Using Transitions and Animations

The Lightweight UI Toolkit library implements transitions using animation.

13.1 Animation

Animation is an interface that allows any object to react to events and draw an animation at a fixed interval. All animation methods are executed on the EDT. For simplicity’s sake, all Components can be animated, however, no animation appears unless it is explicitly registered into the parent form. To stop animation callbacks the animation must be explicitly removed from the form (notice that this differs from removing the component from the form)! In Lightweight UI Toolkit there are few transitions that have been extended from Animation. See 13.3 Transition.

13.2 Motion

The Motion class abstracts the idea of motion over time, from one point to another. Motion can be subclassed to implement any motion equation for appropriate physics effects. This class relies on the System.currentTimeMillis() method to provide transitions between coordinates. Examples for such movement equations can be; parabolic, spline, or even linear motion. Default implementation provides a simple physical algorithm giving the feel of acceleration and deceleration. In this implementation all animation elements (Transition, Scrolling, and so forth) use the same motion implementation, so they all have smooth movement.

13.3 Transition

Currently a transition refers to the transition between two Forms as animate In and Out transition animation. All transitions use a physical animation curve calculation to simulate acceleration and deceleration while pacing a motion based on the amount of time specified. There are three types of transitions:

13.3.1 Slide Transition

To create a slide transition, that reacts while exiting the first form, use:

CommonTransitions.createSlide(int type, boolean forward, int speed)

For example:

// Create a horizontal transition that moves to the right
// and exposes the next form
 
myForm.setTransitionOutAnimator(CommonTransitions.createSlide(
   CommonTransitions.SLIDE_HORIZONTAL, true, 1000));

Slide Transition from Form to Theme Menu shows four snapshots of the horizontal transition from a menu to a radio button list.

Slide Transition from Form to Theme Menu

13.3.2 Fade Transition

Fade transition creates a fade-in effect when switching to the next form. To create this transition use:

CommonTransitions.createFade(int speed)

In the above code speed is an integer representing the speed of changing components, in milliseconds.

For example:

// Create a fade effect with speed of 400 millisecond, 
// when entering myform
 
themeForm.setTransitionInAnimator(CommonTransitions.createFade(400)
);

Fade Transition From Form to Theme Menu