Before seeing how to create a new geometry is necessary to understand the type and subtype concept. Depending on the geometric characteristics, a geometry will be of one type or other. Some types defined on gvSIG are:

• Point: for geometries of point type.
• Curve: for geometries of line type.
• Surface: for geometries of polygon type.
• Arc: for geometries of arc type.
• etc.

All the types gvSIG supports currently are in TYPES in code form. If at any time somebody needs to create a new geometry that don't use any type on the list, he must contact with the gvSIG's team to assign a new code to the type, because it must be unique.

The type only refers to the type of the geomatic object, but it doesn't specify if geometry is on 2 or 3 dimensions, or if it supports M coordinate or not. For that, it's created the subtype concept, to indicate the geometry dimension. The gvSIG's subtypes are in SUBTYPES and it's the same than the types: if somebody wants to add a new subtype must contact with gvSIG's team to provide you a new code. In the next list we show several subtypes supported on gvSIG:

• GEOM2D: 2-dimensional geometries.
• GEOM2DZ: 2-dimensional geometries and value for coordenate Z.
• GEOM3D: 3-dimensional geometries.
• GEOM2DM: 2-dimensional geometries and M coordenate.
• GEOM3DM: 3-dimensional geometries and M coordenate.

All the geomtries in gvSIG must have a type. The geometry type is set by the GeometryType class, used for the next tasks:

• Determine the geometry type using one of the constants TYPES.
• Determine the geometry subtype using one of the constants SUBTYPES.
• Determine the associated opertions to one type of geometry (the operations will be explained in the following sections of this document).

The geometry types must be registrated at the beginning of the application to be used. When we create a geometry, we must indicate a type, and it will be accessible from the geometry interface Geometry.

All the geometries that you want to use in the application must have a type (GeometryType) previously registered. If we try to create a geometry with a non-registered type in the GeometryManager, we will get an exception of the kind CreateGeometryException.

To register a new geometry type, first of all we must obtain an instance of the GeometryManager and, later, we will register the implementation of the geometry type. To do this, we must know the geometry type and subtype. The diferent kinds of types are defined on TYPES, and the subtypes in SUBTYPES.

In the next example we show how to register a 2-dimensional point (is assumed that exists a Point2D class which inherits from Geometry).

geometryManager.registerGeometryType(Point2D.class, "Point2D", TYPES.POINT, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);

The method registerGeometryType has 4 parameters. First of them is the class which contains the geometry implementation; the second one is the name to register and, the third and fourth, the geometry type and subtype.

In this case, is registering the default geometry for the type 2-dimensional point. When we invoke this method, the manager will associate to the specified type and subtype the implementation of the geometry that we have passed in first parameter, so that, when we create a geometry with that types, the manager will return an instance of the Point2D class.

The next example shows how to register a 3-dimensional point. The example assums that exists a Point3D class which inherits from Geometry and implements a 3-dimensional point:

geometryManager.registerGeometryType(Point3D.class, "Point3D", TYPES.POINT, SUBTYPES.GEOM3D);

In this other example, we register a geometry of the circle type. The example assums that exists a Circle2D class which inherits from Geometry and implements a 2-dimensional circle:

geometryManager.registerGeometryType (Circle2D.class, "Circle2D", TYPES.CIRCLE, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);

The GeometryManager has a method called create with two parameters (type and subtype) which is the generic method to create a new geometry. Using this method, you can create all the geometries previously registered. For example, to create a 2-dimensional point, you must execute the following code:

GeometryManager geometryManager = GeometryLocator.getGeometryManager();  
Geometry point = geometryManager.create(TYPES.POINT, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);

The geometry returned by this method is an empty geometry. To assign a value to the geometry coordinates we must do a casting to the geometry type that we are trying to create. Next, we can fix the coordinate values using the methods that are available in the geometry type. In the next example, we will create a 2-dimensional point in the 2,4 coordinates:

Point point = (Point) geometryManager.create(TYPES.POINT, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
point.setX(2);
point.setY(4);

In the next sections of this document, we will comment separately the different geometry types that exist in gvSIG and, for each one, we will show examples of their creation.

To create a geometry of the Point type, is necessary to use the code Point of the list on TYPES. We can use the generic method from the GeometryManager to create the geonometry, to do a casting to Point and to assign the values. For example, to create a 2-dimensional geometry with the coordinates 2,4 we need to execute the following code:

Point point = (Point) geometryManager.create(TYPES.POINT, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
point.setX(2);
point.setY(4);

There're directly methods both to write (setX and setY) and to read (getX and getY) the first and the second coordenate. To edit or recuperate the rest of values from the other dimensions you can use the generic methods setCoordinateAt and getCoordinateAt.

The manager has directly methods to create the most common geometries with the intent that we don't need to do a casting and the assignation of the values to the two first coordinates. In the Point case, we can use the method createPoint from the manager, where we must indicate the subtype of the point and the values of the first and second coordenate.

Point point = geometryManager.createPoint(2, 4, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);

There aren't specific methods for all the kinds of geometries. For example, to create a 3-dimensional point which has the coordenates 1,1,5 we must execute the following code:

Point point = geometryManager.createPoint(1, 1, SUBTYPES.GEOM3D);
point.setCoordinateAt(2, 5);

Another option could be do it for each coordenate, and the result point will be the same:

Point point = (Point) geometryManager.create(TYPES.POINT, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
point.setX(1);
point.setY(1);
point.setCoordinateAt(2, 5);

To create a curve we can use the generic method create from the manager. To establish the coordenate's values we can use an object of the GeneralPathX type that is also available because the backward compatibility. The steps to create a polyline from the point 5,5 to the 10,10 are this:

Curve curve = (Curve)geometryManager.create(TYPES.CURVE, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
GeneralPathX generalPathX = new GeneralPathX();
generalPathX.moveTo(5, 5);
generalPathX.lineTo(10, 10);          
curve.setGeneralPath(generalPathX);   

A curve must be created from the own model's objects. In the curve case, they will be Point type objects. The following code let us to create a curve with the same coordentes like the previous example:

Point point1 = geometryManager.createPoint(5, 5, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Point point2 = geometryManager.createPoint(10, 10, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Curve curve = (Curve)geometryManager.create(TYPES.CURVE, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
curve.addVertex(point1);
curve.addVertex(point2);

The addVertex method inserts a new vertex in the last position in a Curve object and it should be used in the geometry creation. In the other hand, there're more methods which let us the edition of the curve's coordenates. For example, if we want to change the final point of the curve in the last example, we could do this:

Point endPoint = geometryManager.createPoint(15, 15, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
curve.setVertex(1, endPoint);

The setVertex method fixes the value of one of the internal points which are part of the curve composition and replace it for the point which was previously. In the other hand, we can also insert a point inside the curve. For example, to insert the point 7,7 in the second position we must execute the following code:

Point middlePoint = geometryManager.createPoint(7, 7, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
curve.insertVertex(1, middlePoint);

The first parameter is the point position that we want to put in. In this case, the resultant curve will have the coordinates 5,5 7,7 and 15,15 such as we have been defining.

An arc can be created from a central point which works like a radius and another two that will be used to determine the beginning and the end of the arc. In the next example, we will create an arc with the point 0,0 for the radius and from the point 1,0 to the 0,1:

Point centerPoint = geometryManager.createPoint(0, 0, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Point startPoint = geometryManager.createPoint(1, 0, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Point endPoint = geometryManager.createPoint(0, 1, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Arc arc = (Arc)geometryManager.create(TYPES.ARC, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
arc.setPoints(centerPoint, startPoint, endPoint);

Moreover this way, an arc can be created from a initial point, a radius length and two angles. The next example creates an arc like the created in the previous example, with radius 1 and the beginning on 1,0 (0º) and finnish on 0,1 (90º):

Point centerPoint = geometryManager.createPoint(0, 0, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Arc arc = (Arc)geometryManager.create(TYPES.ARC, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
arc.setPoints(centerPoint, 1, 0, 90);

To create a surface we can use the generic method create from the manager. To establish the coordinate's values, we can use a GeneralPathX type object. The steps to create a triangular polygon on the coordinates 0,0 0,5 5,5 can be the next:

Surface surface = (Surface)geometryManager.create(TYPES.SURFACE, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
GeneralPathX generalPathX = new GeneralPathX();
generalPathX.moveTo(0, 0);
generalPathX.lineTo(0, 5);
generalPathX.lineTo(5, 5);            
surface.setGeneralPath(generalPathX); 

Like it happens on the Curve, a Surface must be breated from the own model's objects. In the polygon case, they will be Point objects. The next code let us to create a polygon with the same coordinates like the previous example:

Point point1 = geometryManager.createPoint(0, 0, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Point point2 = geometryManager.createPoint(0, 5, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Point point3 = geometryManager.createPoint(5, 5, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Surface surface = (Surface)geometryManager.create(TYPES.SURFACE, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
surface.addVertex(point1);
surface.addVertex(point2);
surface.addVertex(point3);

The addVertex method inserts a new vertex in the last position in a Surface object and it should be used in the geometry creation. In the other hand, there're more methods which let us the edition of the internal vertex's coordenates that compose the polygon. For example, if we want to change the final point of the polygon in the last example, we could do this:

Point endPoint = geometryManager.createPoint(0, 10, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
surface.setVertex(2, endPoint);

The setVertex method fixes the value of one of the internal points which are part of the polygon composition and replace it for the point which was previously. The first parameter is the internal point position that is necessary to modify.

In the other hand, we can also insert a point inside the polygon. For example, to insert the point 0,7 in the third position we must execute the following code:

Point middlePoint = geometryManager.createPoint(0, 7, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
surface.insertVertex(2, middlePoint);

The first parameter is the point position that we want to put in. In this case, the resultant polygon will have the coordinates 0,0 0,5 0,7 and 0,10 such as we have been defining.

The circles are represented on gvSIG with the Circle interface. To create a circle we can use the generic method create from the manager and, after that, establish the values of the center and radius. If we have a Point object (0,0 in this example) and we know the radius (5), we can create a circle with the following steps:

Point centerPoint = geometryManager.createPoint(0, 0, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Circle circle = (Circle)geometryManager.create(TYPES.CIRCLE, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
circle.setPoints(centerPoint, 5);

Another option is to create a circle with a center and a point in the circle's circumference diameter. The next example let us to create a circle like the created in the first example:

Point centerPoint = geometryManager.createPoint(0, 0, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Point radiousPoint = geometryManager.createPoint(0, 5, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Circle circle = (Circle)geometryManager.create(TYPES.CIRCLE, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
circle.setPoints(centerPoint, radiousPoint);

The third option is to create a circumference with three points because there's only one which pass on them. To do that, we must create the three points and to invoke the setPoints method:

Point point1 = geometryManager.createPoint(0, 0, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Point point2 = geometryManager.createPoint(5, 5, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Point point3 = geometryManager.createPoint(7, 7, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
Circle circle = (Circle)geometryManager.create(TYPES.CIRCLE, SUBTYPES.GEOM2D);
circle.setPoints(point1, point2, point3);