This book is a collection of code recipes, examples, and informative discourses designed to enable the reader to get started with creating JavaFX application quickly. The book is arranged as a series of loosely related code recipes that a reader can easily select to fit his or her needs. It exposes readers to a great variety of topics designed to satisfy different skill levels. Readers will learn about the language, animation techniques, paints, effects, JavaFX controls, integration of Swing components, styling with CSS, audio/video, deployment practices, and JavaFX integration with Adobe design tools.
Chapter 1, Getting Started with JavaFX... This is the "getting started" chapter of the book. It provides introductory materials to the platform, including installation instructions to get your environment set up. It also covers language basics such as classes, data types, function usage, variable declaration, data binding, triggers, Java and JavaFX integration.
Chapter 2, Creating JavaFX Applications... This chapter covers the essential building blocks of the JavaFX application framework, including primitive shapes, path, text, constructive area geometry, mouse/keyboard input, custom node, and window styling.
Chapter 3, Transformations, Animations, and Effects... This chapter explores the animation capabilities supported in JavaFX. You start with the Transition API to quickly build simple animations. The material continues to cover the KeyFrame API for more advanced animation sequences. You will learn about colors, effects, and how to create your own custom paint and effects.
Chapter 4, Components and Skinning... This chapter is divided into two sections. The first section shows readers how to use the set of standard JavaFX controls. The chapter also shows how to embed Swing components in your JavaFX scene graph. You will also learn how to create your own custom visual controls. The second section of the chapter introduces the reader to JavaFX's support for CSS. The reader will learn how to style controls using inline and externalized CSS to create skins.
Chapter 5, JavaFX Media... One of the exciting features of JavaFX is its inherent support for multimedia. JavaFX includes support for rendering of images in multiple formats and support for playback of audio and video on all platforms where JavaFX is supported. In this chapter, readers learn how to display and manipulate images using the Image API. They will also learn how to playback both audio and video using the Media API. The chapter shows also how to create practical custom playback controls.
Chapter 6, Working with Data... JavaFX provides superb support for accessing and manipulating data both locally and remotely. In this chapter, readers are introduced to the Storage API for local data storage. It provides extensive coverage of JavaFX's HttpRequest API for accessing data on remote web servers. Readers will learn how to use JavaFX's XML and JSON parsers to build RESTful client mashups using popular services such as Google Map, Yahoo Weather, and Zillow Listing. Finally, the chapter explores JavaFX's built-in Chart API for data visualization.
Chapter 7, Deployment and Integration... This chapter provides coverage of the deployment mechanism supported by JavaFX. Readers will learn how to properly build and package their applications to target the different runtimes supported by JavaFX, including the web browser and the desktop. Readers learn how to create Java Web Start-ready applications using the build tools included in the SDK. The chapter shows how to write JavaScript that communicates with your JavaFX applet while running within the browser.
Chapter 8, The JavaFX Production Suite... This chapter covers JavaFX's integral support for designer tools from Adobe, including Illustrator and Photoshop. Readers are walked through the process of exporting creative assets using the JavaFX Production Suite plugins available for these tools. The chapters also shows how to integrate exported objects from Photoshop and Illustrator into JavaFX.
Appendix A, Mobile JavaFX... In this appendix, readers learn about JavaFX's support for mobile development. You will learn about development techniques to target mobile devices and tool support available to get your JavaFX app in the mobile space.
Appendix B, JavaFX Composer... By the time you get your hands on this book, JavaFX Composer will be available as part of NetBeans. This appendix introduces the reader to the tool and its features.
Appendix C, JavaFX Products and Frameworks... This appendix introduces the user to the community support that is developing around JavaFX. Readers learn about several open source projects and commercial tools available for JavaFX.
Appendix D, Best Practices for Development... As the tile of this appendix indicates, readers will learn about key practices to use when creating JavaFX development.
Appendix E, Best Practices for Deployment... This appendix is a continuation of chapter 7. It discusses practices that should be applied when building and deploying JavaFX applications.
JavaFX SDK 1.2
Java Development Kit (JDK)
NetBeans or Eclipse
JDK 6 update 14 (or later)
This book is for Java developers, RIA content developers, and graphic designers who want to build RIAs featuring animations, videos and other feature-rich content. If you have knowledge of Java, JavaScript, JavaFX components, you can exploit this book to your advantage.
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.
Code words in text are shown as follows: "We can include other contexts through the use of the include directive."
A block of code is set as follows:
<jnlp> ... <resources> <j2se version="1.5+" java-vm-args="-Xmx256M"/> ... </resources> ... </jnlp>
When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:
<jnlp> ... <application-desc main-class="com.sun.javafx.runtime.main.Main"> <argument>MainJavaFXScript=param.demo.Main</argument> <argument>name=World</argument> </application-desc> ... </jnlp>
Any command-line input or output is written as follows:
javafxpackager -src src -appClass params.RuntimeArgsApplet -appName args-demo -appVendor "Vladimir Vivien" -appVersion 1.0 -appCodebase "http://my.server/path/to/app/" -appWidth 640 -appHeight 75
New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "clicking on the Next button moves you to the next screen".
Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about this book what you liked or may have disliked. Reader feedback is important for us to develop titles that you really would like to see.
To send us general feedback, simply send an e-mail to< [email protected]>, and mention the book title via the subject of your message.
If there is a book that you need and would like to see us publish, please send us a note in the SUGGEST A TITLE form on www.packtpub.com or e-mail< [email protected]>.
If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, see our author guide on www.packtpub.com/authors.
Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to help you to get the most from your purchase.
Note
Downloading the example code for this book
You can download the example code files for all Packt books you have purchased from your account at http://www.PacktPub.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit http://www.PacktPub.com/support and register to have the files e-mailed directly to you.
Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do happen. If you find a mistake in one of our books maybe a mistake in the text or the code we would be grateful if you would report this to us. By doing so, you can save other readers from would like to see. frustration and help us improve subsequent versions of this book. If you find any errata, please report them by visiting http://www.packtpub.com/support, selecting your book, clicking on the let us know link, and entering the details of your errata. Once your errata are verified, your submission will be accepted and the errata will be uploaded on our website, or added to any list of existing errata, under the Errata section of that title. Any existing errata can be viewed by selecting your title from http://www.packtpub.com/support.
Piracy of copyright material on the Internet is an ongoing problem across all media. At Packt, we take the protection of our copyright and licenses very seriously. If you come across any illegal copies of our works, in any form, on the Internet, please provide us with the location address or website name immediately, so that we can pursue a remedy.
Please contact us at< [email protected]> with a link to the suspected pirated material.
We appreciate your help in protecting our authors, and our ability to bring you valuable content.
You can contact us at< [email protected]> if you are having a problem with any aspect of the book, and we will do our best to address it.