JavaFX

It has been about a year since JavaFX was announced, what are your experiences with it to this point?

At heart, JavaFX is a JVM-based domain language for constructing rich user interfaces, as well as a set of APIs for that language.

There has been much debate over whether JavaFX is really open source, and the JavaFX FAQ does not seem to provide a clear answer.

If it needs to interact with other Java components and libraries, JavaFX is a good choice for your UI layer.

It's easier to code for mobile with JavaFX too, and easier to test, due to the same programming model being used for desktop and mobile.

With a good architecture, and clean seperation of your UI layer, it should be possible to move your UI code to JavaFX.

Unlike the Java language, JavaFX Script does not require you to specify a variable's type in its declaration.

You do not have to be an expert Java programmer to create a JavaFX application, but familiarity with Java is helpful.

Additionally, the individual named layers can be referenced and manipulated visually (and, of course, programatically) in JavaFX Composer.

JavaFX has a return keyword that works just as you would expect, but it is optional.

From talking to the JavaFX team, it seems that this issue will be addressed in future releases.

JavaFX is not just a new technology for creating RIAs, but it is also a new programming language.

Overall performance of JavaFX UI Controls is estimated to be 50% faster and with a reduction of 33%-50% in memory usage.

The PR team continues to trumpet the technology as the next big thing, but the demonstrations are underwhelming at best.

In JavaFX Script, a function can contain variable declarations and a return statement, all contained within curly braces.

The very first line of the searchFlickr method uses the JavaFX keyword "delete" to clear the data out of the pics sequence.

I think it is too early to tell on this one, but JavaFX has certainly stirred up the development community in an amazing way.

JavaFX Composer supports the notion of JavaFX states, which describe the configuration of an object at a given time.

Embedding JavaFX in Java - It would be great to have a fully supported mechanism for embedding JavaFX in Java.

JavaFX leverages many of the objects in Swing, but it makes them easier to use thanks to its convenient syntax.

This article walks you through the basics of the JavaFX Script language and uses a sample application to introduce some UI components.

The marketing definition of JavaFX is a set of products and technologies for creating rich user experiences.

JavaFX Script applications will be able to use this plug-in just like Java applications do.

I would also love to see an update to the JavaFX IntelliJ plug-in that showed a lot of promise.

InfoQ: There's been a lot of comment in the community about mixing and matching JavaFX and Swing.

I believe the two strongest advantages of JavaFX are the Java integration and Mobile Platform.

So far you have seen JavaFX's declarative style of syntax used in many places to construct new objects.

I think it was still a little easier in Flex, but I was quite impressed at the results in JavaFX.

The JavaFX composer lets people visually manipulate an application, dragging and dropping components on the screen and arranging them.

Although JavaFX Script differs in syntax from Java code, much of the underlying technology is the same.

When JavaFX was first introduced at JavaOne in 2007, it was billed as a technology for creating rich user experiences.

JavaFX will insert the instance variables into the place holders in the string denoted using curly-braces.

Notice that JavaFX is statically typed, with the type declared as a suffix to the variable's name.

The JavaFX support features a visual designer tool, as well as a code editor.

It appears that Sun believes this too, since they have taken the initiative to redesign the plug-in and to create JavaFx.

This file can be placed in the JavaFX application and visually previewed in the JavaFX Composer.

I believe there will still be a place for Swing to build traditional client UIs, especially until JavaFX matures.

JavaFX 2 represents a major update to the client-side Java stack, offering an alternative to the entire client layer of the JavaSE platform.

However, because JavaFX Script is statically typed, a declared variable's type must remain the same throughout its life cycle.

InfoQ: What advice would you give to someone considering adopting JavaFX for an enterprise application now?

Of course, JavaFX will not lose those advantages that have been well established by Java, such as Write Once, Run Anywhere.

JavaFX was designed to be amenable to the "lambda" language feature planned for Java SE 8.

Then other technologies were searched upon and JavaFX emerged as the winner.

"We plan to open-source all of JavaFX as we work through the program, " said Green.

Later a designer can update the Photoshop image independently of the JavaFX code.

This code demonstrates several more key features of the JavaFX language.

JavaFX Mobile is designed for higher end phones, this means it approaches the capabilities of JavaSE.

Since JavaFX Script layers on top of Swing, this strength carries right on through this new language.

In rich content web app development, JavaFX will be the strong competitor to AJAX and the Microsoft's SilverLight.

WidgetFX is an open-source desktop widget platform written in the JavaFX Script language.

On the contrary, JavaFX also serves the same purpose but it is quiet well documented and supported.

JavaFX Script may also offer some components and other GUI objects that simply aren't available in Swing itself.

JavaFX Mobile is a complete mobile stack & implementation.

Although JavaFX does take contributions from the community, the technology probably won't become fully open until 2010.

In JavaFX Script, an object's attributes are defined within their declaration.

For one thing, the javafx. builders package offers 257 builders, covering all the APIs.

The tool integrates nicely with JavaFX production suite.

We will start by seeing how easy it is to extend some of the core classes in JavaFX.

These layers can then be leveraged by a JavaFx developer.

You will search Flickr for photos and display them in the JavaFX application.

JavaFX is also moving forward, with the early access program for version 2. 0 up and running.

In this case you construct a javafx. scene. layout. VBox instance.

Asynchronous Support - JavaFX does not have a clean execution model for execution of long-running background tasks.

Another example is the CacheSafeGroup, which fixes a multi-monitor bug with use of the cache variable on JavaFX Nodes.

JavaFX can also get an enormous boost if the JavaFX Mobile promise actually happens.

JavaFX script is claimed to fit any size or complexity of GUI.

In this case you construct three javafx. scene. layout. HBox instances.

Here we have used another useful feature in JavaFX.

The keyword var is used to denote an instance variable in JavaFX.

A big thing people don't realize is part of JavaFX is the Java SE 6 update N (formerly Project Hamburg, formerly the Consumer JRE).

I think of JavaFX Script's component model as Swing --, if that statement compiles.

JavaFX Script is also a declarative programming language: it describes what the application is like rather than how to create it.

This simple class demonstrates several aspects of JavaFX's syntax.

You can see the results in Figure 4. The JavaFX runtime dynamically resizes the images.

JavaFX, in June 2007, was way too early, and because I develop on Mac, Silverlight was not an option.

Methods are declared as functions in JavaFX, and they are also statically typed.

You have seen how to create a user interface using JavaFX and how to wire together controller logic to the user interface elements.

Node is an abstract class that is the base class of all graphical objects in JavaFX.

JavaFX 2. 0 went GA in 2011, providing a migration path for Java client user interface (UI) technologies.

This is the declarative syntax of JavaFX.

JavaFX applications can make remote calls to Web services.

And they are useful even if you don't use anything else in JavaFX.

Notice how this is done using the JavaFX reserved word insert.

Based on the scheduled announced at JavaOne the 1. 0 release will be this fall followed by JavaFX Mobile and TV editions in 2009.

Do you believe JavaFX is on the right track as a platform?

The OpenJDK source release, JavaFX and an overall shortage of resources are according to David the reasons for JDK7 taking so long