Rachel API Quick Reference

This page presents a quick reference to Rachel's API. The ResMan class provides centralized access to your icons, images, properties, text files, xml documents and more stored in your app's jars.

Resource Mangager (ResMan) Power Getter Method Line-Up

Method	Description
String getText ( String name )	returns a text file stored in the app's jar as a String
ImageIcon getIcon ( String name )	returns an icon stored in the app's jar; supports gif and jpg formats.
BufferedImage getImage ( String name )	returns an image (aka graphic picture) stored in the app's jar; supports gif, jpgeg and png out-of-the-box; other formats supported through image i/o plugins
org.jdom.Document getXmlDocument ( String name )	returns an XML document stored in the app's jar as a parsed JDOM document
Properties getProperties ( String name )	returns a properties file stored in the app's jar as a property table
InputStream getInputStream ( String name )	returns a reference to the resources's InputStream
URL getUrl( String name )	returns the resources's URL

Resource Loader Config API

Method	Description
ResourceLoader setResourceLoader ( ResourceLoader loader )	tells Rachel where to look for resources; see Resource Loader Overview for your choices

Resource Loader Overview

Class	Description
rachel.loader.ClassResourceLoader	gets resources out of jars identified by a single class (known as resource anchor)
rachel.loader.FileResourceLoader	gets resources from the file system using the passed in directory as a root
rachel.loader.JarResourceLoader	gets resources out of jars identified by URLs
rachel.loader.ResourceLoaderManager	allows you to bundle together various resource loaders and pass it as a single unit to ResMan.setResourceLoader; note, that ResourceLoaderManager uses a linear search, that is, the first resource loader added will get consulted first, if he can't find the resource the ResourceLoaderManager tries the next one in line and so on.

Web Server Resource Loader Overview

Class	Description
rachel.http.loader.ClassResourceLoader	serves up resources out of jars identified by a single class (known as resource anchor)
rachel.http.loader.WebResourceManager	allows you to bundle together various resource loaders and pass it as a single unit to Rachel's web server

tells Rachel where to look for resources; see Resource Loader Overview for your choices

Syntax:

ResourceLoader ResMan.setResourceLoader( ResourceLoader loader )
ResourceLoader ResourceManager.setResourceLoader( ResourceLoader loader )

Arguments:

loader

ResMan uses the passed in resource loader to retrieve resources; note, that you can bundle multiple resource loaders together using rachel.loader.ResourceLoaderManagager

Examples:

ResMan.setResourceLoader( new ClassResourceLoader( Tool.class ) );

ResourceLoaderManager roots = new ResourceLoaderManager();
roots.addResourceLoader( new ClassResourceLoader( CrossRefAnchor.class ) );
roots.addResourceLoader( new ClassResourceLoader( JavaDocAnchor.class ) );
ResMan.setResourceLoader( roots );

returns a text file stored in the app's jar as a String

Syntax:

String ResMan.getText( String name )
String ResourceManager.getResourceAsString( String name )

Arguments:

name

the text file's internal path inside the jar

Prerequisites:

• Make sure to setup ResMan using setResourceLoader so ResMan knows where your resources hang out.

Examples:

String strunkHtmlSnippet = ResMan.getText( "strunk.html" );

returns an icon stored in the app's jar; supports gif and jpg formats.

Syntax:

ImageIcon ResMan.getIcon( String name )
ImageIcon ResourceManager.getResourceAsIcon( String name )

Arguments:

name

the icon's internal path inside the jar

Prerequisites:

• Make sure to setup ResMan using setResourceLoader so ResMan knows where your resources hang out.

Examples:

ImageIcon appIcon = ResMan.getIcon( "images/inform.gif" ); 

returns an image (aka graphic picture) stored in the app's jar; getImage uses Java's 1.4 new plugable image i/o toolkit. Out-of-the-box it can read gif, jpeg and png graphics formats. If you need other formats such as bmp or tiff, for example, ship a image i/o plug-in with your app.

Syntax:

BufferedImage ResMan.getImage( String name )
BufferedImage ResourceManager.getResourceAsImage( String name )

Arguments:

name

the image's internal path inside the jar

Prerequisites:

• Make sure to setup ResMan using setResourceLoader so ResMan knows where your resources hang out.

Examples:

BufferedImage vanessaImg = ResMan.getImage( "images/vanessa.jpg" );

returns an XML document stored in the app's jar as a pre-parsed JDOM tree ready-to-use

Syntax:

org.jdom.Document ResMan.getXmlDocument( String name )
org.jdom.Document ResourceManager.getResourceAsXmlDocument( String name )

Arguments:

name

the xml document's internal path inside the jar

Prerequisites:

• Make sure to setup ResMan using setResourceLoader so ResMan knows where your resources hang out.

Examples:

Document doc = ResMan.getXmlDocument( "overview.xml" );

returns a properties file stored in the app's jars as a property table

Syntax:

java.util.Properties ResMan.getProperties( String name )
java.util.Properties ResourceManager.getResourceAsProperties( String name )

Arguments:

name

the properties file's internal path inside the jar

Prerequisites:

• Make sure to setup ResMan using setResourceLoader so ResMan knows where your resources hang out.

Examples:

Properties props = ResMan.getProperties( "menu.properties" );

returns a reference to the resources's InputStream; use it if ResMan doesn't sport a power getter for your desired format yet (e.g. mp3 audio, mpeg video, etc.) or if you want to pass on the raw InputStream.

Syntax:

InputStream ResMan.getInputStream( String name )
InputStream ResourceManager.getResourceAsStream( String name )

Arguments:

name

the resources's internal path inside the jar

Prerequisites:

• Make sure to setup ResMan using setResourceLoader so ResMan knows where your resources hang out.

Examples:

InputStream inStream   = ResMan.getInputStream( "overview.xml" );
InputStream xslStream  = ResMan.getInputStream( "doc2html.xsl" );