javafx binding from list property to arbitrary object property - javafx

Question

I am trying to get a class to have a property bound to another class's list property, where the 1st property is derived from a summarizing calculation over the objects in the list. The code below is a simplified version of my production code. (The production code is doing a summary over DateTime objects -- the essential part of the code below is the binding between a list and an object property (here, it is a String for simplicity).)
I have tried various things. One approach was using addListener on the list in the Summary class below but I was running into weird bugs with the listener callback making updates on the Summary object. After doing a bunch of reading I think that a binding between the summary string and the list is more appropriate but I don't know exactly how to hook up the binding to the property?
package com.example.demo.view
import javafx.beans.Observable
import javafx.beans.binding.StringBinding
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleIntegerProperty
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleListProperty
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleStringProperty
import javafx.collections.FXCollections
import tornadofx.View
import tornadofx.button
import tornadofx.label
import tornadofx.vbox
class Thing(x: Int) {
val xProperty = SimpleIntegerProperty(x)
val yProperty = SimpleStringProperty("xyz")
}
class Collection {
private var things = FXCollections.observableList(mutableListOf<Thing>()) {
arrayOf<Observable>(it.xProperty)
}
val thingsProperty = SimpleListProperty<Thing>(things)
fun addThing(thing: Thing) {
things.add(thing)
}
}
class Summary(var collection: Collection) {
val summaryBinding = object : StringBinding() {
// The real code is more practical but
// this is just a minimal example.
override fun computeValue(): String {
val sum = collection.thingsProperty.value
.map { it.xProperty.value }
.fold(0, { total, next -> total + next })
return "There are $sum things."
}
}
// How to make this property update when collection changes?
val summaryProperty = SimpleStringProperty("There are ? things.")
}
class MainView : View() {
val summary = Summary(Collection())
override val root = vbox {
label(summary.summaryProperty)
button("Add Thing") {
summary.collection.addThing(Thing(5))
}
}
}

Answer 1

Keep in mind that I made this answer based on your minimal example:
class Thing(x: Int) {
val xProperty = SimpleIntegerProperty(x)
var x by xProperty
val yProperty = SimpleStringProperty("xyz")
var y by yProperty
}
class MainView : View() {
val things = FXCollections.observableList(mutableListOf<Thing>()) {
arrayOf<Observable>(it.xProperty)
}
val thingsProperty = SimpleListProperty<Thing>(things)
val totalBinding = integerBinding(listProperty) {
value.map { it.x }.fold(0, { total, next -> total + next })
}
val phraseBinding = stringBinding(totalBinding) { "There are $value things." }
override val root = vbox {
label(phraseBinding)
button("Add Thing") {
action {
list.add(Thing(5))
}
}
}
}
I removed your other classes because I didn't see a reason for them based on the example. If the collection class has more functionality than holding a list property in your real project, then add just add it back in. If not, then there's no reason to give a list its own class. The summary class is really just two bindings (or one if you have no need to separate the total from the phrase). I don't see the need to give them their own class either unless you plan on using them in multiple views.
I think your biggest problem is that you didn't wrap your button's action in action {}. So your code just added a Thing(5) on init and had no action set.
P.S. The var x by xProperty stuff will only work if you import tornadofx.* for that file.