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Binding the class’s instance variables to the form – Apple WebObjects 3.5 User Manual

Page 42

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Chapter 2

Enhancing Your Application

42

also a class, specifically a subclass of the class next.wo.Component (called
WOComponent in WebScript or Objective-C).

Java classes require a constructor to initialize an instance (or object) of a
particular class whenever one is created. A constructor has the same name
as the class and returns no value.

Whenever your application creates a new Guest class, its instance variables
are initialized with empty strings, which is the default value if the user
enters no data. (If you prefer, you can use different strings for these initial
values.)

6. Save

Guest.java

.

Saving the file lets WebObjects Builder know about your newly created
Guest class.

Binding the Class’s Instance Variables to the Form Elements

In the first chapter, you bound the input elements to variables in Main’s code.
Now you’ll modify the bindings to use the class you just created.

1. Select Web Components in the first column of the browser.

2. Double-click

Main

in the second column of the browser to open the

component in WebObjects Builder.

3. Using the Add Variable/Method panel, add a variable called

currentGuest

to

your component and specify its type as Guest. (Note that you can now
choose Guest from the Type pop-up menu.)

An entry for

currentGuest

appears in the object browser. Notice the “>”

symbol to the right of its name. This means that there is additional data to
be displayed in the second column.

4. Select

currentGuest

in the object browser.

The second column displays the three fields of

currentGuest

, as determined

by the definition of its class, Guest.

5. Click

guestName

in the second column of the object browser next to

currentGuest

and drag the cursor to the Name text field.

This time, when the Inspector opens, there is already a binding for the

value

attribute (

guestName

), because you bound it in the first tutorial.