The need for a FixedText control

[Anthony Vanelverdinghe]

Hi Randahl

Personally, I don't see any added value over using a non-editable 
TextField (i.e. option 2). The way I understand your explanation, an 
implementation of such a control can easily be created by extending 
TextField & overriding a few methods (like setEditable & getStyleClass), 
so I don't see why this should be added to JavaFX.

Kind regards

   Anthony


Op 15/06/2012 19:58, Randahl Fink Isaksen schreef:
> I think JavaFX is missing a text control for presenting uneditable, 
> styled text - a FixedText control. As I am about to file a feature 
> request, I thought it would be relevant to discuss it here first.
>
> In the following UI the left column shows three labels implemented 
> using Label, and the the right column has a field showing the Customer 
> ID, a CheckBox for editing the VIP status of the customer, and finally 
> a TextField for adding some kind of note about the VIP status:
>
> Customer ID:       12345678                   (non-editable text)
> VIP:                      [x] (editable CheckBox)
> VIP note:              |_________|                 (editable TextField
>
> In this UI, the user is always able to edit the VIP CheckBox, and if 
> it is checked, the previously uneditable VIP note TextField becomes 
> editable. The customer ID is never editable. So what component do we 
> choose when implementing the uneditable customer ID field? Our options 
> are:
>
> 1. Implementing the customer ID field as a label.
> 2. Implementing the customer ID as a TextField which is marked 
> uneditable.
> 3. Implementing the customer ID as a raw Text instance.
>
> None of these options are very pleasing:
>
> - 1. Using a label is semantically incorrect, since it does not label 
> anything (the labelFor property would have no meaning). Also, it would 
> at least require a special style class to distinguish it from real 
> labels, and it would not be efficient to have to set this style class 
> everywhere we have a non-editable text field.
>
> - 2. Using a TextField for which editable has been set to false is not 
> that good an idea either - by default, TextFields are rendered as a 
> box, which indicates that the user can input something here, at least 
> at least in some situations (like the VIP status field above). Again, 
> we would require special styling for it to look different from other 
> real TextFields, and we would have to set a specific style class 
> everywhere we had a non-editable text field.
>
> -3. Using a raw Text instance is a bad idea too, since it is not a 
> real JavaFX Control, which means it does not automatically have a 
> style class of "text", it is not skinnable, cannot be copied using 
> mouse gestures, is not draggable, etc.
>
> So my thoughts are, that JavaFX could benefit from a FixedText 
> control. This would work much like a TextField, only it would mean "a 
> forever uneditable text control". It would by default have a style 
> class of "fixed-text", the user would be able to mark and copy its 
> contents, drag it, etc. - just like the contents of a TextField.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Randahl