Contents of this Section:

Overview of the Task Editor Window

Tasklists Listbox

Task Tree Panel

Task Properties Panel

• Client Task Properties
• Host Task Properties
• Conditional Task Properties
• Nested Tasklist Properties

Target Tree

Status Panel

The Task Editor Window is where all tasklists and tasks can be defined, modified or removed. These tasklists and tasks contain the client-side logic that is executed when certain user actions occur or when they are invoked by other client or host procedures. To open this window, select "View-->Task Editor" from the menu bar in the Design Window. You can also double-click a tasklist in the "Available Tasklists" or "Tasklists to execute" listboxes in the design window to both open the Task Editor and open the selected tasklist in the task tree for editing in one step.

User Tip: When you are working in this window, at each step a short one-line help message will be displayed in the status panel at the bottom of the window that suggests what to do next. You can also click the "More info..." button to the right of the status panel, which will bring up a more detailed help document in a browser. This document discusses each step in detail. Once opened, you can also browse through all documents for previous and subsequent steps, so that you can understand the entire process of adding and changing tasklists and tasks.

• The user does a mouse or keyboard action which generates an event linked to a tasklist
• A host task "invokes" a tasklist in a client app.
• A client task "invokes" a tasklist from within another tasklist in the same app or from another app.
• A conditional task executes one of its two tasklists based on the true or false value of a condition.
• A tasklist contains another tasklist that is included within it as a "nested" tasklist.

Host Tasks are run on both the client and the host.

• First, the client executes one task for each parameter that it will send to the host, to obtain its current value.
• Second, the client sends a message to the host, specifying the host's URL address, the script name that specifies the middleware to be invoked, the host procedure name and related values, and zero or more additional parameters containing data values to be passed to the host procedure as input parameters.
• Third, the host receives the message via its web server and passes it to the middleware specified in the script. The middleware selects a process to run the host procedure (starting one if necessary) and sends it the additional parameters. The host procedure then executes the user-written business logic.
• Finally, the host procedure returns a set of results containing one or more tasks (also known as Component Instruction Objects, or CIO's) back to the client, which receives and executes them. These CIOs most often populate various textfields, textareas, textpanes and tables in the client app with data values calculated or retrieved from a database by the host procedure. However, CIOs may do many other actions as well, including invoking any valid client method or pre-defined client tasklist.

User Tip: Note that one or more of the CIOs may be message or warning boxes, which are modal objects (the user cannot do anything else in the app while a modal dialog box is displayed). If a CIO containing a message box or warning box is received, the animation will continue until the user dismisses this modal box by clicking the OK button, so that the processing of any other CIOs in the host task can be completed. After all CIOs received from the host have been processed, the host task ends and then the animation ends.

Conditional Tasks allow true "If/Then/Else" logic by executing one of two tasklists, depending on whether the result of a specified test condition is true or false. The condition compares two operands, either of which can be a constant or the result of a task (such as getting the current value of an object). The available comparison operators are: EQ, NE, GT, LT, GE, LE or CONTAINS. You may also select a "Match Case" checkbox for any comparison operator. The true/false tasklists are defined in the same manner as any other tasklist, and may contain any mixture of Client, Host, Nested or Conditional Tasks, which means that conditions may be nested to any level as well.

Tasklists are executed when they are invoked by another client or host procedure, or when any of the event(s) to which they are linked take place. Tasklists are linked to an event of an object by associating them in the Events Panel of the Properties Panel in the Design Window. For a more comprehensive discussion of tasks, objects, methods and events, see the Overview of Tasks and Events section.
 

Tasklists Listbox

Tasklists are added, deleting and selected for editing in the Tasklists Listbox in the upper left-hand corner of the Task Editor. This is also where a tasklist is selected to be a nested task within another tasklist.

• To add a new tasklist, click the "+" button. A new entry will be added to the list with a name like "TaskList0", which you may wish to change to make it more meaningful.

• To delete a tasklist which is no longer needed, highlight it within the Tasklists listbox, then click the "-" button.

• To edit a tasklist (add, change, delete or rearrange its tasks), highlight the tasklist in this listbox, then click the third ("Edit") button. You can also edit a tasklist by double-clicking it in the tasklist listbox. The current contents of the tasklist will be shown in the "Task Tree Panel" below the Tasklists listbox in a tree format similar to other trees in Jargon Writer. The top of the tree will be a "root" object representing the tasklist itself.

• To nest one tasklist (such as TaskList0) as a task within another tasklist (such as TaskList2), first select TaskList2 for editing as explained above, then highlight the top (root) node in the task tree, then highlight TaskList0 in the Tasklists listbox and click the fourth ("Nest") button. This will cause TaskList0 to be added as the last task in TaskList2.

Task Tree Panel

The Task Tree panel displays the contents of the tasklist which has been selected for editing (the "currently active tasklist").  This tree works the same way as other trees in Jargon Writer, such as the Component Tree in the Design Panel, so the explanation of generic tree behavior (expanding, contracting, etc.) is not repeated here, except a reminder that a right mouse click will fully expand or collapse the contents of any branch, including the root node.

The top (root) node is the tasklist itself. When it is highlighted, you may add tasks to the tasklist and may change the name of the tasklist in the Task Properties Panel.

• To add a task to the currently active tasklist, first click the root node to highlight it, then add the appropriate type of task by doing one of the following:
• Click the "C" (Client) button to add a Client Task
• Click the "H" (Host) button to add a Host Task
• Click the "IF" (Condition) button to add a Conditional Task
• Highlight another tasklist within the Tasklists listbox, then click the "Nest" button.
Whichever type of task was chosen will be added to the bottom of the task tree, at the first branch level under the root node. Note that when a task is added, the highlighted node in the tree changes from the root node to the newly added task node. Thus, to add a series of tasks at once (before editing each task), you must click on the root node again before adding each new task.
 
• To remove a task from the currently active tasklist, click on the task node to highlight it, then click the "-" button.

• To rearrange tasks, click on the task node to be moved, then click the up or down arrow buttons.

User Tip: You may wish to establish a naming convention that will make tasklist and task names consistent and easily recognizable and understandable. For example, Jargon Replicator creates tasklists with the prefix "TL" followed by one or more words with initial caps, such as "TLGet" and "TLBrowseGet".  Host tasks have names prefixed with "HT", such as "HTGet", and client tasks have names prefixed with "CT", such as "CTExit". Names for conditional tasks could be prefixed with "IF", such as "IFValueIsZero".

Task Properties Panel
The contents of the Task Properties Panel depend on the type of object that is highlighted in the Task Tree. The following discussion lists the properties for each possible type of object  in the Task Tree with notes on their use.
 

Client Task Properties

• Task name. You can (and probably should) rename the client task to have a more meaningful name.

• Set Target button. A Client Task invokes one method on one object, such as making a frame visible, enabling or disabling a button, or setting or getting the current value of a textfield. To select a target object and method:
1. First, in the Target Tree, select a target object on which this client task will operate, then click the "Set Target" button to add the target object as a sub-node beneath the client task in the Task Tree.
2. Next, highlight the target object node in the Task Tree and select a method from the "Methods" listbox in the Task Properties Panel by highlighting the desired method and clicking the "Set Method" button. If the method that you want to use is not shown initially, it may be a method of a parent class (superclass) of this object. Click a different class name in the "Declaring Object" listbox to see the list of methods for that class. Repeat until you find the class whose list contains the method you want, then select the method from that list.
3. Finally, if the method has any parameters, provide values for them by highlighting each parameter in the task tree, then filling in a constant value in the middle panel, or click the "Task" button to add a sub-task that will return a value of the correct data type (such as by getting the value of a textfield or other component).
User Tip: Click the "Help" button while a method is highlighted in the Methods listbox to bring up the HTML-based API documentation for that method. This documentation shows the parameters required for each method as well as comments and examples for many methods, which should help you to determine whether a given method is the one that you want to use. For a shorter list of frequently used methods for each type of component, see the Client Methods document.

User Tip: Since Jargon Writer gives you access to all of the Java AWT and Swing methods as well as the "convenience" methods provided with the special Jargon Writer subclasses of the Swing classes, it may take some study and experimenting to become familiar with all of the methods available for your use. However, with practice, you will find that selecting objects and the methods to be invoked on these objects can be done very quickly and easily. For a more detailed discussion of objects, class hierarchies and methods, see the Overview of Tasks and Events section.

User Tip: A new MethodList feature introduced in Version 2.1 allows you to choose an alternative way to list the available methods for each type of target object. With this feature, the middle panel of the Task Editor will show one combined list of methods from an object's class and all its parent classes. This new list will be sorted alphabetically and filtered to show only those methods supported in all deployment engines (Jargon Reader, Jargon ReaderX, and any others that may be added in future versions).

Host Task Properties

• Secure checkbox. If this checkbox is checked, Jargon ReaderX will use SSL encryption when running this host task (i.e. when sending the http request to the server). If it is not checked, the host task will not use SSL. Note that you may also make all host tasks use SSL by default, by adding a new parameter "Secure=true" to the startup HTML or ini file for the application. Also note that SSL is never used when running an app from within Jargon Writer.
  
  
• Name, Program, Common include, Procedure, and Include file. These parameters are used to specify the host procedure that will be invoked when this host task is executed. The content of these properties varies depending on the host environment and language being used.

 
• For Oracle host systems, see Specifying Oracle Stored Procedure Names.
• For Progress host systems, see Specifying Progress Host Procedures.

• Host Input Objects listbox. This listbox is where you define any optional parameters to be sent to the host when this host task is run (most host tasks will define at least one parameter here). Parameters may be constants or component values. They are added to the listbox when they are added. A parameter may be deleted or rearranged in the list by highlighting it, then clicking the "-" button to remove it, or the up and down arrow buttons to move it in the list.

• To add a component, select the target object in the Target Tree by clicking to highlight it, then click the leftmost button (light blue ball image). The component and the normal default method which will be invoked on the target object to get its current value will be automatically added to the Task Tree. If you want a method other than the default method, fully expand the parameter node in the Task Tree, then highlight the target object node (the next-to-last node in the branch), and select a different method from the  Methods listbox which appears in the Task Properties Panel.
• To add a constant, click the second button from the left (dark blue ball), then highlight the host task node in the Task Tree to see the constant parameter node and highlight it. You will then see, and can edit, the constant name, data type and value in the Task Properties Panel. Be sure that the data value is appropriate for the data type selected.
• To add a Business Object, select a business object group from the bottom listbox, then click the third button from the left (square/circle/triangle image).

 
• Business Objects Listbox. This listbox is where you define business object groups and their members.  Business objects are a convenient way to refer to a group of two or more host parameters. This is especially useful when common groups of parameters are used for multiple host tasks.

• Click the "Groups" button to add, delete or rename groups. To add a group, click the "+" button, then highlight and rename the new entry in the "Group Name" textfield at the bottom, clicking "apply" when you are done.
• Click the "Members" button after highlighting a group name, to add, delete or reorder the members of a group. To add a member, highlight it in the target tree, then click the "+" button.
• To delete or reorder group or member items, highlight the item in the listbox, then click the appropriate button.

Conditional Task Properties

• Condition Name. This is the task name for the Conditional Task, which you can rename.

• Condition. This is a combobox from which you can select the operator to be used in comparing the values of two parameters. Operators include:
• EQ for case-sensitive "equal to" tests
• NE for "not equal to" tests
• GT for "greater than" tests
• LT for "less than" tests
• GE for "greater than or equal to" tests
• LE for "less than or equal to" tests
• CONTAINS for testing whether one character string contains an occurrence of another string

• Operands 1 and 2.  These are the values which are compared by the condition operator. They are shown here in disabled mode for reference. To rename and define the operands:
1. Expand the condition node in the Task Tree
2. Click the first subnode (Param1)
3. Fill in the values which appear in the Task Properties Panel for this parameter. Each operand can be a character constant or the resulting value from a task (normally at least one will be a task value). When you click the "Task" radio button, a task is added under the selected operand. You can then select a target object and a method to invoke on that object to get its value, which is done in the same way as other task definitions.
4. Repeat for the second operand node (Param2)

• Match Case checkbox. Check this box to force all comparisons to exactly match upper/lower case.

• True and False Tasklists. One of these tasklists will be executed, depending on the result of the comparison. To edit the True Tasklist and False Tasklist Definitions:
1. In the Task Tree, click on the node for the tasklist to be executed when the condition is true, which will have a name like TrueList0. (This is the third node beneath the Condition Task node). Add tasks to this tasklist, just as for any "regular" tasklist.
2. Then, do the same thing for the "false" tasklist (the fourth node beneath the Condition Task node).

Nested Tasklist Properties

User Tip: Watch for nested tasklists (look for the "tasklist" icon in the task tree) when editing tasklists, because if you edit a nested tasklist in one place, the changes will apply everywhere that it is used in this app.

Target Tree

The Target Tree is used to select the object upon which a task will operate. It works like all other trees in Jargon Writer. The target object can be any object in the currently active app, or it can be any object in any other app which is opened in the Target Tree. If you are opening another app, it must be in a directory that can be accessed in the "Open a File" dialog box which appears when the "Open" button at the top of the Target Tree is clicked.

To select a target object, open the desired app, then expand the tree until the desired object is visible, then click on that object so that it is highlighted, then click the "Set Target" button in the Target Properties Panel.

To change a target object that has been previously set, highlight the node that contains it in the Task Tree, then follow the same procedure to select a different target object. Note that this will recursively remove the method and any subtasks that were under the original target, and the definition of the new target object must be completed as well.

User Tip: If the "Set Target" button is not shown, it is probably because the correct node is not selected in the Task Tree.

Status Panel

The Status Panel at the bottom of the Task Editor Window contains a one-line message area at the lower left in which various Jargon Writer help messages are displayed during each step of working with tasks. Also, there is a "More info..." button at the lower right. When clicked, this button opens a browser window to display more detailed help specific to the current step. No input fields are used in the Status Panel.