Notes on the Display of AttributeTables

I wanted to jot down some notes on the code involved in displaying the attributes for features in a layer.

ViewAttributesPlugIn

Here is a basic run down of the series of method calls when the user calls up the attribute table for a layer:

• ViewAttributesPlugIn defines the public static innner class ViewAttributesFrame. A new instance of this class is created when the execute method of the ViewAttributesPlugIn is called.
• The constructor of the ViewAttributesFrame class creates a new OneLayerAttributeTab. The constructor of an AttributeTab class creates a new AttributePanel class.

• Main Components of a ViewAttributesFrame
• 

  A OneLayerAttributeTab in a ViewAttributesFrame

• 

  A AttributeTablePanel in a OneLayerAttributeTab

• The AttributePanel class defines a layerAdded method that calls the addTablePanel method that is also defined in the AttributePanel class.
• The addTablePanel method creates a new AttributeTablePanel using the provided LayerTableModel.
• The AttributeTablePanel contains an inner class named MyTable that extends JTable.

Common Components

The AttributeTablePanel class looks like it could be a package itself. It contains three (3) inner classes and one inner interface. These include:

• MyTable
• FeatureEditor
• GeometryCellRenderer
• SelectionModelRenderer

The AttributeTablePanel class is definitely one of the most complex I've seen in OpenJUMP.

The LayerTableModel class extends the ColumnTableModel class. ColumnTableModel implements the Swing TableModel interface. A LayerTableModel is passed to the AttributeTable so the attribute values of Feature objects in a layer can be displayed.