins and other code that uses tooltips.
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-The renderer's Inner''''''Canvas class is a J''''''Component, thus one can setToolTipText() on it.  I modified the D''''''Node''''''View class -- not a J''''''Component -- to maintain an instance variable that is set whenever a call to setToolTip() is made, e.g. when the literature search calls Node''''''View.setToolTip().  Then, when the mouse hovers over a node on the canvas, the canvas does a call to DNodeView.getToolTip() for that node, then does a setToolTipText() on itself using the text retrieved from the D''''''Node''''''View.
+The renderer's Inner''''''Canvas class is a J''''''Component, thus one can setToolTipText() on it.  We modified the D''''''Node''''''View class -- not a J''''''Component -- to maintain an instance variable that is set whenever a call to setToolTip() is made, e.g. when the literature search calls Node''''''View.setToolTip().  Then, when the mouse hovers over a node on the canvas, the canvas does a call to DNodeView.getToolTip() for that node, then does a setToolTipText() on itself using the text retrieved from the D''''''Node''''''View.



For performance reasons, tooltips on Edge''''''Views are '''not''' implemented in Cytoscape 2.3.
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-For testing purposes, an experimental version of the renderer's view package, ding.view, can be obtained in the attachment attachment:ding.jar

Place this ding.jar file in the cytoscape/lib directory and rebuild cytoscape.



An experimental version of the Cytoscape''''''Editor, which contains context menu items and has been updated to drag and drop Nodes and Edges to the ding Inner''''''Canvas, can be obtained in the attachment attachment:CytoscapeEditor.jar 

Place the Cytoscape''''''Editor.jar file in the cytoscape/plugins/core directory.
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+The changes to context menu handling are '''not''' backward compatible with earlier versions of Cytoscape.  There is '''no''' migration path for the previous context menu handling methods, which were tightly coupled to Piccolo.  



We should give plugin writers ample time to accommodate these changes and test their plugins.