For my current project I said I'm going to use everything the Platform has to offer and try not to re-invent anything so I had to use the dreaded Loaders.
The ideea behind the Loaders is quite simple: the IDE/Platform has to work with lots of file types (as in extension or MIME) and each DataLoader must take care of recognising it's file or files and represent it with a DataObject .
I say file or files because there is no one-on-one (1:1) relationship. The simplest example is the form editor that generates a single DataObject from the .java and .form files.
The wizard NetBeans 5.5 offers is more than enough to get anyone stared with the Loaders. Just ask for a File Type wizard, choose the file extension or MIME and quite fast you get everything autogenerated.
Basically each DataLoader is registered in the DataLoaderPool so each new file (as in FileObject) is queried against all the DataLoader-s to see if it is recognized or not. There also seems to be a mechanism to avoid creating a DataObject more than once - probably since it's considered expensive to parse / load the file.
Now, DataObject-s seem to be a lot more complex than meets the eye and I hope to post another message about these. There are ways to add listeners, cookies, move/delete methods, etc. Surely these methods are put to good use inside the IDE but I still haven't found a way to match and use there features yet.
The last thing related to the Loaders API is the DataNode . This is just a Node representation of the DataObject. The "view" part that I imagine as the GUI parse-tree.
What I fail to understand about the Loaders is the fact that some global actions like SaveAll seem to need a DataNode in the activatedNodes of a TopComponent which means that, although you could live and develop Platform applications without using DataLoader-s at all, it kind of forces you if you need SaveAll. This also means for me that basically you can't get a SaveAll action without first saving something to a FileObject. I was under the impression that SaveAll means "save all unsaved documents" not "save all unsaved documents already with an attached path".
If you've spotted any mistakes are you are able to clear some things in my Loaders mist, feel free to leave a message or contact me.
If this was helpful for you then maybe you'll like reading the other NetBeans Platform-related posts.
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Emilian Bold
Java-loving consulting services from Timisoara, Romania.
