As mentioned in the JavaOne presentation on the Flamingo ribbon component, there are a few small features missing in the Swing implementation. The first drop of version 4.2dev (code-named Hiolair) now provides support for placing small command buttons in ribbon galleries.
A ribbon gallery is a compact way to display a large number of buttons that control the specific visual appearance of the selected document element. The ribbon gallery fits itself to the available horizontal space, and allows two navigation modes:
- Using the scroll-up and scroll-down buttons to view additional button rows inside the ribbon itself
- Using the expand button to view all the buttons in a scrollable popup
Here is how a ribbon gallery hosting big command buttons looks like:
And when it is expanded (with the bottom-right button), it looks like this:
Up until now the ribbon has supported placing only big buttons in ribbon galleries. Starting with version 4.2, the new JRibbonBand.addRibbonGallery that gets the CommandButtonDisplayState as one of the parameters can be used to create a ribbon gallery that hosts small command buttons. The following display states are supported:
- JRibbonBand.BIG_FIXED_LANDSCAPE – this is the default display state. The buttons display big icon and text below it, and the buttons have fixed 5:4 ratio when displayed in the popup.
- JRibbonBand.BIG_FIXED. The buttons display big icon and text below it, and the buttons have fixed 1:1 ratio when displayed in the popup.
- CommandButtonDisplayState.SMALL. The buttons display only small icon with no text.
Here is a ribbon gallery that hosts small command buttons (in three rows):
And this is how it looks when it is expanded:
You’re more than welcome to take the first drop of version 4.2dev for a spin. You can also play with the WebStart demo of the ribbon under Substance look-and-feel by clicking on the button below. Switch to “Animations” task for a ribbon gallery with small command buttons.
I’ve just finished presenting my JavaOne session on the ribbon component. Thanks to everybody for coming. To all of you who attended but want to see the slides once again, and to those of you who couldn’t attend, here are the slides:
Since there were no animations in the slides, the two versions should be identical.
The test applications shown in the session can be found in the test.* package of Flamingo and Substance Flamingo distribution archives.
I am pleased today to announce the availability of the final release for version 4.1 of Flamingo component suite (code-named Guenivere). It is a stabilization release that adds a few minor features and fixes all known bugs.
Here is the list of minor features added in release 4.1:
- Multi-row controls in ribbon bands
- Rich tooltips for ribbon band expand buttons
- Horizontal alignment for wrapped ribbon components
- Internal tracking of disabled state of popup / action areas on command buttons for selecting the correct displayed icon
- Tree breadcrumb adapter class is now abstract to enforce applications to provide the segment caption
To see the Flamingo ribbon component in action under core look-and-feels, run the following WebStart demo:
To see the Flamingo ribbon component in action under Substance look-and-feel, run the following WebStart demo:
If you want to test the ribbon in your applications, you would need the following (the last two only for applications running under Substance look-and-feel):
You are more than welcome to take Flamingo 4.1 for a ride and report any problems in the project mailing lists, forums or issue tracker.
Release 4.1 will be the base for the JavaOne technical session 4143 that will be held next Thursday, June 4th at 13:30 in Hall E 135. If you’re interested to hear about the ribbon and the Swing implementation, as well as in a few ribbon tricks that you might not be aware about, please drop by.
I am thrilled today to announce the availability of the final release for version 5.2 of Substance look-and-feel (code-named Quebec). The release notes for version 5.2 contain the detailed information on the contents of this release which include the following:
Click on the button below to launch a signed WebStart application that shows the available Substance features.
The following sub-projects are also available as releases:
You are more than welcome to take Substance 5.2 for a ride and report any problems in the project mailing lists, forums or issue tracker.
Sample screenshots of Substance 5.2 in action:
