[kepler-dev] How To Get a Reference to the Configuration?

[Matthew Brooke]

Hi Edward -

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to get 
a reference to a TableauFrame anywhere in XMLIcon, so I couldn't call 
getConfiguration() (like your example in 
ptolemy.domains.tm.kernel.SchedulePlotter).

I finally stumbled blindly upon the following solution, which uses the 
existing (and life-saving) static Configuration.findEffigy() method, but 
which works *only* if called from the getBackgroundFigure() or getIcon() 
methods of XMLIcon. It does *not* work if called from the constructor - 
maybe because the icon hasn't yet been added to the hierarchy by that 
point...? Anyway, here it is for posterity, in case anyone else ever 
needs it, or in case I forget how I did it :-)


/////////      code called from XMLIcon's            /////////
///////// getBackgroundFigure() or getIcon() methods /////////

       Nameable container = this.getContainerOrContainerToBe();

       if (container == null || !(container instanceof NamedObj)) {
         return null;
       }
       NamedObj topLevelNamedObj = ((NamedObj)container).toplevel();

       Effigy effigy = Configuration.findEffigy(topLevelNamedObj);
       if (effigy == null) {
         return null;
       }
       NamedObj effigyTopLevel = effigy.toplevel();
       if (! (effigyTopLevel instanceof Configuration)) {
         return null;
       }
       return (Configuration)(effigyTopLevel);

//////////////


-- 

---------------------------------------------
Matthew Brooke, Ph.D.
Marine Sciences Research Building, Room #3407
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA  93106-6150
ph: (805) 893-7108   fx: 805-893-8062
brooke at nceas.ucsb.edu
---------------------------------------------


Edward A. Lee wrote:
> 
> No, this won't do it... This will only yield a configuration
> if the object is contained in a library rather than a model.
> 
> In fact, that it is difficult to get to the configuration is
> a consequence of the deliberate decision that we made some time
> ago that Ptolemy II models can run without Vergil. This means
> that the model should have no chain of references to anything
> in the UI, because if it does, then to load the model into
> a JVM, you have to load the UI classes.
> 
> There are workarounds for this, but they are tricky.
> I did a quick search, and found an example in
> ptolemy.domains.tm.kernel.SchedulePlotter.  Look
> for the invocation therein of getConfiguration().
> I'm sure there are other examples in the tree, but
> I don't have time right now to look for them...
> 
> Edward
> 
> 
> At 01:10 PM 11/18/2005 -0800, Christopher Brooks wrote:
>> Hi Matthew,
>>
>> Edward knows this one, but I'll take a guess.
>>
>> Trying going up the containment hierarchy until
>> you get to an object that is a Configuration.
>>
>> moml/SharedParameter.java has code like:
>>
>>     /** Return the top level of the containment hierarchy, unless
>>      *  one of the containers is an instance of EntityLibrary,
>>      *  in which case, return null.
>>      *  @return The top level, or null if this is within a library.
>>      */
>>     public NamedObj getRoot() {
>>         NamedObj result = this;
>>
>>         while (result.getContainer() != null) {
>>             result = (NamedObj) result.getContainer();
>>
>>             // FIXME: this means that ptolemy.moml depends on
>>             // ptolemy.actor.gui.  We could either do instanceof
>>             // or else create ptolemy.kernel.ConfigurationBase
>>             // and have Configuration extend it.
>>             if (result instanceof Configuration) {
>>                 // If the results is a Configuration, then go no higher.
>>                 // If we do go higher, then we end up expanding the actor
>>                 // library tree which take a long time and fails if
>>                 // not all the actors are present.  For example, not
>>                 // everyone will have Matlab or quicktime.
>>                 return null;
>>             }
>>         }
>>
>>         return result;
>>     }
>>
>> This might do it, though I think the object would need to have been
>> created from within the GUI.
>>
>> Edward would know for sure.
>>
>> _Christopher
>>
>>
>> --------
>>
>>
>>     Hi all:
>>
>>     I'm working on the Kepler project (www.kepler-project.org), and am
>>     having trouble getting at the configuration object from other 
>> parts of
>>     the application. Is there an "standard" ptii way to do this, without
>>     explicitly passing references?
>>
>>     I'm interested in reading settings from the configuration.xml 
>> file, but
>>     it seems like I can get a reference only from a TableauFrame or 
>> from the
>>     MoMLApplication/VergilApplication classes. If I don't have a 
>> reference
>>     to any of those classes, how do I get the config?
>>
>>     One workaround would be to read the config myself each time, by 
>> creating
>>     my own MoMLParser, but this seems unnecessarily expensive, and 
>> still has
>>     the problem that the parser needs the URL for the config file, which
>>     also doesn't seem to be available globally.
>>
>>     Any help from anyone would be greatly appreciated
>>
>>     Thanks!
>>
>>     Matthew
>>
>>
>>     --
>>
>>     ---------------------------------------------
>>     Matthew Brooke, Ph.D.
>>     Marine Sciences Research Building, Room #3407
>>     University of California
>>     Santa Barbara, CA  93106-6150
>>     ph: (805) 893-7108   fx: 805-893-8062
>>     brooke at nceas.ucsb.edu
>>     ---------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>>
>>    -
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>> --------
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>>
>> Posted to the ptolemy-hackers mailing list.  Please send administrative
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> 
> ------------
> Edward A. Lee
> Professor, Chair of the EE Division, Associate Chair of EECS
> 231 Cory Hall, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720
> phone: 510-642-0253 or 510-642-0455, fax: 510-642-2845
> eal at eecs.Berkeley.EDU, http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~eal 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> 
> Posted to the ptolemy-hackers mailing list.  Please send administrative
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