Gauge Beans Limitations

• The Move to Swing
• Expert Properties
• Deprecated APIs and Their Replacements

The Move to Swing

This is the second Swing version of Gauges. Customer response to Swing versions of other beans requires co-existence with AWT versions where they exist. Therefore this version of Gauges renames Java class packages in order to avoid class name clashes with the AWT versions. You must modify your existing AWT client code in order for that code to work with the Swing version of Gauges. The packages have been renamed from com.ibm.hci... to com.ibm.eou....

Sun do not guarantee serialisation compatibility between current versions of Swing classes. Since Gauges extend the Swing JComponent class they will not have serialisation compatibility with previous versions. You need to customise the Gauge Beans again to achieve the visual appearance and bean connections that you established with previous versions.

This version of Gauges takes advantage of Swing version 1.0.3 and 1.1, allowing you the choice of which Swing version to develop with. Both versions share the same class names, so you will not be able to develop a single application using both Swing versions of Gauges.

This version of Gauge Beans is intended for use with Swing applications and applets. It is not advisable to mix Swing and non-Swing components within the same frame window. The Java Language Specification does not allow import statements for two identically named classes from different packages to be explicitly imported into the same program. For example, the following code gives a compilation error:

import com.ibm.hci.toolkit.gauge.bean.Needle;
import com.ibm.eou.toolkit.gauge.bean.Needle;

Some visual builders may generate code in this form if the same gauge from the previous version and this version are mixed in the same application or applet.

All future development of Gauges will be based on Swing. The AWT version of Gauges will be frozen, and bug fixes provided in critical customer situations only.

Expert Properties

The JavaBeans specification allows bean features to be designated "expert". Most visual builders allow the display of expert features to be switched on and off by the user. Many non-essential Gauge properties are designated "expert" to allow for a more simple view of their properties. However, the BeanBox tool provided with the Beans Development Kit does not display expert properties, and does not provide an option to display them.

Deprecated APIs and Their Replacements