Pro JavaFX 2

James L. Weaver

Weiqi Gao, Ph.D.

Stephen Chin

Dean Iverson

with Johan Vos, Ph.D.

Apress*

Contents

Foreword xv

About the Authors xvi

About the Technical Reviewer xviii

Acknowledgments xix

Chapter 1: Getting a Jump Start in JavaFX 1

avaFX Can't Bring Rich-Client Java Back by Itself 1

Brief History of JavaFX 2

oing to the Source: Oracle's JavaFX Web Site 4

Accessing the JavaFX SDK API 5

Obtaining the JavaFX SDK, 6

Other Available Tools 7

Developing Your First JavaFX Program: "Hello Earthrise" 7

Compiling and Running from the Command-Line 7

Understanding the Hello Earthrise Program 8

Building and Running the Program with NetBeans 17

Developing Your Second JavaFX Program: "More Cowbell!" 21

Building and Running the Audio Configuration Program 21

The Behavior of the Audio Configuration Program 22

Understanding the Audio Configuration Program 23

Colors and Gradients 27

iv

m CONTENTS

The Model Class for the Audio Configuration Example 28

Defining Change Listeners in the Model class 29

Surveying JavaFX Features 31

Summary 32

Resources, 33

Chapter 2: Creating a User Interface in JavaFX 35

Introduction to Node-Centric Uls 35

Setting the Stage 36

Understanding the Stage Class 36

Using the Stage Class: The StageCoach Example 37

Understanding the StageCoach Program 41

Making a Scene 50

Using the Scene Class: The OnTheScene Example 50

Understanding the OnTheScene Program 52

Handling Input Events 62

Surveying Mouse and Keyboard Events and Handlers 62

Understanding the KeyEvent Class 62

Understanding the MouseEvent Class 62

Animating Nodes in the Scene 63

Using a Timeline for Animation 64

Using the Transition Classes for Animation 71

The Zen of Node Collision Detection 80

Summary 91

Resources 92

Chapter 3: Properties and Bindings 93

Forerunners of JavaFX 2 Binding 93

A Motivating Example 94

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951 CONTENTS

Understanding Key Interfaces and Concepts 99

Understanding the Observable Interface 100

Understanding the ObservableValue Interface 100

Understanding the WritableValue Interface 101

Understanding the ReadOnlyProperty Interface 101

Understanding the Property Interface 102

Understanding the Binding Interface 103

Type-Specific Specializations of Key Interfaces 105

A Common Theme for Type-Specific Interfaces 106

Commonly Used Classes 109

Creating Bindings 110

Understanding the Bindings Utility Class 110

Understanding the Fluent Interface API 114

Understanding the JavaFX Beans Convention 125

The JavaFX Beans Specification 125

Understanding the Eagerly Instantiated Properties Strategy 126

Understanding the Lazily Instantiated Properties Strategy 130

Using Selection Bindings 132

Summary 135

Resources 136

Chapter 4: Building Dynamic Ul Layouts in JavaFX ....137

Introducing JavaFX Reversi 137

Board Layout and Basic Rules 138

Building a JavaFX Model for Reversi 140

Dynamic Layout Techniques 141

Centering Text Using Bind 142

Centering Revisited Using a StackPane 143

Aligning to Edges Using StackPanes and TilePanes 145

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Using FlowPane and Boxes for Directional Alignment 148

Composing a Layout Using BorderPane 153

Creating Custom Regions 156

Building a Custom Square Region 156

Building a Resi2able Reversi Piece 159

Laying Out the Tiles Using a GridPane 162

Aligning and Stretching with AnchorPane 165

When to Use Different Layouts 167

A New Perspective on Reversi: The JavaFX 3D Scene Graph 169

Bringing Reversi to Life 172

Highlighting Legal Moves 172

Highlighting the Active Cell 175

Taking Turns 178

Additional Game Enhancements 180

Summary 181

Resources 181

SChapter 5: Using the JavaFX Ul Controls 183

Trying Out the JavaFX Ul Controls 183

Leveraging the JavaFX Ul Controls 192

Setting the Stage for the StarterApp Program 194

Creating a Menu and Defining Menu Items 196

Creating a Toolbar 197

Creating a TabPane and Defining Tabs 203

Creating a TableView 205

Creating an Accordion and Defining a TitledPane 208

Creating a TreeView 209

Creating a ListView and Assigning Items to a ListView 212

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CONTENTS

Creating a SplitPane 212

Defining a ScrollPane 213

Using a CheckBox 218

Defining a RadioButton 218

Creating a Hyperlink 219

Defining a ChoiceBox 219

Using a MenuButton 220

Creating a ContextMenu 221

Creating a SplitMenuButton 222

Defining a TextField 222

Using a PasswordField 223

Creating a TextArea 223

Creating a Slider 224

Defining a Progresslndicator 224

Defining a ScrollBar 225

Using a ProgressBar 225

Creating an HTMLEditor 226

Creating a Popup 227

UsingaWebView 228

Summary 229

Resources 229

Chapter 6: Collections and Concurrency 231

Understanding Observable Collections 231

Understanding ObservableList 232

Handling Change Events in ListChangeListener 236

Understanding ObservableMap 243

Using Factory and Utility Methods from FXCollections 248

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CONTENTS

Using the JavaFX Concurrency Framework 254

Identifying the Threads in a JavaFX Application 255

Fixing Unresponsive Ills 261

Understanding the javafx.concurrent Framework 267

Embedding JavaFX Scenes in Swing and SWT Applications 287

Summary 304

Resources 305

Chapter 7: Creating Charts in JavaFX 307

Structure of the JavaFX Chart API 307

Using the JavaFX PieChart 308

The Simple Example 308

Some Modifications 312

Using the XYChart 316

Using the ScatterChart 317

Using the LineChart 325

Using the BarChart 326

Using the AreaChart 328

Using the BubbleChart 329

Summary 334

Resources 334

Chapter 8: Using the Media Classes 335

The Foundation 335

Supported Media Formats 335

Working with Audio Clips 336

Controlling the Playback Parameters of an AudioClip 339

Constructing the Scene 340

AudioClip Wrap-Up 343

CONTENTS

Working with Media 344

Playing Audio 345

Error Handling 346

Displaying Metadata 347

Loading Media 350

Controlling Playback 356

Audio Equalization 368

MediaPlayerWrap-Up 379

Playing Video 380

Controlling the Size of a MediaView 381

MediaView and Effects 383

Using Markers 383

One Player, Multiple Views 385

Converting AudioPlayer into a VideoPlayer 388

Summary 390

Chapter 9: Accessing Web Services 391

Front-end and Back-end Platforms 391

Merging JavaFX and Java Enterprise Modules in the Same Environment 393

Using JavaFX to Call Remote (Web) Services 395

SOAP 395

REST 395

Summary 429

Chapter 10: JavaFX Languages and Markup 431

A Quick Comparison of Alternative Languages 431

Vanishing Circles in Java 432

Vanishing Circles in Alternative JVM Languages 435

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3 CONTENTS

Making Your JavaFX Groovy 439

Introduction to GroovyFX 440

Properties in GroovyFX 445

GroovyFX Binding 446

GroovyFX API Enhancements 448

Scala and JavaFX 453

Getting Started with ScalaFX 453

ScalaFX Proxies and Implicit Conversions 458

JavaFX Properties in Scala 459

ScalaFX Bind APIs 461

API Enhancements 462

Visage, the JavaFX Language 465

Advantages of Using Visage 465

Getting Started with Visage 466

Constructing Uls with FXML Markup 468

Learning FXML by Example 468

Controlling FXML Applications 473

Summary 475

Resources 475

Appendix: The Visage Language in Depth 477

An Overview of Visage 477

Variables, Values, and Their Types 478

Variable Names 479

Variable Types 479

Primitive Types 480

Boolean Type 480

Integer Type 481

Character Type 484

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CONTENTS

Byte, Short, and Long Types 485

Float and Number Types 486

Double Types 488

String Type 488

Duration Type 491

Length Type 493

Angle Type 496

Color Type 497

Working with Sequences 499

Sequence Types 500

Constructing Sequences Using Explicit Sequence Expressions 501

Constructing Numeric Sequences Using Range Expressions 501

Manipulating Sequences 503

Comprehending Sequences 509

Using Utility Functions in visage.util.Sequences 511

Visage Expressions 512

Expressions and Their Types 512

Block Expression 513

Precedence and Groupings 514

Expression Separator 514

Variable and Constant Declarations 514

Assignment Operator 515

Compound Assignment Operators 516

Relational Operators 516

While Expression 518

Revisiting the for Expression 519

If Expression 520

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CONTENTS

Object Literals 522

Classes and Objects 523

The Object Literal Expression 523

Manipulating Objects 526

Handling Nulls in Visage 528

Creating Java Objects with the new Operator 529

Making of a Declarative Syntax 529

Working with Data Bindings 530

Bind Expression 530

Bidirectional Bindings and Lazy Bindings 533

Working with Functions 536

Function Definitions 536

Overloaded Functions 543

Function Types and Anonymous Functions 546

Bound Functions 549

Handling Exceptions 551

Working with Classes 555

Class Definitions 555

Creating Class Hierarchies 564

Organizing Visage Code 573

Scripts 574

Modules 575

A Special Provision for Classes 576

Packages 577

Import Directives 579

Access Modifiers 581

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CONTENTS

Triggers 583

Accessing the Old and New Values in Trigger Blocks 584

Accessing Sequence Modification Information in Trigger Blocks 586

Debugging with Triggers 588

String Formatting and internationalization 589

Using String Format Specifications 589

Internationalizing Visage Programs 592

Leveraging Java from Visage 594

Instantiating Java Classes 594

Accessing Java Object Fields 595

Calling Java Methods 595

Accessing Static Fields and Methods 595

Quoting Visage Keywords 596

Accessing Nested Classes 596

Accessing Java Enums 597

Extending Java Classes and Interfaces 597

Dealing with Java Arrays 599

Iterating Through Java Collections 599

Visage Reflection 600

Mirror-Based Reflection 600

Entering the Reflection World 601

Invoking Instance and Script Functions 606

Resources 607

Index 609

xiv