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Chapter: A Button
Class
Object Instantiation
Object instantiation is not a new concept to you as you have already
instantiated objects from the PImage class. The process of
instantiating an object from our Button class will follow a very
similar pattern.
Since we want this object to be accessible from both setup(), draw()
and user defined functions we are going to declare an object variable
in the global variable scope by adding the following declaration
outside of both setup() and draw():
Button myButton;
We now have a variable name that we can use to reference the object we
just instantiated from the Button class, this name is myButton.
Within the setup() structure we'll initialize the button, by use of
it's constructor:
myButton = new Button(color(255), width/2, height/2, 100, 40,
"myButton");
myButton (the object variable) has inherited the properties of the
Button class. If you were to compare this statement with the modified
example of the class's constructor:
//this is simply for illustrative purposes
Button(cB, xLocB, yLocB, xSizeB, ySizeB, nameB);
You will notice that this button is currently being constructed, but
remember that you will not actually see the button at this stage as all
we have done is told Processing how we would like the button to be
constructed we have not told Processing to actually display the button.
The use of the new keyword in the previous listed assignment statement
is followed by the class's constructor which is why we are using
Button() and not Button.
Now that we have told Processing how we would like this new button
constructed let's move onto the draw() structure and actually render
the button.
Using an object's method is easy, and is very similar to a function
call. The main difference is that the name of the method is preceded by
the name of the object itself. For example:
myButton.disp();
Add this statement to the draw() structure, and you'll finally see your
button.
The button
instantiated and displayed by it's disp() method
As you can see when working with OOP the main program looks less
cluttered with code and the majority of the code exists in creating
classes. This for many people creates a more readable interface for
designing software, and once you get the hang of using OOP it can also
help to localize problematic code that might be difficult to locate
without a program adopting a modular design.
The completed sketch ButonClassExample.pde also contains another method
called over() which will identify if the users mouse is over the
button, if you take some time to examine the sketch you should be able
to add your own functionality to the button.
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