Category Archives: Hacks

You may know “Position is Everything” already. And I believe you should also know “Asynchony is Everything” or “Everything is Asynchronous” in RIA development.

Asynchrony is not only very important in web application development but also vital in normal desktop applications and embed systems. Asynchronous programming may help a lot in improving user experience. In normal desktop applications, if the main thread blocks UI for its long-time-consuming computing, users will feel desperately, waiting the busy-cursor to turn into default. But if such computing is run in background, user would find other things to do, such as switching focuses or typing something.

What about the definition of Asynchronous Computing? It is not only about asynchronous loading or asynchronous remote procedure call (RPC), it is also about local calculating. One thing should be mentioned here is UI layout computing. Lots of UI need complex layout calculating. For example, rendering a web page, rendering a 3D interfaces, or rending a complex dialog box. This CPU times required is especially obvious when it’s performed in a slow computer or in a slow computing environment, such as JavaScript runtime in browsers.

Here, I concerns about asynchronous layout. In implementing Java2Script’s SWT library, there is a huge problem for us. JavaScript is so slow that it can not finish a complex layout in less than 5 seconds. Or a complex layout requires more than 1 second will freeze browser UI, which make the user experience very bad and unacceptable. In order to overcome such problems. Java2Script introduced “Asynchronous Layout”.

Asynchronous layout is about to split the layout jobs into small pieces of jobs and run them step by step. As you may know, in SWT, all widgets are placed inside some containers. And to make a layout over container, the bounds of parent container, which is a Composite widget, is calculated first. And then the bounds will be passed as constraints of its child widgets to make children layouts. In such layout algorithms, we could split the layout jobs into parent container layout and child widget layout jobs, queue these jobs, and monitor each job’s required CPU times to avoid complex layout takes more than 200ms. If layout computing takes more than 200ms, then sleep for about 50ms before calling the next layout job.

Here are some snippets about Asynchronous Layout:

Display#readAndDispatch

public boolean readAndDispatch () {
checkDevice ();
drawMenuBars ();
runPopups ();
/*
if (OS.PeekMessage (msg, 0, 0, 0, OS.PM_REMOVE)) {
if (!filterMessage (msg)) {
OS.TranslateMessage (msg);
OS.DispatchMessage (msg);
}
runDeferredEvents ();
return true;
}
return runAsyncMessages (false);
*/
if (messageProc != 0) {
return true; //already hooked, return directly
}
messageProc = window.setInterval(new RunnableCompatibility() {
private boolean messageLoop = false;
public void run() {
runPopups ();
MESSAGE[] msgs = Display.this.msgs;
if (msgs.length == 0 && messageLoop)
/**
* @j2sNative
* var layoutFinished = window["j2s.swt.shell.finish.layout"];
* if (layoutFinished != null) {
* layoutFinished ();
* }
* this.messageLoop = false;
*/ { }
if (msgs.length != 0) {
messageLoop = true;
MESSAGE[] defered = new MESSAGE[0];

int defsize = 0;
for (int i = msgs.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
MESSAGE m1 = msgs[i];
if (m1 == null) {
continue;
}
m1.defer = false;
for (int j = i - 1; j >= 0; j--) {
MESSAGE m2 = msgs[j];
if (m2 != null && m2.control == m1.control
&& m2.type == m1.type) {
msgs[j] = null;
}
}

if(m1.type == MESSAGE.CONTROL_LAYOUT){
if(m1.control.parent != null && m1.control.parent.waitingForLayout){
m1.defer = true;
defered[defsize++] = m1;
}
}

}
long time = 0;

for (int i = 0; i < msgs.length; i++) {
MESSAGE m = msgs[i];

if(m != null && m.defer){
continue;
}
msgs[i] = null;
if (m != null && m.type == MESSAGE.CONTROL_LAYOUT) {
m.control.waitingForLayout = false;
if (!m.control.isVisible()) { continue; }
Date d = new Date();
Composite c = (Composite) m.control;
if(c.waitingForLayoutWithResize){
c.setResizeChildren (false);
}
if(c.layout != null){
c.layout.layout (c, (c.state & Composite.LAYOUT_CHANGED) != 0);
c.state &= ~(Composite.LAYOUT_NEEDED | Composite.LAYOUT_CHANGED);
}
if(c.waitingForLayoutWithResize){
c.setResizeChildren (true);
c.waitingForLayoutWithResize = false;
}

if (m.data != null) {
boolean[] bs = (boolean[]) m.data;
c.updateLayout(bs[0], bs[1]);
} else {
c.layout();
}
time += new Date().getTime() - d.getTime();
if (time > 200) {
for (int j = i + 1; j < msgs.length; j++) {
msgs[j - i - 1] = msgs[j];
}
int length = msgs.length - i - 1;
for(int j = 0; j < defsize; j++){
msgs[length + j] = defered[j];
}
/**
* @j2sNativeSrc
* msgs.length -= i + 1;
* @j2sNative
* a.length -= f + 1;
*/ {}
return ;
}
}
}
/**
* @j2sNativeSrc
* msgs.length = 0;
* @j2sNative
* a.length = 0;
*/ {}
Display.this.msgs = defered;
// for(int j = 0; j < defsize; j++){
// msgs[j] = defered[j];
// }
}
}
}, 100);
return true;
}


Composite#updateLayout

void updateLayout (boolean resize, boolean all) {
if (isLayoutDeferred ()) return;
if ((state & LAYOUT_NEEDED) != 0 && !waitingForLayout) {
// boolean changed = (state & LAYOUT_CHANGED) != 0;
// state &= ~(LAYOUT_NEEDED | LAYOUT_CHANGED);
// if (resize) setResizeChildren (false);
// layout.layout (this, changed);
// if (resize) setResizeChildren (true);
this.waitingForLayout = true;
this.waitingForLayoutWithResize = resize;
display.sendMessage(new MESSAGE(this, MESSAGE.CONTROL_LAYOUT, new boolean[] {resize, all}));
}

if (all) {
Control [] children = _getChildren ();
int length = children.length;
for (int i=0; i<length; i++) {
// children [i].updateLayout (resize, all);
if (children[i] instanceof Composite) {
display.sendMessage(new MESSAGE(children[i], MESSAGE.CONTROL_LAYOUT, new boolean[] {resize, all}));
}
}
}
}

Control#setBounds:

void setBounds (int x, int y, int width, int height, int flags, boolean defer) {
/**
* A patch to send bounds to support mirroring features like what Windows have.
*/
boundsSet = true;
int tempX = x;
if(parent != null){
if((parent.style & SWT.RIGHT_TO_LEFT) != 0){
x = Math.max(0, parent.getClientArea().width - x - width);
}
}
Element topHandle = topHandle ();
if (defer && parent != null) {
forceResize ();
WINDOWPOS [] lpwp = parent.lpwp;
if (lpwp == null) {
/*
* This code is intentionally commented. All widgets that
* are created by SWT have WS_CLIPSIBLINGS to ensure that
* application code does not draw outside of the control.
*/
// int count = parent.getChildrenCount ();
// if (count > 1) {
// int bits = OS.GetWindowLong (handle, OS.GWL_STYLE);
// if ((bits & OS.WS_CLIPSIBLINGS) == 0) flags |= OS.SWP_NOCOPYBITS;
// }
if ((width != this.width || height != this.height)
&& this instanceof Composite) {
display.sendMessage(new MESSAGE(this, MESSAGE.CONTROL_LAYOUT, null));
}
this.left = x;
this.top = y;
this.width = width;
this.height = height;
SetWindowPos (topHandle, null, x, y, width, height, flags);
} else {
int index = 0;
while (index < lpwp.length) {
if (lpwp [index] == null) break;
index ++;
}
if (index == lpwp.length) {
WINDOWPOS [] newLpwp = new WINDOWPOS [lpwp.length + 4];
System.arraycopy (lpwp, 0, newLpwp, 0, lpwp.length);
parent.lpwp = lpwp = newLpwp;
}
WINDOWPOS wp = new WINDOWPOS ();
wp.hwnd = topHandle;
wp.x = x;
wp.y = y;
wp.cx = width;
wp.cy = height;
wp.flags = flags;
lpwp [index] = wp;
}
} else {
if ((width != this.width || height != this.height)
&& this instanceof Composite) {
display.sendMessage(new MESSAGE(this, MESSAGE.CONTROL_LAYOUT, null));
}
this.left = x;
this.top = y;
this.width = width;
this.height = height;
SetWindowPos (topHandle, null, x, y, width, height, flags);
}
/*
* The x coordination should be preserved, because the right to left emulation is just
* for the view, not the data!
*/
this.left = tempX;
}


For more details about Java2Script’s SWT Asynchronous Layout implementation, please check the sources history from SVN repository at http://j2s.svn.sourceforge.net/

Usually, when you develop new features, you split functions into pieces and implement them one by one. And in Java development, there will be implemented by one *.java file and another. If you want to deploy the finished feature, you need to pack them up.

In Java development, deployment means that you need to pack compiled *.class files and other related resource files into a *.jar and place it to correct location. There are lots of tools to do this job. Or if you are using IDE, such as Eclipse, the IDE will provide a whole development life management tools for you.

In JavaScript world, tools are rare. And for the loading speed and performance considerations, packing JavaScript and deploy them need your attentions.

Small *.js file should be packed into some bigger *.js file. But each *.js file should not be too big, or each time you update only one small *.js, you have to update a big *.js file. But *.js files should not be too many. Because *.js files are downloaded from servers in some specific orders, two many *.js files may be queued, which may mean a long latency. Lots of *.js compiled from *.java by Java2Script compiler is very small. In order to get a shorter loading time, most of these *.js files are packed into a big *.z.js file. Please check out the packing ant script. But packing *.js into a big *.z.js is not a simple job in Java2Script. As there is ClassLoader inside Java2Script system. The packed *.z.js file must be dealt correctly by ClassLoader. This issue is very complicate. And I would like to talk about it in another post.

Small size images can be packed into a bigger size one two. This is especially useful if there are icons for tool-bar. When a small icon needed, just display the big image with given position and size. This trick is a CSS tip. For example, create a DIV block with size 16×16, and set its style with some background image started from given position:

<div style="width:16px; height:16px; background-image:url(big.gif); background-position:16px 32px; background-repeat:no-repeat;"></div>

“background-position:16px 32px;” means the icon place at the 2nd row, the 3rd column. That is the image packing trick. Java2Script SWT implementation uses these tricks, you can check the Shell.css. In there, there are no absolute positions but relative positions, such as “center right”. This is because 9 icons are packed as 3×3 squares.

Small *.css can also be packed into a big *.css files too. But in practices of Java2Script packing, *.css files are packed into *.js files. All *.css files are only applied when necessary. For example, when a widget is loaded, the widget related *.css rules are applied to the page so that widget may be in correct style. For this trick, please check Java2Script CSS hacks.

And there are also some other packing tricks which I may introduce later. As packing is for deployment. And deployed resources are for loading. And loading will affect the whole object oriented inheritance simulator. And things are a whole integrated system.

In my early Java2Script development days, I think a lot about asynchronous programming. AJAX was hot and is still hot. What is most important factor in AJAX technologies? I think it is “Asynchronous”. Without asynchronous programming, visitors still need to waste their time waiting for browser to fetch the next page. What a bad user experience.

In fact, asynchronous programming is not an easy work. Lots of callbacks, lots of threads, lots of locks or semaphores. All these stuffs may be messed up into an unmaintainable geeky thing.

Actually, if there are tools helping to design and maintain such codes, it is not a big job. If you use Java, you won’t get stuck at those threads of synchronized locks, as lots of debug tools help you figure out how those things work together at any moment you want to take a look. In fact, there are lots asynchronous programmings in Java design patterns or codes. But in Java world, asynchronous programming is not an outstanding features, and it is seldom discussed as an important issue.

But in JavaScript world, in browser world, asynchronous programming is a huge thing. In JavaScript (also known as EMCAScript)? language specification, there are no threads, no semaphores, no locks. All things are designed in synchronized mode. And before AJAX was hot, there are no robust tools for developers to write and debug JavaScript. If JavaScript sources file size exceeds 100K, it would be a hard-ass job to maintain. And if there are 3 layers of callbacks, it would drive developers crazy to develop new features. From my early experience, I designed a web form with digital signature functions, I used Java Applet in the back-end and used AJAX-style dialogs. And in oder to make a correct call from dialogs to Java Applet, its parameters may be passed through about 4-6 callback layers, because there are security issues over JavaScript calling Java Applet and Java Applet’s own sandbox mechanism. At that time, I sometimes found myself at the peak of being crazy or being collapsed.

So as I explain, asynchronous programming is not funny. And we would like to accept synchronous programming. Now let’s take a look at those Java synchronous programming which need to be JavaScript asynchronous programming:

Java snippet:

Display display = Display.getDefault();
SimpleSWTRPC shell = new SimpleSWTRPC(display, SWT.SHELL_TRIM);
shell.open();
shell.layout();
while (!shell.isDisposed()) { // waiting loop
if (!display.readAndDispatch())
display.sleep();
}
// continue other codes...

But in JavaScript, the above waiting loop will use up all CPU times and freeze browser. So such waiting loop must be avoided. And callback mechanism is used:

var display = $wt.widgets.Display.getDefault ();
var shell = new org.java2script.demo.simplerpc.SimpleSWTRPC (display, 1264);
shell.open ();
shell.layout ();
Sync2Async.block (shell, this, function () {
// continue other codes...
});

The above codes use Sync2Async technology. Such technologies have lots of defects. The biggest defect is that it can not stop browser to execute the following codes outside the method closure. For example, if the above codes are in method #openUpDialog, and in another method say #setUp call this method and then call other methods:

this.openUpDialog();
this.checkState();
this.sendOutRequest();

When the above codes are executed in Java mode, #checkState and #sendOutRequest will never be called until user closes the dialog. But in JavaScript Sync2Async mode, the callback technology can not block browser from executing #checkState and #sendOutRequest, which may result in incorrect result. This is the key defect of Sync2Async technology. Even though it has defects, such technology helps developes a lots for some simple tasks.

In order to fulfill some complicate task, designers should design the whole architecture as asynchronous programming patter from the beginning. Even in Java language, all things in asynchronous mode are still difficult.

More should be discussed for this issue.