Seeking feedback: ListEvent, ListEventBuilder APIs

As of today, beansbinding does a very lightweight approach to observable lists. There's two interfaces, ObservableList.java and ObservableListListener.java.

I'm refining a proposal for a more heavyweight approach. In addition to simplified List and Listener interfaces, I add a ListEvent interface and a ListEventBuilder class.

Motivation for these interfaces:

Support for fine-grained events. Now List.removeAll can fire a single event.

Support for move events. This allows listeners to track state as elements are reordered or sorted by the user.

Support for event 'envelopes'. This allows the user of an ObservableList to prevent observers from seeing intermediate states.

Fine-grained events are a central part of the well-loved Glazed Lists project, and I think they could be very helpful in the JDK.

If you could read through this code and email me your comments, I'd appreciate it:
ListEvent
ListEventBuilder

# posted by Jesse Wilson on Wednesday, August 22, 2007