Custom converter in JGoodies Binding

[David Irwin]

I've been trying to create a custom JGoodies binding converter with no luck. Currently my model contains properties that are all simple types (strings, integers, etc). Everything is setup such that when a property changes the corresponding JLabel in my GUI changes. Okay...no problem.

But now I want to bind a custom object, not just a string or integer. So, for example I have something like the following:

My current working model class:

public class Sensor extends Model
{
  private String str1 = new String();
  public static final String PROPERTYNAME_STR1 = "str1";
 
  [...]
 
  public final String getStr1()
  {
    return str1;
  }
 
  public final void setStr1(String str1)
  {
    // get the old value
    String oldValue = getStr1();
 
    // store the new value
    this.str1 = str1;
 
    // notify the bounded listeners
    firePropertyChange(PROPERTYNAME_STR1, oldValue, str1);
  }
}

But now I'm trying to do something like:

public class Sensor extends Model
{
  private CustomObj customObj = new CustomObj();
  public static final String PROPERTYNAME_CUSTOMOBJ = "customObj";
 
  [...]
 
  public final String getCustomObj()
  {
    return customObj;
  }
 
  public final void setCustomObj(CustomObject customObj)
  {
    // get the old value
    CustomObj oldValue = getCustomObj();
 
    // store the new value
    this.customObj = customObj;
 
    // notify the bounded listeners
    firePropertyChange(PROPERTYNAME_CUSTOMOBJ, oldValue, customObj);
  }
}
 
public class CustomObj
{
  private String name;
 
  public void setName(String name)
  {
    this.name = name;
  }
 
  public String getName()
  {
    return name;
  }
}

I've thought that I would have to develop a custom converter (extending the com.jgoodies.binding.value.AbstractConverter class) that takes my custom object and converts it into a string representation because I then have:

public class GuiClass
{
  JLabel test_l;
 
  [...]
 
  test_l = BasicComponentFactory.createLabel(CustomConverterFactory        .createCustomObjToStringConverter(presentationModel.getBufferedModel(Sensor.PROPERTYNAME_CURRENTDATA)));
}

but this gives me an exception:

ERROR [21:39:39] [jhomenet.gui.DesktopView] -- Error while adding window to desktop: Failed to read an adapted Java Bean property.
bean     =Can't read
bean type=jhomenet.binding.CustomConverterFactory$DataConverter
property name  =value
property type  =java.lang.Object
property reader=public java.lang.Object com.jgoodies.binding.value.AbstractConverter.getValue()
com.jgoodies.binding.beans.PropertyAccessException: Failed to read an adapted Java Bean property.
bean     =Can't read
bean type=jhomenet.binding.CustomConverterFactory$DataConverter
property name  =value
property type  =java.lang.Object
property reader=public java.lang.Object com.jgoodies.binding.value.AbstractConverter.getValue()
        at com.jgoodies.binding.beans.PropertyAccessException.createReadAccessException(PropertyAccessException.java:89)
        at com.jgoodies.binding.beans.BeanUtils.getValue(BeanUtils.java:420)
        at com.jgoodies.binding.beans.PropertyConnector.updateProperty2(PropertyConnector.java:292)
        at com.jgoodies.binding.adapter.Bindings.bind(Bindings.java:220)
        at com.jgoodies.binding.adapter.BasicComponentFactory.createLabel(BasicComponentFactory.java:527)
        at jhomenet.gui.tab.SensorInfoTab.initComponents(Unknown Source)
        at jhomenet.gui.tab.SensorInfoTab.buildAdditionalPanel(Unknown Source)
        at jhomenet.gui.tab.SensorInfoTab.buildAdditionalPanel(Unknown Source)
        at jhomenet.gui.tab.AbstractInfoTab.buildTab(Unknown Source)
        at jhomenet.gui.RegisteredWindow.buildGUI(Unknown Source)
        at jhomenet.gui.AbstractWindow.createAsInternalFrame(Unknown Source)
        at jhomenet.gui.DesktopView$1.run(Unknown Source)
        at foxtrot.AbstractWorkerThread$2.run(AbstractWorkerThread.java:49)
        at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
        at foxtrot.AbstractWorkerThread.runTask(AbstractWorkerThread.java:45)
        at foxtrot.workers.DefaultWorkerThread.run(DefaultWorkerThread.java:153)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
        at com.jgoodies.binding.beans.BeanUtils.getValue(BeanUtils.java:418)
        ... 15 more
Caused by: java.lang.ClassCastException: The subject value must be of type HardwareData.
        at jhomenet.binding.CustomConverterFactory$DataConverter.convertFromSubject(Unknown Source)
        at com.jgoodies.binding.value.AbstractConverter.getValue(AbstractConverter.java:134)

Can anyone help?
[ October 26, 2005: Message edited by: David Irwin ]

[David Irwin]

This should have been obvious:

Caused by: java.lang.ClassCastException: The subject value must be of type HardwareData.
at jhomenet.binding.CustomConverterFactory$DataConverter.convertFromSubject(Unknown Source)
at com.jgoodies.binding.value.AbstractConverter.getValue(AbstractConverter.java:134)

I was getting a class cast exception because the first conversion was sending something other than my CustomObject. Now I've removed this excetion and simple returns a "NULL" string instead. Now it works.