Client Files

The significant addition to a Java Client project is a subproject named ClientSideJava.subproj . This subproject comes with two preconfigured files: a .java file reflecting the name of the project (in this case, StudioManager.java ) and, in the Interfaces "suitcase," an Interface Builder archive (or "nib") file, also named after the project (StudioManager.nib ).

The Nib File

The nib file in a Java Client application seems identical to nib files in stand-alone Yellow Box applications. You drag objects from palettes onto a window "surface" and these palettes and their objects look exactly like objects in stand-alone. However, these similarities of appearances are deceiving.

When the EOJavaClient palette has been loaded into Interface Builder and you create a user interface, the nib file contains two parallel object graphs, one populated with Yellow Box objects and the other with Swing (JFC) objects. The Swing object graph constitutes a "Java archive" that is loaded onto the client.

The Interface Controller

In a Java Client application an interface controller--an EOInterfaceController object--mediates between the applet interface and the model objects on the client. When you use Project Builder to create a Java Client project, it automatically generates code for a custom EOInterfaceController subclass and makes an object of this class the owner of the nib file. The class is named after the project and includes the package prefix of project .client .

In the Model-View-Controller design paradigm, the interface controller plays the role of (obviously) controller. It has four outlets:

To its component , which is preset to the window in the nib file and functions as the "view" (it can be set to something else)
To the client's editing context (editingContext ), which serves as the "model"
To the controller display group (controllerDisplayGroup ), a kind of general-purpose display group that contains the interface controller itself and nothing else; through it the applications can specify user-interface dependencies and can control the interface through associations

To the master display group (masterDisplayGroup ) in master-detail interfaces