Functional Index of Classes in the Grid Package

The Grid Package includes classes for modeling objects in a two-dimensional grid, classes for graphically displaying a grid and the objects it, and classes for creating graphical user interfaces for grid-based applications.  The class documentation (API) for the package includes javadoc-generated documentation for every class, organized alphabetically and by package. This document, on the other hand, provides a list of the classes organized functionally in the following sections:

Classes for modeling a grid and the objects in it
Classes for displaying a grid and the objects in it
Classes for constructing grid-based graphical user interfaces
Utility classes

In addition, there is an Overview document that covers the origins of the Grid Package, its purpose, an explanation of how to use its classes, and how to create and run an application. Two other documents, Understanding the Display Component Classes and Creating and Extending Grid Package Classes, provide information about customizing the Grid Package, especially through creating new classes and subclasses.

Classes for modeling a grid and the objects in it (edu.kzoo.grid package):

*Grid	the abstract class that represents a grid; concrete extensions of this class may support a variety of internal representations

Concrete Grid Sublasses

BoundedGrid	represents a bounded grid using a two-dimension array
ArrayListGrid.Bounded	represents a bounded grid using an ArrayList of the objects in the grid
ArrayListGrid.Unbounded	represents an unbounded grid using an ArrayList of the objects in the grid

*Location	the class that encapsulates the row and column information for grid cell locations

*Direction	a class whose objects represent compass directions for navigating within a grid

*GridObject	the abstract class that represents objects in a grid; all objects in a grid must be instances of the GridObject class or a subclasses

Some Handy GridObject Subclasses

ColorBlock	represents a block of color in a cell
TextCell	represents a string of text in a cell (works best for shorter strings)
PictureBlock	represents a picture (a GIF or JPG image, for example) in a cell

Classes for displaying a grid and the objects in it (edu.kzoo.grid.display package):

*GridDisplay	interface that specifies the methods that are used to display a grid and its contents

ScrollableGridDisplay	the class that provides the functionality for displaying a grid and its contents

*GridBackgroundDisplay	specifies the single drawBackground method (Note: this has nothing to do with drawing grid lines, which are handled by methods in ScrollableGridDisplay)

Classes that Implement the GridBackgroundDisplay Interface

ScrollableGridDisplay	the basic GridDisplay class implements the GridBackgroundDisplay interface also, merely filling in the background with a single color
CheckeredBackgroundDisplay	drawBackground draws a checkered background such as might be used to represent a board game

*GridObjectDisplay	interface that specifies the methods used by ScrollableGridDisplay to display the individual objects in the grid

ScaledDisplay	abstract class that provides methods for scaling the display of an object

Handy ScaledDisplay Subclasses

TextDisplay	displays a text string, centered in a specific cell; the string will be colored if the object being displayed has a color method

TextCellDisplay	displays a TextCell object in the appropriate cell; throws an exception if the object it is displaying does not have a text method or color method, as TextCell does
DefaultDisplay	displays a question mark (possibly colored) in the appropriate cell

ColorBlockDisplay	paints the appropriate cell with the color specified by the object in that cell
ScaledImageDisplay	displays an image in the appropriate cell (the same image for all objects of the class with which the display object is associated)
PictureBlockDisplay	displays the image specified by the object in that cell (each object may specify a different image)

*DisplayDecorator	interface for decorator classes that can be applied to GridObjectDisplay objects

RotatedDecorator	rotates the display of a grid object based on an object's direction; the object must have a direction method
ScaledImageTintDecorator	tints an image display based on an object's color; the grid object must have a color method and the display to which the decorator is applied must be a ScaledImageDisplay

*DisplayMap	used to associate specific display objects with various GridObject classes

Other support classes (used internally by other classes in the edu.kzoo.grid.display package):

DefaultDisplayFactory	finds or creates suitable default displays for classes, such as a ClassNameDisplay object, a ScaledImageDisplay for a ClassName.gif or ClassName.jpg image, or a DefaultDisplay object
PseudoInfiniteViewport	a JViewport subclass that translates scroll actions into pan actions across an unbounded view
TextAndIconRenderer	provides a renderer that paints both the text and the icon of a JLabel

Classes for constructing grid-based graphical user interfaces
(edu.kzoo.grid.gui and edu.kzoo.grid.gui.nuggets packages):

*GridAppFrame	a basic graphical user interface for a grid-based application; supports: menus includeMenu speed slider bar includeSpeedSlider components (e.g., buttons, drop-down menus) includeControlComponent

Classes Dealing with Menus in a GridAppFrame

MinimalFileMenu (nuggets)	a file menu with either no menu items or just a Quit option
BasicFileMenu (nuggets)	a file menu for creating and/or reading and writing grids
BasicHelpMenu (nuggets)	represents a Help menu with two standard entries
FileMenuActionHandler	implements the methods used by the File menu
GridDataFileHandler	specifies methods for reading grid information from a file and writing it to a file

Classes Representing Components in a GridAppFrame

ControlButton	abstract class for a button for controlling application behavior
NewBoundedGridButton (nuggets)	a control button that prompts the user for the dimensions of a new grid and then constructs that grid
ClearGridButton (nuggets)	a control button that clears all objects out of a grid
ThreadedControlButton	abstract class for a button for controlling application behavior in a separate thread, allowing updates to the display, changes to the slider bar, and other button presses to happen while the action initiated by this button is still executing
InitializationButton (nuggets)	a threaded control button that initializes a grid, an application, or some other object
GeneratedButtonList	creates a group of control buttons based on the methods of another class
GridCreationDialog	a dialog that allows the user to construct a new grid
ColorChoiceMenu (nuggets)	a labeled drop-down menu for choosing a color
BGColorChoiceMenu (nuggets)	a labeled drop-down menu for setting the background color of a grid

Other Classes Needed by Users of GridAppFrame

*EnableDisabledStates	provides a set of constants describing possible criteria for graphical user interface components to be enabled or disabled

*GridEditor	specialized GridAppFrame for editing the contents of a grid; provides an editing palette, a display, and a Done button (can be subclassed to provide other functions)
*SteppedGridAppFrame	a graphical user interface for stepped grid-based applications; supports: set/initialize/reset buttons includeSetResetButton a button to execute 1 step includeStepOnceButton button to execute application N steps includeStepNTimesButton button to run application indefinitely includeRunButton button to stop a running application includeStopButton

Controller Classes for Controlling a Stepped Grid Application

SteppedGridAppController	abstract class to control the running of a stepped grid application
ActiveGridAppController	controls the running of a grid application by telling all of the objects in the grid to act

Other support classes (used by other classes in the edu.kzoo.grid.gui package or customized subclasses):

GridChangeListener	defines the type for components that need to be notified of a new grid (e.g., some menu components)
GridPkgFactory	for constructing grids and the objects they contain, and for keeping track of what types of grids or grid objects are available to a specific application
GridChoiceComboBox	a drop-down menu offering choices of bounded or unbounded grids known to the GridPkgFactory
GridFileChooser	a file chooser dialog that supports choosing a data file ending in .dat that contains information about a bounded or unbounded grid
ColorChoiceDDMenu	a drop-down menu for choosing a color

Utility classes (edu.kzoo.util package):

*Debug	supports conditional printing of debugging messages
*NamedColor	extends the java.awt.Color class to associate names with colors and to provide static methods that generate random colors
*RandNumGenerator	provides a singleton object for random number generation
*ValidatedInputReader	provides numerous static methods that will put up a dialog box prompting the user for input and validate the responses