How to use pop-up TextBox in Java ME

Comments

30 Sep
2009

Article Review by deepikagohil (20090930)

This article represents the breif overview about Pop-up TextBox and how to use it in JAVA ME. Pop-up TextBox is available from 3rd edition feature pack onwards on devices that include JAVA Runtime on S60 devices. A pop-up TextBox can be used by our application, if Nokia-UI-Enhancement: PopUpTextBox JAD attribute is defined, otherwise normal TextBox can be used.

The article contains a code snippests which represents the use of Pop-up TextBox. The example code is also attached with the article for our reference. The article also provides the screen shots to understand this concept.

Pop-up Textbox has advantages over normal TextBox, which are mentioned in the article. So information contained in this article is essential and can be very useful to the JAVA ME developers.

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24 Sep
2009

Article Review by kalki (20090924)

This article shows how to use Newly introduced User Control called Popup TextBox. This control is can be added to Series 60 5th Edition phones.To make it available to application user just need to specify "Nokia-UI-Enhancement: PopUpTextBox" in the .jad file as one of its attributes.The Disadvantage of using Standard TextBox is given in clear way.

Article has complete implementation of the popup textbox and the code is given elaborately class by class. A specific implementation of how to make popup textbox by extending the root TextBox class is also given with screen shots. In total this article is aimed for increasing User Experience and that is the first requirement of today's applications.

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Article Metadata

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Code Example

Source file: Media:PopUpTextBoxMIDlet.zip

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Article

Created: jarmlaht (07 May 2009)

Last edited: hamishwillee (01 Aug 2012)

Overview

One of the Displayables in LCDUI is TextBox (extending Screen class), which allows user to enter and edit text. It is commonly used for entering relatively short texts, even single words. In any case TextBox has used the whole screen, which has made user experience bad. Now in S60 5th Edition new mode of pop-up TextBox is introduced. By using a JAD attribute "Nokia-UI-Enhancement" with value "PopUpTextBox" all the TextBox screens are shown as smaller dialogs, without obscuring the underlying screen.

Nokia-UI-Enhancement: PopUpTextBox

Pop-up TextBox does lack have some properties of "traditional" TextBox:

• Ticker is not visible
• Text input capacity indicator is not supported

An empty Pop-up TextBox has one line, but if needed, its size will grow. The exact maximum amount of visible lines depends on the screen size. In nHD screens (640x360 pixels) it is 5 rows of text. Inputting and editing text is possible by tapping on the TextBox.

The image below shows an empty pop-up TextBox on top of Canvas (in normal mode) and a pop-up TextBox with 5 rows of text

Here is a simple MIDlet demonstrating pop-up TextBox feature.

Source code: PopUpTextBoxMIDlet.java

import javax.microedition.midlet.MIDlet;
import javax.microedition.lcdui.Alert;
import javax.microedition.lcdui.AlertType;
import javax.microedition.lcdui.Display;
import javax.microedition.lcdui.Displayable;
 
public class PopUpTextBoxMIDlet extends MIDlet {
    private PopUpTextBoxCanvas canvas;
    protected String canvasText = "Text from the TextBox";
 
    public void startApp() {
        canvas = new PopUpTextBoxCanvas(this);
        Display.getDisplay(this).setCurrent(canvas);
    }
 
    public void pauseApp() {
    }
 
    public void destroyApp(boolean unconditional) {
    }
 
    //Finalizes the popup textbokx
    protected void closeTextBox(boolean update) {
        //gets the written text
        if (update) canvasText = canvas.textbox.getString();
        //destroy Popup textbox reference
        if (canvas.textbox != null) canvas.textbox = null;
        //sets the canvas screen to visible
        Display.getDisplay(this).setCurrent(canvas);
    }
 
    protected void showError(String title, String text) {
        //Creates a new ERROR alert, with a title, a text and no images
        Alert alert = new Alert(title, text, null, AlertType.ERROR);
        alert.setTimeout(Alert.FOREVER); //sets the Alert to modal (the user must dismiss it)
        alert.getType().playSound(Display.getDisplay(this)); //plays sound related to ERROR alert
        Displayable current = Display.getDisplay(this).getCurrent(); //gets current displayble
        if (current instanceof Alert) {} //if displayable is an Alert. Do nothing! 
        else Display.getDisplay(this).setCurrent(alert); //otherwise, sets Alert to visible
    }
}

Source code: PopUpTextBox.java

import javax.microedition.lcdui.*;
 
public class PopUpTextBox extends TextBox implements CommandListener {
    //"Ok" command
    private Command okCommand;
    //"Cancel" command
    private Command cancelCommand;
    //Our MIDlet reference
    private PopUpTextBoxMIDlet midlet;
 
    public PopUpTextBox(String title, String text, int maxsize, int constraints, PopUpTextBoxMIDlet midlet) {
        super(title, text, maxsize, constraints);
        this.midlet = midlet;
        okCommand = new Command("Ok", Command.OK, 1); //Creates the "Ok" command
        cancelCommand = new Command("Cancel", Command.CANCEL, 1); //Creates the "Cancel" command
        this.addCommand(okCommand); //adds the "Ok" command to the TextBox
        this.addCommand(cancelCommand); //adds the "Cancel" command to the TextBox
        this.setCommandListener(this); //sets "this" class as the command listener
    }
 
    public void commandAction(Command c, Displayable d) {
        if (c == okCommand) {
            //Closes the textBox. If true
            midlet.closeTextBox(true);
        }
        if (c == cancelCommand) {
            midlet.closeTextBox(false);
        }
    }
}

Source code: PopUpTextBoxCanvas.java

import javax.microedition.lcdui.Canvas;
import javax.microedition.lcdui.Command;
import javax.microedition.lcdui.CommandListener;
import javax.microedition.lcdui.Display;
import javax.microedition.lcdui.Displayable;
import javax.microedition.lcdui.Graphics;
import javax.microedition.lcdui.TextField;
 
public class PopUpTextBoxCanvas extends Canvas implements CommandListener {
    //MIDlet reference
    private PopUpTextBoxMIDlet midlet;
    //Enter command
    private Command enterCommand;
    //Exit command
    private Command exitCommand;
    //PopUpTextBox reference
    protected PopUpTextBox textbox;
    //The screen width
    private int width;
    //The screen height
    private int height;
 
    public PopUpTextBoxCanvas(PopUpTextBoxMIDlet midlet) {
        this.midlet = midlet;
        //Creates a new "Enter" Command: confirm the text
        enterCommand = new Command("Enter text", Command.SCREEN, 1);
        //Creates a new "Exit" Command: exit the application
        exitCommand = new Command("Exit", Command.EXIT, 1);
        this.addCommand(enterCommand); //adds the "Enter" command to the screen
        this.addCommand(exitCommand); //adds the "Exit" command to the screen
        this.setCommandListener(this); //sets "this" (PopUpTextBoxCanvas) as the command listener
    } 
 
    public void paint(Graphics g) {
        g.setColor(255, 255,255);
        g.fillRect(0, 0, width, height);
        g.setColor(0, 0, 0);
        g.drawString(midlet.canvasText, 0, 0, Graphics.TOP|Graphics.LEFT);
    }
 
    protected  void keyPressed(int keyCode) { }
 
    protected  void keyReleased(int keyCode) { }
 
    protected  void keyRepeated(int keyCode) { }
 
    protected  void pointerDragged(int x, int y) { }
 
    protected  void pointerPressed(int x, int y) { }
 
    protected  void pointerReleased(int x, int y) { }
 
    protected void sizeChanged(int w, int h) {
        width = w;
        height = h;
        repaint();
    }
 
    public void commandAction(Command c, Displayable d) {
        if (c == enterCommand) {
            //Creates a new PopUpTextBox
            textbox = new PopUpTextBox("Enter text", midlet.canvasText, 1000, TextField.ANY, midlet);
            //sets the popup textbox to visible
            Display.getDisplay(midlet).setCurrent(textbox); 
        }
        if (c == exitCommand) {
            //destroy MIDlet: returns the resources to O.S (Operating System)
            midlet.notifyDestroyed();
        }
    }
}

Example application

• PopUpTextBoxMIDlet.zip containing PopUpTextBoxMIDlet.jad, PopUpTextBoxMIDlet.jar and the source code

See also

• Pop-up TextBox
• JAD and JAR manifest attributes