The Java applet is a precursor to today's rich internet browser-embedded clients. While the applet has had its share of challenges, the new Java Plugin architecture, introduced in JDK 1.6u10, was completely rewritten to make applets a viable alternative to Flash and AJAX by allowing developers to create rich client applications that run on the Java Virtual Machine. In this recipe, we will see how to build and distribute JavaFX desktop applications as applets using the tools included in the JavaFX SDK.
JavaFX applets are deployed as part of the desktop profile. Therefore, applets are capable of using the JNLP for Web Start deployments. We will use the javafxpackager tool to generate deployment artifacts for the sample applet presented in this recipe. If you are not familiar with javafxpacakger, review the recipe Building and packaging your app with javafxpackager presented earlier in this chapter. If you prefer to use an IDE for your build and...