Sirius/Tutorials/Mindstorms/PropertiesViews

Properties Views

Objectives

Provide custom properties views for a modeling tool that allows the user to define the choreography of a Mindstorms robot.

• GoForward’s properties view
  • Specific background color if Cm value is negative
  • Warning if Cm value is null
• Rotate’s properties view
  • Random checkbox and Degrees field aligned on the same row
  • Degrees field disabled if Random is checked
  • Validation rule of type Warning, testing if Degrees is equal to 0 and Random is not checked
  • Two quick fixes on this rule to propose solutions
• Choreography’s properties view
  • Editable list of instructions
  • Validation rule of type Error, testing if Name is already used by another Choreography at the same level

Sirius concepts

During this step, you will mainly use these Sirius concepts:

• Properties Views Description
  • Describes how model element are shown and edited in the Eclipse Properties Views
• Page
  • Corresponds to a tab in the Properties View
• Group
  • Represents a group of widgets in a tab
• Container
  • Allows to specify alternate layouts
• Fill Layout
  • Organizes elements inside the container either horizontally or vertically

• Text widget
  • Represents a single line text
• Checkbox widget
  • Represents a checkbox
• References widget
  • Represents the value of a reference in the model

• Property validation
  • Defines a validation rule linked to a specific widget.
• Semantic validation
  • Define a validation rule linked to a group
• Audit
  • Evaluates if a validation rule has been broken

Video

Watch the video (16'45)

Detailed script

Create a Properties View for GoForward instructions

• At the root of the modeler definition create a New Properties View to define custom properties views for the instructions
  • Metamodels = mindstorms
  • Update the Page named Default Page (already created by default)
    • Domain Class = mindstorms::Instruction
    • Label Expression = General

• Update the Group named Default Group to display and edit the cm property of GoForward
  • Id = GoForward
  • Domain Class = mindstorms::GoForward
  • Label Expression = Properties
  • Add a Text for the name property
    • Id = CmText
    • Label Expression = Cm
    • Value Expression = feature:cm
    • Under Begin add a Set operation (set var:newValue to cm)
  • Create a Conditional Style for CmText in order to color the text background when cm is lower than 0
    • Precondition Expression = aql:self.cm<0
    • Create a Style with Background Color = MindstormsColor1

Now, if you select a GoForward instruction and enter a negative Cm value, you should see:

• Add a Property Validation Rule to warn the user when cm is null (useless instruction).
  • Targets = CmText
  • Id = UselessGoForward
  • Level = Warning
  • Message = This instruction is useless
  • Create an Audit
    • Audit Expression = aql:self.oclAsType(mindstorms::GoForward).cm<>0

Now, if you select a GoForward instruction and enter a null Cm value, you should see:

Create a Properties View for Rotate instructions

• Create a Group to display and edit the degrees and random properties of Rotate
  • Id = Rotate
  • Domain Class = mindstorms::Rotate
  • Label Expression = Properties
  • Add this new group to the Default page (Groups property on this page)

• Create a Container to put the widgets in the same line
  • Create a Fill Layout with Orientation = HORIZONTAL

• Add a Checkbox for the random property
  • Id = RandomCheckbox
  • Label Expression = Random
  • Value Expression = feature:random
  • Under Begin create a Set operation (set var:newValue to random)

• Add a Text for the degrees property
  • Id = DegreesText
  • Label Expression = Degrees
  • Is Enabled Expression = aql:not self.random
  • Value Expression = feature:degrees
  • Under Begin create a Set operation (set var:newValue to degrees)

Now, if you select a Rotate instruction, the checkbox and the field should be aligned, and the check of Random should disable the Degrees field:

• Add a Semantic Validation Rule to warn the user when degrees is null and random is false (useless rotate instruction).
  • Id = UselessRotation
  • Level = Warning
  • Message = This instruction is useless
  • Create an Audit
    • Audit Expression = aql:self.degrees<>0 or self.random

Create a Properties View for Choreographies instructions

• Create a Group to display and edit the name and instructions properties of Choreography
  • Id = Choreography
  • Domain Class = mindstorms::Choreography
  • Label Expression = Properties

• Add this new Group to the Default page (Groups property on this page)

• Add a Text for the name property
  • Id = NameText
  • Label Expression = Name
  • Value Expression = feature:name
  • Under Begin create a Set operation (set var:newValue to name)

• Add a Reference for the instructions property
  • Id = InstructionsRef
  • Label Expression = Instructions
  • Reference Owner Expression = var:self
  • Reference Name Expression = instructions

Now, if you select a Choreography instruction, the properties view contains a list with action buttons:

• Add a Property Validation Rule to warn the user when the name is already used by a sibling choreography.
  • Targets = NameText
  • Id = UniqueName
  • Level = Error
  • Message = Name must be unique
  • Create an Audit
    • Audit Expression = aql:not self.siblings()->filter(mindstorms::Choreography)->collect(i|i.name)->includes(self.name)

Installing the solution

The solution of this step is provided in solution4.zip

Warning: If you delete your current design project and load the solution, you should close the sample project and reopen it, in order the new version to be taken into account