Layouts
Tiles
framework use a term “Layout” for a template.
Layout serves the same purpose as template.
The plus points of layouts is reusability of
templates, we can define common layouts and
reuse them across many different projects, even
we can customize the existing layout
Pre-built
Layouts from Tiles Framework
Here we describe some useful layouts available
in the Tiles distribution.
One interesting point of Tiles is that it is
possible to reuse existing layouts, define new
layouts, and easily exchange a layout by a different
one as long as they require the same set of
attributes.For each layout, a short description,
a description of requested attributes, an example
of usage and the actual implementation is provided.
You can easily customize any layout by starting
from the provided implementation. All layouts
examples can be found in the /layouts directory
of the Tiles example jar file. They can be tested
by pointing to the /examples directory of the
Tiles example jar file.
1.
Classic layout
It provides a classic"header, menu, body
and footer" rendering. It defines the skeleton
of a HTML page with <header> and <body>,
and renders the header, menu, body and footer
at appropriate places.
The classic layout requires the following attributes:
title - String used to set the title
of the browser page.
header - URL or definition name used to render
the header part.
2.
Menu layout
The menu layout is used to render a simple menu
with its links. A menu requires a list of "item"
beans, each "item" contains data for
one menu entry. It’s possible to develop other
menu layouts taking the same attributes, and
replace the menu layout by another one.
The menu layout requires the following attributes:
title - String used as menu title
[optional]
items - List of items. Items are beans with
the following properties: value, link,
tooltip; icon
3.
Vertical box or vbox or vstack layout
The vbox layout is used to render a list of
Tiles vertically. This layout is used when rendering
a menu bar, or in multi - columns layout.
The vbox layout requires the following attributes:
list - List of names or URLs to
insert.
4.
Multi-columns layout
The multi-columns layout renders lists of Tiles
in several columns stacked vertically. Lists
of Tiles are passed as Tiles parameters, one
list per column. A list can contain application
URLs and definition names. This layout is used
to build a portal main body made of several
Tiles.
The multi-columns layout requires the following
attributes:
numCols - Number of columns to render
and passed as parameter.
list1 - First list of Tiles (URL or definition
name)
list2 - Second list of Tiles (URL or definition
name) [optional]
list3 - Third list of Tiles (URL or definition
name) [optional]
listn - N-th list of Tiles (URL or definition
name), where n is replaced by column index
[optional].
5.
Center layout
The classical layout consisting of “top, left,
center, right, bottom”. Left and right parts
are
optional and can be omitted.
The center layout requires the following attributes:
header - URL or definition name
used to render the header part.
right - URL or definition name used to render
the right part. [optional]
body - URL or definition name used to render
the header part.
left - URL or definition name used to render
the left part. [optional]
footer - URL or definition name used to render
the footer part.
6.
Tabs layout
The tabs layout is used to render a list of
Tiles in a tab fashion. The tabs layout has
a body area used to render the currently selected
Tile, and an indexes area used to render the
available tabs or Tiles. This layout requires
as argument a list of Tiles and names used in
indexes.
The tabs layout requires the following attributes:
tabList - A list of Tiles URLs or
definition names for the tabs. We use MenuItem
to
carry data (Tiles name or URL, indexes name,
icon, ...).
selectedIndex - Index of the default selected
tab.
parameterName - Name of HTTP parameter carrying
the selected Tile info in the HTTP
request.
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