View Type Tool

The View Type tool is a BI Beans thin bean, for use in an HTML-client application. It allows users to change the type of the thin Dataview that displays data. For example, you might put a View Type tool in the same page as a thin crosstab. The user can then use the View Type tool to change the view to a thin graph.

The ThinBeanUI implementation of the View Type tool is the oracle.dss.thin.beans.tools.ViewTypeTool class. The UINode for the View Type tool dialog is oracle.dss.thin.beans.tools.ViewTypeToolBean. To render the View Type tool, your servlet must associate the ViewTypeTool object with the ViewTypeToolBean object.

The JSP tag for this tool is the ViewType tag. In the UIX Language, the definition element is the viewTypeToolDef element, and the UINode is the viewTypeTool element.

The ViewTypeTool should be stored in the HTTP session.

Using the View Type tool in the View Toolbar

When you use the View Toolbar, you do not need to instantiate a ViewTypeTool or the ViewTypeToolBean. The View Toolbar instantiates and renders the View Type tool.

You do need to implement a ViewToolListener to handle the VIEW_TYPE_CHANGED_EVENT , which the ViewTypeTool generates. Register the listener with the ViewToolbar.

Using the View Type tool by itself

To use the View Type tool outside of the View Toolbar, instantiate the ViewTypeTool and call its setView method to specify the thin presentation bean that is displayed with the tool.

You must also implement a ViewToolListener to handle the VIEW_TYPE_CHANGED_EVENT , which the ViewTypeTool generates. Register the listener with the ViewTypeTool.

The View Type tool uses a default implementation of the GraphTypeConverter interface to retrieve available graph types and subtypes. If you change the number of graph types or subtypes, then you should set your own GraphTypeConverter on the ViewTypeTool.

Events that this bean generates

The ViewTypeTool generates the VIEW_TYPE_CHANGED_EVENT, which is defined in the oracle.dss.thin.BIConstants interface.

Events that this bean handles

The ViewTypeTool handles the VIEW_TYPE_CHANGED_EVENT by passing it to all registered ViewToolListener objects.

Handling the VIEW_TYPE_CHANGED_EVENT

When you use the ViewTypeTool, you must handle the VIEW_TYPE_CHANGED_EVENT in a listener. In the handleViewToolEvent method, the listener should respond to the VIEW_TYPE_CHANGED_EVENT by creating a new thin table, crosstab, or graph, if the VIEW_TYPE parameter is not the same as the current view.

If the VIEW_TYPE parameter is equal to ViewTypeTool.GRAPH, then you should also set the graph type of the graph. The GRAPH_TYPE parameter and the GRAPH_SUBTYPE parameter provide values that you pass to the setTypeAndSubtype method of the GraphTypeConverter of the ThinGraph.

Your listener might also want to retrieve information from the current view to use in the view that you create. For example, you might want to get the title text of the current view and set it on the view that you create. Or you might want to set the paging control to be displayed or hidden, to match the current view.

In the BI Beans servlet samples, "Sample 4: Working with the toolbar and a data view" includes a working listener for the view type tool.