How to globally modify/access widget in GWT? - java

I just started yesterday using GWT, so maybe I'm not using the proper mechanism to solve that problem. So, I will try to explain exactly what I'm trying to do (with a simple problem) and 2 solutions I came up with to address that problem.
Problem:
Remember an index that can be updated via other widgets. Let's use focus to represent it.
[button 1]
[button 2] [button A]
[button 3]
The buttons [1..3] and [A] are not in the same class and need to find the element using the id using the DOM. The reason is that those 2 views needs to be orthogonal.
We can use up/down key to move the focus from button 1 to 3.
If we are on the buttons [1..3] and press right, we go to button A.
If we are on the button A and press left, we go to button previously focused.
What we want to do is save or set the focus index when pressing right.
Solution 1: Global variables
I'm not usually fond of global variables, but in some case it's handy. By using, for instance, a dictionary (Dictionary.getDictionary) defined globally in the javascript, I could save the current index in it using the "Focus Event" in that case.
So, in the key press event, when left would be fired, I would just read the value in the dictionary.
I haven't tested yet, but I think it should work.
Solution 2: Set the value with the Element
Element element = DOM.getElementById("button id A");
element.<setFocusLeftKey>("button id [1..3]");
Here what I would like to achieve is just in the "onFocus" Event, I would simply set the value of that button.
So is it possible to cast/find the object with the Element? I think that if there is no easy way, it's probably because it's not recommended.
Is there a simpler way/other method to achieve that?
So, any thought or solutions?
Thanks in advance.
P.S. I haven't found a better title for that, so if any suggestion, just put it in the comments and I'll update it.

Using ID is definitely not the suggested way to do this in GWT. You say you need this mechanism to keep your views orthogonal to one another. This is noble, but in GWT you would achieve by using another resource (an EventBus, implemented in SimpleEventBus) that hides the different components from one another. In fact, I would argue that looking up the element by ID strongly couples the two views and is smelly.
Armed your EventBus you simply create and fire custom events that let the views (or, better, their presenters) communcate with one another. For example here you could have: NavigateRightFromButtonsEvent and NavigagteLeftFromButtonA event.
However, depending on the size of your app (or as a first experiment) you could decide to couple your two views. In this case simply pass the view for the button list into the one for button A and vice-versa. This is not really worse than relying on a global ID.
No matter which mechanism you choose (event bus or wiring the views together), you should now have access directly to the instance of the widget you want to highlight. To focus, just call setFocus(true) on it.

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CheckBox cb2 = new CheckBox("2");
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Tim I think it is not a good idea controlling the scroll with CSS trickery.
I have done something similar soon and controlling all the logic (pagination, scroll positions,...).
What I suggest to use is a gwt's scrollPanel, a HasData widget (like a cellList) your custom AbstractCell (class which is rendered for each row of your list) and asyncDataProvider ( which gives you the onRangeChange handler for asking to your server when the range data display has changed).
You can force/fire that event when in scrollPanel.addScrollHandler detects you are arriving to the end.
If you want to see all of this in action have a look into (click on source code): http://gwt.googleusercontent.com/samples/Showcase/Showcase.html#!CwCellList
EDIT [according comment below]:
A. If you want to override the data (in the example is X+X+X...) with the new retrieved just maintain always the same range of data displayed [display.setVisibleRange(0, newPageSize);], and start from 0 when you render the new data (on your RangeChange listener).
B. If you need to have control over up and down scrolls instead of taking advantage of the used events internally on the cellList (basically onRangeChange), you can create your custom events and fire them (this option could be easier for your colleagues for understanding everything). And do not worry about controlling up and down scrolls, inside the ShowMorePagerPanel.java you can see a simple example of knowing up and down controls.
Anyway, I did not explain more detailed because I did not see you very convinced to use CellList approach (and I was using my tablet :D ).
If you change your mind, just let me know and I write for you a proper example step by step (this part could be tricky, so if you are lost it is normal ;) ).

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As the user types, the model returns the matching elements of the tree and selects the first one of the set in the tree's view.
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