Using the SDK › Extending DevTest Solutions › Extension Concepts › Parameters and Parameter Lists

Parameters and Parameter Lists

Parameters (represented by an object of type com.itko.util.Parameter in lisa-util-8.0.0.jar) are the attributes that define and support DevTest elements.

A ParameterList (represented by an object of type com.itko.util.ParameterList in lisa-util-8.0.0.jar) is a collection of such parameters. In a way, ParameterList can be treated as an extension of java.util.HashMap.

The class that defines a DevTest element defines the parameters that the element exposes in a callback method that returns a com.itko.lisa.test.ParameterList. For example, the getParameters() method below defines the parameters for the Parse Property Value As Argument String filter:

public ParameterList getParameters()
{
    ParameterList p = new ParameterList();
    p.addParameter( new Parameter( "Existing Property", PROPKEY_PARAM, propkey, TestExec.PROPERTY_PARAM_TYPE ) );
    p.addParameter( new Parameter( "IsURL", ISURL_PARAM, new Boolean(isurl).toString(), Boolean.class ) );
    p.addParameter( new Parameter( "Attribute", ATTRIB_PARAM, attrib, TestExec.ATTRIB_PARAM_TYPE ) );
    p.addParameter( new Parameter( "New Property", PROP_PARAM, prop, TestExec.PROPERTY_PARAM_TYPE ) );
    return p;
}

For each parameter exposed, the method creates a com.itko.util.Parameter. The previous example defined the following parameters:

• A property value for Existing Property
• A Boolean value for IsURL
• An attribute value for Attribute
• A property for New Property

The parameters to the constructor of Parameter are:

• The string that provides the label for the parameter in the model editor
• A string key that is used to store the value of the parameter in a Java Map
• A variable that stores the value of the parameter
• The fully qualified type of the parameter

The model editor uses the last parameter to determine the user interface element that is associated with the parameter. For example, passing Boolean.class renders the parameter as a check box. Passing TestExec.PROPERTY_PARAM_TYPE renders the parameter as a drop-down list containing the keys of all existing properties.

For more information about the com.itko.util.Parameter and com.itko.util.ParameterList classes, see the JavaDocs in the doc folder of your installation directory.