Interface java.beans.BeanInfo 
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Interface java.beans.BeanInfo

public interface BeanInfo
extends Object
A bean implementor who wishes to provides explicit information about their bean may provide a BeanInfo class that implements this BeanInfo interface and provides explicit information about the methods, properties, events, etc, of their bean.

A bean implementor doesn't need to provide a complete set of explicit information. You can pick and choose which information you want to provide and the rest will be obtained by automatic analysis using low-level reflection of the bean classes' methods and applying standard design patterns.

You get the opportunity to provide lots and lots of different information as part of the various XyZDescriptor classes. But don't panic, you only really need to provide the minimal core information required by the various constructors.

See also the SimpleBeanInfo class which provides a convenient "noop" base class for BeanInfo classes, which you can override for those specific places where you want to return explicit info.

To learn about all the behaviour of a bean see the Introspector class.

Method Index

o getAdditionalBeanInfo()
This method allows a BeanInfo object to return an arbitrary collection of other BeanInfo objects that provide additional information on the current bean.
o getBeanDescriptor()
o getDefaultEventIndex()
A bean may have a "default" event that is the event that will mostly commonly be used by human's when using the bean.
o getDefaultPropertyIndex()
A bean may have a "default" property that is the property that will mostly commonly be initially chosen for update by human's who are customizing the bean.
o getEventSetDescriptors()
o getMethodDescriptors()
o getPropertyDescriptors()

Methods

o getBeanDescriptor 
  public abstract BeanDescriptor getBeanDescriptor()
Returns:
A BeanDescriptor providing overall information about the bean, such as its displayName, its customizer, etc. May return null if the information should be obtained by automatic analysis.
o getEventSetDescriptors 
  public abstract EventSetDescriptor[] getEventSetDescriptors()
Returns:
An array of EventSetDescriptors describing the kinds of events fired by this object. May return null if the information should be obtained by automatic analysis.
o getDefaultEventIndex 
  public abstract int getDefaultEventIndex()
A bean may have a "default" event that is the event that will mostly commonly be used by human's when using the bean.
Returns:
Index of default event in the EventSetDescriptor array returned by getEventSetDescriptors.

Returns -1 if there is no default event.

o getPropertyDescriptors 
  public abstract PropertyDescriptor[] getPropertyDescriptors()
Returns:
An array of PropertyDescriptors describing the editable properties supported by this object. May return null if the information should be obtained by automatic analysis.
o getDefaultPropertyIndex 
  public abstract int getDefaultPropertyIndex()
A bean may have a "default" property that is the property that will mostly commonly be initially chosen for update by human's who are customizing the bean.
Returns:
Index of default property in the PropertyDescriptor array returned by getPropertyDescriptors.

Returns -1 if there is no default property.

o getMethodDescriptors 
  public abstract MethodDescriptor[] getMethodDescriptors()
Returns:
An array of MethodDescriptors describing the externally visible methods supported by this component. May return null if the information should be obtained by automatic analysis.
o getAdditionalBeanInfo 
  public abstract BeanInfo[] getAdditionalBeanInfo()
This method allows a BeanInfo object to return an arbitrary collection of other BeanInfo objects that provide additional information on the current bean.

If there are conflicts or overlaps between the information provided by different BeanInfo objects, then the current BeanInfo takes precedence over the getAdditionalBeanInfo objects, and later elements in the array take precedence over earlier ones.

Returns:
an array of BeanInfo objects. May return null. 
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