How to wire up GWT hyperlink click handler?

Question

I am brand new to GWT and am trying to achieve the following:

Here's the code that I've cooked up:

public class MyWebApp implements EntryPoint {
    // The main container for everything the user sees (the "view")
    private LayoutPanel mainPanel;

    // Simple HTML for the header ("MyWebApp") and subsequent <hr/>
    private SafeHtml header;

    // The three links "Dashboard", "Monitors" and "Help Desk"
    private HorizontalPanel navMenu;

    // The empty content that gets populated when user clicks one of
    // the 3 links.
    private Panel menuContent;

    @Override
    public void onModuleLoad() {
        // The initial fragment contains the header, nav menu and empty "content" div.
        // Each menu/screen then fills out content div.
        initMainPanel();

        RootPanel.get().add(mainPanel);
    }

    private void initMainPanel() {
        SafeHtmlBuilder headerBuilder = new SafeHtmlBuilder();
        navMenu = new HorizontalPanel();

        // Leaving null until user clicks on one of the 3 menus.
        // Then the menu will decide what panel gets injected for
        // this panel.
        menuContent = null;

        // Create the simple HTML for the header.
        headerBuilder.append("<h1>MyWebApp</h1><hr/>");

        // Create the navMenu items.
        Hyperlink dashboardLink, monitorsLink, helpDeskLink;

        // Homepage is http://www.mywebapp.com
        // I want the dashboardLink to inject menuContent and "redirect" user to
        // http://www.mywebapp.com/dashboard
        dashboardLink = new Hyperlink("???", "???");

        // http://www.mywebapp.com/monitors
        monitorsLink = new Hyperlink("???", "???");

        // http://www.mywebapp.com/help-desk
        helpDeskLink = new Hyperlink("???", "???");
        navMenu.add(dashboardLink);
        navMenu.add(monitorsLink);
        navMenu.add(helpDeskLink);

        // Add all widgets to the mainPanel.
        mainPanel.add(new HTML(headerBuilder.toSafeHtml().toString()));
        mainPanel.add(navMenu);
        mainPanel.add(menuContent);

        // Position and size the widgets (omitted for brevity).
        // mainPanel.setWidgetHorizontalPosition(...);
    }

    private HTML getDashboardMenuContent() {
        return new HTML("This is the dashboard.");
    }

    private HTML getMonitorsMenuContent() {
        return new HTML("These are the monitors.");
    }

    private HTML getHelpDeskMenuContent() {
        return new HTML("This is the help desk.");
    }
}

Most importantly:

• How do I "wire up" the Hyperlinks so that when the user clicks them, I can call the appropriate getXXXMenuContent() method, and then add that to menuContent?

But also:

• I feel like I'm doing something wrong here: mainPanel.add(new HTML(headerBuilder.toSafeHtml().toString())); - if so what is it?!? How should I be adding a simple <h1> and <hr/> in a way that's secure (hence the use of the Safe* objects), efficient, and conforming to recommended practices?
• Should I be implementing UiBinder here? If so, would I make UiBinders for each menu's content or for the entire mainPanel, or both?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Something like

dashboardLink.addClickHandler( 
   new ClickHandler() 
   {
       public void onClick( ClickEvent event ) 
       {
           mainPanel.setWidget( getDashboardMenuContent() );
       }
   } );

You should note that Hyperlink.addClickHandler(...) is deprecated and it is recommended to use Anchor.addClickHandler(...) instead.

As for the other questions: It is a lot more elegant and easier to build UI's with UIBinder, so definitely look into that, but do try to make "it" work first to avoid the added complexity of the .ui.xml setup :-)

Cheers,