How to set start, stop conditions for animation in your mobile app - java me

Question

Hi, Hope you all will be fine. Actually i just made an application in which three things are happening

1. Connection is making through Http and then result is coming in you application text area 2.Send SMS
2. Receive SMS in your application textarea

Now i want to do animation. I am newbie but i am very fond of animation. Now i want that when you click on send button then an animation starts, showing connection is making( whatever like circle rounding or splash screen) and when result came then animation stop and your form will display. Actually my application consist of three forms, on first form you have options whether to choose sms or internet. If you choose internet then form2 show which have two text areas. In one textArea you type text and then hit the send button on send button i wrote listener in which connection is made through http and then result shows in second text Area. Now i want that when you hit send button an animation start and run until result is not shown in second textArea showing connection is making.

Similary if you choose sms then form3 display having same layout as my form2

How can i do it. How can i set condition that when send command clicks then aimation start and when result come then animation stops.

Similarly when you send sms an animation start until message is not gone and stop when message is gone. How can i set condtion for this.

similarly an animation starts when message is coming in your application and stops when result is shown in second text area

Also tell me how can i create animations :). I am using LWUIT1.3, Netbeans 6.8 Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi, I did it. It's very simple. Actually for animation in LWUIT you have to crate a class that did animation. Then you have to register it. I found animation example form LWUIT 1.1 for java me developer. So i used it as it is. Here is the code for this class

[code]

 class HelloForm extends Form

{ private String helloString = "Hello!";//string to display private int index = -1;//index to access characters from string //private HelloMIDlet midlet; private Mobilang midlet; private Label textLabel;

//create new instance
//public HelloForm(HelloMIDlet m, String helloText)
    public HelloForm(Mobilang m, String helloText)
{
    super("Loading...");
    midlet = m;
    helloText = helloText.trim();
    if(!(helloText.equals("")))
    {
        helloString = helloText;
    }

    setLayout(new BorderLayout());

    //font for writing on textLabel
    Font font = Font.createSystemFont(Font.FACE_SYSTEM,Font.STYLE_BOLD,Font.SIZE_LARGE);

    // Create textLabel and set attributes
    textLabel = new Label(" ");
    textLabel.setAlignment(Label.CENTER);
    textLabel.getStyle().setBorder(Border.createBevelRaised());
    textLabel.getStyle().setBgColor(0xcccc99);
    textLabel.getStyle().setFgColor(0x000000);
    textLabel.getStyle().setFont(font);

    addComponent(BorderLayout.NORTH, textLabel);
}

//reset the index to start a new cycle
//and erase text
public void resetIndex()
{
    index = -1;
    textLabel.setText("");
}

public void updateText()
{

         System.out.println("index in HelloForm updatText() is: " + index );
         System.out.println("helloString.length() in HelloForm updatText() is: " + helloString.length() );
    if(index == helloString.length() -2)
            //if(txtArea2.)
    {
        //only one more character left
        //display entire message
        //textLabel.setText(helloString);

        //and stop animation

         //  midlet.stopAnimation();
                  // form2.show();
                  // timer.cancel();

                   // helloForm.removeAll();
    }
    else
    {
        //whole string not yet written
        //update text and restart animation on anim_label
        //textLabel.setText(getUpdatedText());
                    textLabel.setText("Please wait...");
        midlet.restartAnimation();
    }
}

//called to get the next substring of helloString
//if the next character is a space then the substring
//keeps expanding until a non-space character is found
private String getUpdatedText()
{
        System.out.println("index in HelloForm getUpdatText() before index ++ is: " + index );
    index++;

    //if index points to space character
    //recurse until non-space character is found
    if(helloString.charAt(index) == ' ')
    {
        return getUpdatedText();
    }

    return helloString.substring(0, index+1);
}
} //HelloForm

 class HelloLabel extends Label

{ //decides which circle is to be drawn public int state;

//time when previous repaint was done
public long prevTime;

public boolean done;
public boolean initialized;

//nominal interval between two successive repaints
public final int interval = 150;

//width of the label
public int width;

//height of the label
public int height;

//radius of first circle
public int rad1 = 10;

//radii of other three circles
public int rad2, rad3, rad4;

//top left corners of bounding rectangles - smallest to largest
public int x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, x4, y4;

//create a new HelloLabel
public HelloLabel()
{
    super();
}

//if this object is registered for animation
//then this method will be called once for every frame
public boolean animate()
{

        System.out.println("initialized in HelloLabel animate is: " + initialized );
    //painting parameters not set up
    //so don't repaint
    if(!initialized)
    {
        return false;
    }

    //get current time
    long currentTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
             System.out.println("currentTime in HelloLabel animate is: " + currentTime );

    //check if it's 'interval' milliseconds or more since last repaint
    //also see if all circles have been drawn
             System.out.println("prevTime in HelloLabel animate is: " + prevTime );
              System.out.println("done in HelloLabel animate is: " + done );
    if (!done && (currentTime - prevTime> interval))
    {
        //it's more than 'interval' milliseconds
        //so save current time for next check
        prevTime = currentTime;

        //increment state to draw next larger circle
                     System.out.println("state in HelloLabel animate is: " + state );
                     System.out.println();
        state++;

        //check if all circles drawn
        if (state == 5)
        {
            //all finished so set done flag
            done = true;

            //and ask for string display to be updated
            ((HelloForm)getComponentForm()).updateText();
                          //  new HelloForm(null, msgReceived).updateText();
        }

        //request repaint
        return true;
    }

    //either too soon for next repaint
    //or all circles drawn
    //no repaint to be done
    return false;
}

//reinitialize to start animation for next (non-space) character
public void resumeAnimation()
{
    state = 0;
    done = false;
}

//will be called whenever 'animate' method returns true
public void paint(Graphics g)
{
    //save the present color
    int color = g.getColor();

    //set color for drawing circles
    //g.setColor(0xff8040);
            g.setColor(0xFFFFFF);

    //act as per state value
    switch(state)
    {
        //draw smallest circle
        case 1:
            //translate to draw relative to label origin
            g.translate(getX(), getY());

            //paint the circle
            g.fillArc(x1, y1, 2*rad1, 2*rad1, 0, 360);

            //restore original co-ordinate settings
            g.translate(-getX(), -getY());
            break;

        //draw next larger circle
        case 2:
            g.translate(getX(), getY());
            g.fillArc(x2, y2, 2*rad2, 2*rad2, 0, 360);
            g.translate(-getX(), -getY());
            break;

        //draw next larger cirle
        case 3:
            g.translate(getX(), getY());
            g.fillArc(x3, y3, 2*rad3, 2*rad3, 0, 360);
            g.translate(-getX(), -getY());
            break;

        //draw largest circle
        case 4:
            g.translate(getX(), getY());
            g.fillArc(x4, y4, 2*rad4, 2*rad4, 0, 360);
            g.translate(-getX(), -getY());
    }

    //restore color
    g.setColor(color);
}

public void initialize()
{
    //get dimensions of label
    width = getWidth();
    height = getHeight();

            System.out.println("width in initialize is: " + width );
             System.out.println("height in initialize is: " + height );

    //size of largest circle to be determined by
    //the shorter of the two dimensions
    int side = width < height? width : height;

            System.out.println("side in initialize is: " + side );

    //find the center of the circle
    int centerX = width / 2;
    int centerY = height/2;

            System.out.println("CenterX in initialize is: " + centerX );
            System.out.println("CenterY in initialize is: " + centerY );

    //radius of largest circle
    //5 less than than half the shorter side
    rad4 = side/2 - 5;

            System.out.println("rad4 in initialize is: " + rad4 );
            System.out.println("rad1 in initialize is: " + rad1 );

    //difference between successive radii
    int radStep = (rad4 - rad1)/3;
             System.out.println("radStep in initialize is: " + radStep );

    //radii of second and third circles
    rad2 = rad1 + radStep;
             System.out.println("rad2 in initialize is: " + rad2 );
    rad3 = rad2 + radStep;
             System.out.println("rad3 in initialize is: " + rad3 );

    //top left corners of the four bounding rectangles
    x1 = centerX - rad1;
    y1 = centerY - rad1;

    x2 = centerX - rad2;
    y2 = centerY - rad2;

    x3 = centerX - rad3;
    y3 = centerY - rad3;

    x4 = centerX - rad4;
    y4 = centerY - rad4;

    initialized = true;
}
} //HelloLabel

[/code]

Then you have to register it in your midlet like this

[code] helloForm = new HelloForm(this, "Please Wait..."); helloForm.addCommand(cmdStop); helloForm.addCommandListener(this);

     //set form background image

// helloForm.getContentPane().getStyle().setBgTransparency((byte)0); // try { // helloForm.getStyle().setBgImage(Image.createImage("/sdsym2.png")); // } catch(java.io.IOException ioe) { // }

 //font for title and menu bars
 Font font = Font.createSystemFont(Font.FACE_SYSTEM,Font.STYLE_PLAIN,Font.SIZE_LARGE);

 //set title bar background and foreground

// helloForm.getTitleStyle().setBgTransparency(0); // helloForm.getTitleStyle().setFgColor(0x99cc00); // helloForm.getTitleStyle().setFont(font);

 //set menu bar background and foreground

//// Style s = new Style(); //// s.setBgTransparency(25); //// s.setBgColor(0x663366); //// s.setFgColor(0x99cc00); //// s.setFont(font); //// helloForm.setSoftButtonStyle(s);

 //Create animLabel and set attributes
 animLabel = new HelloLabel();
 animLabel.getStyle().setBgColor(0xd5d5d5);
 animLabel.getStyle().setBgTransparency(0);

 //add label to form
 helloForm.addComponent(BorderLayout.CENTER, animLabel);
     helloForm.setTransitionInAnimator(CommonTransitions.createFade(1));

[/code]

Now the thing is how to use it with your event. So on send button click i started a thread which call this class and after a delay of 3 sec(for this i use timre) i start make connection to the url. So when you click send the animation starts and when result come i simply replace this form wit my result form and do stop animation. Same goes for sms part. Actaully i receive sms in my application so i replace animation form when result come to my application.

Thanks :)