ZK8 Wizard Example - Part 2

Author
Robert Wenzel, Engineer, Potix Corporation

Date
July/August 2015

Version
ZK 8.0

Introduction

In the previous Part 1 LINK ME I created a wizard template together with a model. I showed its usage in a trivial case. This Part will focus on reusing the same wizard template in a different scenario with more complex steps. I'll go deeper into templating and reuse various parts of the UI.

I'll also highlight some optional features to give the example more of a real life feeling.

Order Wizard (a more complex example)

As an example I chose a classical Shopping basket and Checkout process with the following steps:

1. Basket

   adjust basket (add/remove/change items)

2. Shipping Address

   enter shipping address

3. Payment

   choose payment method + enter conditional details

4. Confirmation

   review data, accept GTC submit order (handle exceptions)

5. Feedback

   user feedback when order was successful

Order Model

The order model consists of straight forward java bean classes, to hold the data input during the order process. These classes are unaware of being used in inside a Wizard they simply provide getters and setters to hold/represent their state. (When looking into the code don't be confused by the validation annotations I'll talk about this topic in Part 3 LINK ME.)

Wizard/Step View Models

There are 3 view model classes representing our Ordering process. The OrderViewModel controls the overall wizard, initializes the steps and eventually the submits the final order. Two of the wizard steps require additional logic which is implemented in BasketViewModel(adding/removing basket items and display recommendations) and PaymentViewModel (handle payment method changes).

Creating the UI

The order.zul doesn't contain anything new.

<?component name="wizard" templateURI="/WEB-INF/zul/template/wizard/wizard.zul" ?>
<zk>
	<div width="500px" 
		 viewModel="@id('vm') @init('zk.example.order.OrderViewModel')" 
		 validationMessages="@id('vmsgs')"
		 onBookmarkChange="@command('gotoStep', stepId=event.bookmark)">
		 
		<wizard wizardModel="@init(vm.wizardModel)" order="@init(vm.order)"/>
	</div>
</zk>

More interesting are the individual step pages.

step 2-4 basket.zul

I'll start with the simpler steps for inputting the order information, as they share some common layout. They all consist of a simple row based layout: one row for each input field.

shippingAddress.zul

plain input form no addtional viewmodel required

<?taglib uri="/WEB-INF/tld/i18n.tld" prefix="i18n"?>
<?component name="formRow" templateURI="/WEB-INF/zul/template/wizard/formRow.zul" ?>
<zk xmlns:sh="shadow">
	<grid>
		<rows>
			<formRow type="static" label="@init(i18n:nls('order.basket'))" value="@init(order.basket)"/> 
		</rows>
	</grid>		
	${i18n:nls('order.shippingAddress.hint')}
	<grid>
		<rows>
			<formRow type="textbox" label="@init(i18n:nls('order.shippingAddress.street'))" 
				value="@ref(order.shippingAddress.street)"/> 
			<formRow type="textbox" label="@init(i18n:nls('order.shippingAddress.city'))" 
				value="@ref(order.shippingAddress.city)"/> 
			<formRow type="textbox" label="@init(i18n:nls('order.shippingAddress.zipCode'))" 
				value="@ref(order.shippingAddress.zipCode)"/>
		</rows>
	</grid>
</zk>

• Line 6: Note: the value passed in statically using @init
• Lines 13, 15, 17: Note: the value is bound by reference using @ref

Every row is rendered using the same formRow template.

Form Row template

The core of this example is the formRow template which renders a form field based on the parameters type, label, value (and some conditional parameters). It uses several shadow components to achieve dynamic row rendering. It tries to reuse as much layout per row as possible (we'll enhance this template with validation messages in PART 3 LINK ME). The templates for input elements require additional template parameters such as model (used for selectbox) and updateCommand.

<zk xmlns:sh="shadow">
	<row>
		<sh:choose>
			<sh:when test="@init(type eq 'checkbox')">
				<sh:apply template="@init(type)"/>
			</sh:when>
			
			<sh:otherwise>
				<label value="@init(label)"/>
				<cell>
					<sh:apply template="@init(type)"/>
				</cell>
			</sh:otherwise>
		</sh:choose>
	</row>
	
	<template name="checkbox">
		<cell/>
		<cell>
			<checkbox checked="@bind(value)" onCheck="@command(updateCommand)" label="@load(label)"/>
		</cell>
	</template>
	
	<template name="textbox">
		<textbox value="@bind(value)" onChange="@command(changeCommand)"/>
	</template>

	<template name="selectbox">
		<selectbox selectedItem="@bind(value)" model="@load(model)" onSelect="@command(updateCommand)">
			<template name="model">
				<label value="@init(i18n:nls(each))"/>
			</template>
		</selectbox>
	</template>

	<template name="static">
		<label value="@load(value)" />
	</template>
	
	<template name="static-bookmark-link">
		<a label="@load(value)" href="@init(('#' += bookmark))"/>
	</template>
</zk>

• Line 25: binds the value passed in via @ref from the outside

step 1 basket.zul

WEB-INF/zul/order/steps/basket.zul

Additional features

Custom I18N

using the same convenience functions in the zul and java code

Download

• The source code for this article can be found in github.

Running the Example

The example consists of a maven web application project. It can be launched with the following command:

   mvn jetty:run

Then access the overview page http://localhost:8080/wizardexample/order.zul

Comments

Copyright © Potix Corporation. This article is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License.