My first JavaFX application - 1 - First contact

Created on 24-Jul-2015 - Updated on 26-Jan-2018 - 8241 views

java I need to write some Java code to configure and drive a hardware device connected to a PC.

Associated UI does not have to be complex:

let the user select a serial port and set its characteristics (speed, byte format)
let the user create some specific frames and send them to the device
display frames received from the device

but it's not trivial either.

For several previous projects, I used SWT, because I wanted a native look and feel for my applications. SWT is really nice, but it's not part of Java, and I was not able to find a lot of documentation. I heard about JavaFX some time ago. One good point for it: it's part of the JRE. And it seems to be quite well documented. So I think it's time for me to give a look to it.

Environment

I'll write my application in the following environment:

a PC running Linux Mint 17.1
Java SE JDK 8u51
Eclipse Mars (4.5) configured for JavaFX (e(fx)clipse)

In addition to what is said just above, Scene Builder has to be installed. It can be downloaded from here. Then, in eclipse, set the path to Scene Builder executable (Window / Preferences / JavaFX).

Refer to this article, for an updated installation procedure.

Let's start

Several non-trivial sample applications can be downloaded, as explained here. The Ensemble demo provides an overview of JavaFX capabilities.

Tutorials for e(fx)clipse are available here. Tutorial 1 shows how to create a trivial application and how to generate a standalone jar file. Then, integrating the Hello World sample from Oracle website is easy. The Form tutorial gives a useful hint: how to display the grid lanes of a grid pane.

Some additional resources worth mentioning: