115 lines
5.1 KiB
C++
115 lines
5.1 KiB
C++
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
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// Name: docs/doxygen/overviews/persistence.h
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// Purpose: overview of persistent objects
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// Author: Vadim Zeitlin
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// Created: 2009-01-23
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// Copyright: (c) 2009 Vadim Zeitlin <vadim@wxwidgets.org>
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// Licence: wxWindows licence
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/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
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/**
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@page overview_persistence Persistent Objects Overview
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@tableofcontents
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Persistent objects are simply the objects which automatically save their state
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when they are destroyed and restore it when they are recreated, even during
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another program invocation.
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Most often, persistent objects are, in fact, persistent windows as it is
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especially convenient to automatically restore the UI state when the program is
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restarted but an object of any class can be made persistent. Moreover,
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persistence is implemented in a non-intrusive way so that the original object
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class doesn't need to be modified at all in order to add support for saving and
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restoring its properties.
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The persistence framework includes the following components:
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- wxPersistenceManager which all persistent objects register themselves with.
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This class handles actual saving and restoring of persistent data as well as
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various global aspects of persistence, e.g. it can be used to disable
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restoring the saved data.
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- wxPersistentObject is the base class for all persistent objects or, rather,
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adaptors for the persistent objects as this class main purpose is to provide
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the bridge between the original class -- which has no special persistence
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support -- and wxPersistenceManager,
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- wxPersistentWindow<> which derives from wxPersistentObject and implements some
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of its methods using wxWindow-specific functionality. Notably,
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wxPersistenceManager handles the destruction of persistent windows
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automatically implicitly while it has to be done explicitly for the
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arbitrary persistent objects.
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- wxCreatePersistentObject() function which is used to create the
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appropriate persistence adapter for the object.
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@section persistence_using Using Persistent Windows
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wxWidgets has built-in support for a (constantly growing) number of controls.
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Currently the following classes are supported:
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- wxTopLevelWindow (and hence wxFrame and wxDialog)
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- wxBookCtrlBase (i.e. wxNotebook, wxListbook, wxToolbook and wxChoicebook)
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- wxDataViewCtrl (and derivatives such as wxDataViewListCtrl)
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- wxTreebook
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To automatically save and restore the properties of the windows of classes
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listed above you need to:
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-# Set a unique name for the window using wxWindow::SetName(): this step is
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important as the name is used in the configuration file and so must be
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unique among all windows of the same class.
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-# Call wxPersistenceManager::Register() at any moment after creating the
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window and then wxPersistenceManager::Restore() when the settings may be
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restored (which can't be always done immediately, e.g. often the window
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needs to be populated first). If settings can be restored immediately after
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the window creation, as is often the case for wxTopLevelWindow, for
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example, then wxPersistenceManager::RegisterAndRestore() can be used to do
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both at once.
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-# If you do not want the settings for the window to be saved (for example
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the changes to the dialog size are usually not saved if the dialog was
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cancelled), you need to call wxPersistenceManager::Unregister() manually.
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Otherwise the settings will be automatically saved when the control itself
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is destroyed.
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Example of using a notebook control which automatically remembers the last open
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page:
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@code
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wxNotebook *book = new wxNotebook(parent, wxID_ANY);
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book->SetName("MyBook"); // do not use the default name
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book->AddPage(...);
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book->AddPage(...);
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book->AddPage(...);
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if ( !wxPersistenceManager::RegisterAndRestore(book) )
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{
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// nothing was restored, so choose the default page ourselves
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book->SetSelection(0);
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}
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@endcode
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@section persistence_defining Defining Custom Persistent Windows
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User-defined classes can be easily integrated with wxPersistenceManager. To add
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support for your custom class @c MyWidget you just need to:
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-# Define a new @c MyPersistentWidget class inheriting from
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wxPersistentWindow<MyWidget>.
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-# Implement its pure virtual GetKind() method returning a unique string
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identifying all @c MyWidget objects, typically something like @c "widget"
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-# Implement its pure virtual Save() and Restore() methods to actually save
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and restore the widget settings using wxPersistentObject::SaveValue() and
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wxPersistentObject::RestoreValue() methods.
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-# Define wxCreatePersistentObject() overload taking @c MyWidget * and
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returning a new @c MyPersistentWidget object.
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If you want to add persistence support for a class not deriving from wxWindow,
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you need to derive @c MyPersistentWidget directly from wxPersistentObject and
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so implement its pure virtual wxPersistentObject::GetName() method too.
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Additionally, you must ensure that wxPersistenceManager::SaveAndUnregister() is
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called when your object is destroyed as this can be only done automatically for
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windows.
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*/
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