NetBeans Architecture Answers for Utilities API module

General Information

Question (arch-what): What is this project good for?
Answer:

Described in the overall answer.

Question (arch-overall): Describe the overall architecture.
Answer:

This module contains general classes needed in NetBeans, extensions to basic JRE contepts, useful methods and other UtilitiesAPI classes.

Question (arch-usecases): Describe the main use cases of the new API. Who will use it under what circumstances? What kind of code would typically need to be written to use the module?
Answer:

How shall I do or influence logging in NetBeans?

If you are interested in logging from inside your module, or in writing your own log handler or in configuring the whole system, then best place to start is the NetBeans logging guide.

Question (arch-time): What are the time estimates of the work?
Answer:

The module has been around since 1997 and is still improved from time to time. Support for HiDPI screens and SVG image loading was added in 2019.

Question (arch-quality): How will the quality of your code be tested and how are future regressions going to be prevented?
Answer:

There is a lot of unit tests in version control system.

Question (arch-where): Where one can find sources for your module?
Answer:

The sources for the module are in the Apache Git repositories or in the GitHub repositories.

Project and platform dependencies

Question (dep-nb): What other NetBeans projects and modules does this one depend on?
Answer:

This module is independent of other NetBeans modules and can be used independently. For better interaction with UI parts of NetBeans it however indirectly communicates with UI Utilities module using DefaultAWTBridge - a class that is looked up in Lookup.getDefault() and if registered can provide better UI elements for Actions.

Support for SVG image loading can be enabled by including the optional SVG Loader module.

The default answer to this question is:


These modules are required in project.xml:

• WeakListener.setAccessible - The module is needed for compilation. The module is used during runtime. Specification version 9.3 is required.
• LookupAPI - The module is needed for compilation. The module is used during runtime. Specification version 8.14 is required.
Question (dep-non-nb): What other projects outside NetBeans does this one depend on?
Answer:

Reexports XML APIs so needs some XML parser implementation, but as one is provided in any 1.4 java, it in fact has no dependencies except on JRE.

Question (dep-platform): On which platforms does your module run? Does it run in the same way on each?
Answer:

Platform independent.

Question (dep-jre): Which version of JRE do you need (1.2, 1.3, 1.4, etc.)?
Answer:

Currently JRE 1.4 is needed.

Question (dep-jrejdk): Do you require the JDK or is the JRE enough?
Answer:

JRE is enough.

Deployment

Question (deploy-jar): Do you deploy just module JAR file(s) or other files as well?
Answer:

FileLocation - the JAR file is located in platform cluster under lib/org-openide-util.jar .

Question (deploy-nbm): Can you deploy an NBM via the Update Center?
Answer:

No reason to not deploy nbm.

Question (deploy-shared): Do you need to be installed in the shared location only, or in the user directory only, or can your module be installed anywhere?
Answer:

Module is on real java classpath and as such it has to be in the shared directory.

Question (deploy-packages): Are packages of your module made inaccessible by not declaring them public?
Answer:

Yes, public packages declared.

Question (deploy-dependencies): What do other modules need to do to declare a dependency on this one, in addition to or instead of the normal module dependency declaration (e.g. tokens to require)?
Answer:

Nothing.

Compatibility with environment

Question (compat-i18n): Is your module correctly internationalized?
Answer:

There is not much things to localize in this module, so it is properly localized. But it is good to note that the module adds BrandingSupport - which is similar to localization but also supports changes of resorces for application build on top of NetBeans. This is handled by our class NbBundle which reimplements the JDK's standard ResourceBundle to to take branding into the consideration. .

Question (compat-standards): Does the module implement or define any standards? Is the implementation exact or does it deviate somehow?
WARNING: Question with id="compat-standards" has not been answered!
Question (compat-version): Can your module coexist with earlier and future versions of itself? Can you correctly read all old settings? Will future versions be able to read your current settings? Can you read or politely ignore settings stored by a future version?
Answer:

This module has no settings.

Question (compat-deprecation): How the introduction of your project influences functionality provided by previous version of the product?
Answer:

XXX no answer for compat-deprecation

Access to resources

Question (resources-file): Does your module use java.io.File directly?
Answer:

No.

Question (resources-layer): Does your module provide own layer? Does it create any files or folders in it? What it is trying to communicate by that and with which components?
Answer:

No.

Question (resources-read): Does your module read any resources from layers? For what purpose?
Answer:

No.

Question (resources-mask): Does your module mask/hide/override any resources provided by other modules in their layers?
Answer:

No.

Question (resources-preferences): Does your module uses preferences via Preferences API? Does your module use NbPreferences or or regular JDK Preferences ? Does it read, write or both ? Does it share preferences with other modules ? If so, then why ?
Answer:

XXX no answer for resources-preferences

Lookup of components

Question (lookup-lookup): Does your module use org.openide.util.Lookup or any similar technology to find any components to communicate with? Which ones?
Answer:
• LookupSharedClassObject - singleton subclasses of SharedClassObject are searched for using Lookup. .
• LookupContextGlobalProvider - actionsGlobalContext searches for ContextGlobalProvider in Lookup.getDefault(). The provider is usually provided by window system implementation. .
• LookupErrorManager - ErrorManager delegates its methods to all instances of ErrorManagers found in Lookup .
Question (lookup-register): Do you register anything into lookup for other code to find?
Answer:

No.

Question (lookup-remove): Do you remove entries of other modules from lookup?
Answer:

No.

Execution Environment

Question (exec-property): Is execution of your code influenced by any environment or Java system (System.getProperty) property? On a similar note, is there something interesting that you pass to java.util.logging.Logger? Or do you observe what others log?
Answer:
• url - Images loaded by ImageUtilities.loadImage defines "url" image property for the loaded image.
Question (exec-component): Is execution of your code influenced by any (string) property of any of your components?
Answer:
• HelpID - read from JComponent.getClientProperty to simulate the standard javahelp behaviour and extract the help id for given component.
• iconBase - SystemAction reacts to expected requests from UI Utilities module for iconBase property by returning value based on its result of its iconResource() method.
• org.openide.util.SharedClassObject.initialize - For purposes of SystemOption the SharedClassObject handles getProperty ("org.openide.util.SharedClassObject.initialize") in a special way, by returning null if initialization is not running and Boolean.TRUE if it is.
• OpenIDE-Transmodal-Action - CallbackSystemAction checks whether action.getValue("OpenIDE-Transmodal-Action") returns Boolean.TRUE to enable it in dialogs, otherwise the action is disabled when there is an open dialog.
Question (exec-ant-tasks): Do you define or register any ant tasks that other can use?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-classloader): Does your code create its own class loader(s)?
Answer:

No, we do not create own classloader.

Question (exec-reflection): Does your code use Java Reflection to execute other code?
Answer:

SharedClassObject.setAccessible - used to instantiate subclasses. . WeakListener.setAccessible - used to call the remove method using reflection . ActionManagerInvocation - because of the API separation, CallableSystemAction uses lookup for ActionsBridge provided by org-openide-actions module when looking for org.openide.actions.ActionManager implementation. .

Question (exec-privateaccess): Are you aware of any other parts of the system calling some of your methods by reflection?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-process): Do you execute an external process from your module? How do you ensure that the result is the same on different platforms? Do you parse output? Do you depend on result code?
Answer:

No external processes executed.

Question (exec-introspection): Does your module use any kind of runtime type information (instanceof, work with java.lang.Class, etc.)?
Answer:

Utilities provide wrapper for java beans introspection. ParserFactory - The XMLUtil class is loading a class from core/core.jar to initialize the correct parser factory. This is a fix for issue 68942.

Question (exec-threading): What threading models, if any, does your module adhere to? How the project behaves with respect to threading?
Answer:

XXX no answer for exec-threading

Question (security-policy): Does your functionality require modifications to the standard policy file?
Answer:

No security permissions manipulated.

Question (security-grant): Does your code grant additional rights to some other code?
Answer:

No security permitions manipulated.

Format of files and protocols

Question (format-types): Which protocols and file formats (if any) does your module read or write on disk, or transmit or receive over the network? Do you generate an ant build script? Can it be edited and modified?
Answer:
Question (format-dnd): Which protocols (if any) does your code understand during Drag & Drop?
Answer:

The same as for clipboard.

Question (format-clipboard): Which data flavors (if any) does your code read from or insert to the clipboard (by access to clipboard on means calling methods on java.awt.datatransfer.Transferable?
Answer:

MultiTransferObject can be used in Transferable to represent content composed of multiple independent Transferables.

Performance and Scalability

Question (perf-startup): Does your module run any code on startup?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-exit): Does your module run any code on exit?
Answer:

Nothing.

Question (perf-scale): Which external criteria influence the performance of your program (size of file in editor, number of files in menu, in source directory, etc.) and how well your code scales?
Answer:

Lookup code scales linearily.

Question (perf-limit): Are there any hard-coded or practical limits in the number or size of elements your code can handle?
Answer:
Question (perf-mem): How much memory does your component consume? Estimate with a relation to the number of windows, etc.
Answer:

There are no big data structures.

Question (perf-wakeup): Does any piece of your code wake up periodically and do something even when the system is otherwise idle (no user interaction)?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-progress): Does your module execute any long-running tasks?
Answer:

Actions declared as CallableSystemAction.asynchronous() are executed outside of AWT thread on a dedicated request processor one.

Question (perf-huge_dialogs): Does your module contain any dialogs or wizards with a large number of GUI controls such as combo boxes, lists, trees, or text areas?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-menus): Does your module use dynamically updated context menus, or context-sensitive actions with complicated and slow enablement logic?
Answer:

There are no menus.

Question (perf-spi): How the performance of the plugged in code will be enforced?
Answer:

No enforcing is done.