Combining Screens from Multiple Applications

Due to the project migration features of the UI Builder, you can reuse the screens of your existing applications and the Tizen Studio samples by porting their screens to your new application. You can create screens by using EFL code or the UI Builder, or by porting screens from other applications. The basic principles of migrating an EFL application to the UI Builder and creating screens using the UI Builder are introduced in Migrating Projects for UI Builder.

This topic shows how to add screens from other applications to existing applications. The example is based on the SettingsUIwithUIB project created in Converting to a UI Builder Project. A screen from the GLView11Cube sample application is ported to the SettingsUIwithUIB application.

Figure: Combining screens from multiple applications

Combining screens from multiple applications

Porting a Screen

To port a GLView11Cube project screen to the SettingsUIwithUIB project:

  1. Create the GLView11Cube sample application project:

    1. In Tizen Studio, go to File > New > Tizen Project.

    2. Select the Sample project type, Mobile v2.4 profile and version, and the Native Application application type.

    3. In the list of samples, select Graphics > GLView11Cube.

      Wizard Pages of the GLView11Cube

    4. Click Next, give the project a name and ID, and click Finish.

  2. Port the GLView11Cube screen to the SettingsUIwithUIB project:

    1. Copy the related files in the inc, src, and res subfolders.

      Copying files from the GLView11Cube project

    2. Set hardware acceleration on in the SettingsUIwithUIB project’s manifest file as it is in the GLView11Cube project.

      Apply the hardware acceleration attribute

Adding a User View for the Ported View

To add a user view for the ported GLView11Cube application screen through the User View Manager:

  1. Right-click the SettingsUIwithUIB project in the Project Explorer view and select User View Manager.

  2. Add a glview11cube view.

    User View Manager

  3. Enter glview11cube in the field as a name for the new user view.

  4. Click Add.

  5. Click Finish.

Note
The pencil (Existing user view) icon in the list refers to an existing user view. If you remove an existing user view, the logic based on that view is also removed. This cannot be undone.

Designing the Ported View

The following figure shows the new view structure when the core UI components of the GLView11Cube screen are changed to those of the UI Builder.

Figure: GLView11Cube view structure

Structure of the GLView11Cube

The GLView11Cube application (single screen) does not have the naviframe in the core UI component layer. Thus, the UI components that make up the screen are connected to the first Elementary window object. Similarly, the UI Builder view system also creates the root_container through the window; however, it defines the structure to manage the view in the naviframe of the window object.

To design the ported view, you must modify the ported source file (SettingsUIwithUIB/src/glview11cube.c) and the new user view file (SettingsUIwithUIB/src/user_view/uib_glview11cube_view.c).

To modify the ported file (SettingsUIwithUIB/src/glview11cube.c):

  1. In the Project Explorer view, open the glview11cube.c file.

  2. To use the app_create() function as the constructor of the root_container, make the following change to the function prototype.

    Editing GLView11Cube's app_create function

  3. To use the UI Builder window object, remove the creation part of the core UI component in the glview11cube_create() function.

    Removing Core UI Components

  4. Add a conditional statement that prevents the root_container from being duplicated, which happens when you transition between the views in the UI Builder view system.

  5. Change the return value from the bool type true to the Evas_Object* type table.

  6. Remove the main() function from the glview11cube.c file, as it is not needed anymore.

    Removing main function

The following figure shows the modified definition of the glview11cube_create() function.

Figure: Modified glview11cube_create() function

Definition the of glview11cube_create function

To modify the new user view file (SettingsUIwithUIB/src/user_view/uib_glview11cube_view.c):

  1. Include the glview11cube.h file for referencing the UI component structure (appdata_s).

  2. Define the appdata_s structure as ad to be used in the glview11cube_create() function.

  3. Add a declaration for calling an external function.

  4. Assign the UI Builder’s window object to the ad structure.

  5. Pass the UI Builder’s window object as a parameter to the glview11cube_create() function and assign the created glview object to the view context’s root_container. At runtime, the GLView11Cube screen is displayed through the root_container.

Figure: Designing the GLView11Cube view

Designing the GLView11Cube view

Adding View Transitions

To implement view transitions to and from the ported view:

  • To switch from the GLView11Cube view to the SettingsUI view (start-up view):

    Figure: Transitioning from the ported view

    Switching from glview11cube view to settingsui view

    1. Include the uib_util.h header file at the top of the glview11cube.c file.

      Include uib_util.h file

    2. Modify the _close_cb() function by replacing the ui_app_exit() function with the uib_util_push_view() function.

      The uib_util_push_view() function is a view transition function provided by the UI Builder view system.

      Modifing close_cb function

  • To switch from view2 to the GLView11Cube view:

    Figure: Transitioning to the ported view

    Switching from view2 view to glview11cube view

    1. In the UI Builder Outline view, select the button2 item.

      Outline view

    2. In the Properties view, click Plus button and Arrow button to add a new clicked event.

      Add clicked event

      The uib_view2_event_handler.c file is opened.

    3. In the view2_button2_onclicked() function, call the uib_util_push_view() function to switch to the GLView11Cube view.

      Add event handler code

Figure: SettingsUIwithUIB event flow

Behavior flow of SettingsUIwithUIB application

  • Dependencies
    • Tizen Studio 1.1 and Higher