Understanding the Basic Steps

Developing an Isight datatype is a fairly straightforward process once you understand the composition of a datatype and the sequence of steps to follow.

The following are the basic steps to follow:

  1. Understand your datatype enough to know:

    • What information must be specified to define its value?

    • What are the different ways to set and get its value? For example, you can set a Real by providing a String that is a number

    • What is the best way to display its value?

    • What type of interface should be available to edit its value?

  2. Develop a Value (Java class) to provide methods for getting/setting and storing the value of the parameter using this datatype.

  3. Develop a Renderer (Java class) to display the value in a cell in a table. Often, the Renderer and Editor are provided in the same class.

  4. Develop an Editor (Java class) for the user to interact with when setting the value for this datatype.

The Isight SDK Generator does not support datatype development. You must create the XML Descriptor, package the jar file, and publish manually, as described in the following sections.

The remainder of this section discusses developing a Value, Renderer, and Editor in more detail, with particular emphasis on the Java classes that you must write. Code examples are provided to allow you to see some of the most commonly used commands and objects in the Isight API. However, this document does not provide a full description of all the objects in the Isight API. Once you get to the point of writing the necessary classes and needing to use the Isight API, refer to the javadocs found in your Isight installation directory to access a HTML representation of the complete Isight API.