easybinder

Easy bean binding for Vaadin 8 with JSR-303 support

EasyBinder is an alternative field binder for Vaadin 8 that tries to reduce boiler plate code by automating the binding process and relying on javax.validation (JSR 303) for validation.

New features compared with Vaadin 8 standard binder:

• Converter registration support (https://github.com/vaadin/framework/issues/9202).
• JSR 303 bean level validation support (https://github.com/vaadin/framework/issues/8498).
• JSR 303 validation groups support (https://github.com/vaadin/framework/issues/8385).
• JSR 303 @Valid support (https://github.com/vaadin/framework/issues/9520)
• unbind() method.
• Support for automatic binding of nested beans (https://github.com/vaadin/framework/issues/9210)
• Proper null-conversions (https://github.com/vaadin/framework/issues/8441, https://github.com/vaadin/framework/issues/9000 and https://github.com/vaadin/framework/issues/9453)
• Binding with value-provider supports JSR 303 validation (https://github.com/vaadin/framework/issues/8815)
• Properties are displayed in correct order in Grid's
• Grid property displays uses same converter sets as forms
• Automatic editor for Grid building
• "Naked objects" inspired automatic form-builder.
• Easily extendable, most internal classes, methods and fields are declared protected.

Limitations compared with Vaadin 8 standard binder:

• No readBean()/writeBean() support, only setBean() is supported.
• No fluent-api binder builder (but can be easily added).

Usage

Given the following Entity:

class MyEntity {
    @NotNull
    String name;
    
    int height;
    
    @Temporal(TemporalType.DATE)	
    Date dateOfBirth;
    
    @Temporal(TemporalType.TIMESTAMP)	
    Date timeAndDate;	
    
    ... getters and setters...
}

It can be bound using one of the following approaches:

Method 1: Auto binding to existing Form fields

class MyForm {
    TextField name = new TextField("Name");
    TextField height = new TextField("Height");
    DateField dateOfBirth = new DateField("Date of birth");
    DateTimeField timeAndDate = new DateTimeField("Time and date"); 
}

MyForm form = new MyForm();
AutoBinder<MyEntity> binder = new AutoBinder<>(MyEntity.class);
// Perform binding 	
binder.bindInstanceFields(form);
     
// Add components to form
addComponents(binder.getBoundFields());
     
// Set entity
MyEntity entity = new MyEntity();
binder.setBean(entity);

Method 2: Auto creation of Form fields

AutoBinder<MyEntity> binder = new AutoBinder<>(MyEntity.class);
// Perform field creation, binding and add components to form
addComponents(
    binder.buildAndBind()
    );
    
// Set entity
MyEntity entity = new MyEntity();
binder.setBean(entity);

Build a Grid

AutoBinder<MyEntity> binder = new AutoBinder<>(MyEntity.class);
binder.buildAndBind();
EGrid<Flight> grid = new EGrid<>(binder);
grid.setItems(..., ...);
grid.getEditor().setEnabled(true);

Register custom converters and builders

ConverterRegistry.registerConverter() can be used to register custom converters. ComponentFactoryRegistry().addBuildPattern() can be used to register custom UI component factories.

Sample code

class MyEntity {
	@NotNull
	String name;
	
	int height;
	
	@Temporal(TemporalType.DATE)	
	Date dateOfBirth;
	
	@Temporal(TemporalType.TIMESTAMP)	
	Date timeAndDate;	
	
	... getters and setters...
}

class MyForm {
	TextField name = new TextField("Name");
	TextField height = new TextField("Height");
	DateField dateOfBirth = new DateField("Date of birth");
	DateTimeField timeAndDate = new DateTimeField("Time and date"); 
}

MyForm form = new MyForm();
AutoBinder<MyEntity> binder = new AutoBinder<>(MyEntity.class);
// Perform binding 	
binder.bindInstanceFields(form);
 	
// Add components to form
addComponents(binder.getBoundFields());
 	
// Set entity
MyEntity entity = new MyEntity();
binder.setBean(entity);

class MyEntity {
	@NotNull
	String name;
	
	int height;
	
	@Temporal(TemporalType.DATE)	
	Date dateOfBirth;
	
	@Temporal(TemporalType.TIMESTAMP)	
	Date timeAndDate;	
	
	... getters and setters...
}

AutoBinder<MyEntity> binder = new AutoBinder<>(MyEntity.class);
// Perform field creation, binding and add components to form
addComponents(
	binder.buildAndBind()
	);
	
// Set entity
MyEntity entity = new MyEntity();
binder.setBean(entity)

class MyEntity {
	@NotNull
	String name;
	
	int height;
	
	@Temporal(TemporalType.DATE)	
	Date dateOfBirth;
	
	@Temporal(TemporalType.TIMESTAMP)	
	Date timeAndDate;	
	
	... getters and setters...
}


AutoBinder<MyEntity> binder = new AutoBinder<>(MyEntity.class);

binder.buildAndBind();

EGrid<Flight> grid = new EGrid<>(binder);

grid.setItems(..., ...);

grid.getEditor().setEnabled(true);

ConverterRegistry.getInstance().registerConverter(LocalDate.class, Date.class, new LocalDateToDateConverter());

ComponentFactoryRegistry.getInstance().addBuildPattern(boolean.class, 
				e -> true,
				e -> new CheckBox(SharedUtil.camelCaseToHumanFriendly(e.getName()))
);

Links

• Issue Tracker
• Source Code

Compatibility