Class AbstractImagePrototype

java.lang.Object
com.google.gwt.user.client.ui.AbstractImagePrototype

public abstract class AbstractImagePrototype extends Object
An opaque representation of a particular image such that the image can be accessed either as an HTML fragment or as an Image object. An image prototype can be thought of as an abstract image factory with additional capabilities.

The applyTo(Image) method provides an efficient way to replace the contents of an existing Image. This is useful in cases where an image changes its appearance based on a user's action. Instead of creating two Image objects then alternately hiding/showing them, one can use the applyTo(Image) method of two AbstractImagePrototype objects to transform a single Image object between two (or more) visual representations. The use of AbstractImagePrototypes results in an cleaner and more efficient implementation.

This class also provide methods for working with raw elements, using createElement() and applyTo(ImagePrototypeElement).

This class is also a useful way to encapsulate complex HTML that represents an image without actually instantiating Image objects. When constructing large HTML fragments, especially those that contain many images, getHTML() can be much more efficient.