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™

JavaFX
Developer’s Guide

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™

JavaFX
Developer’s Guide
Kim Topley

Upper Saddle River, NJ • Boston • Indianapolis • San Francisco
New York • Toronto • Montreal • London • Munich • Paris • Madrid
Capetown • Sydney • Tokyo • Singapore • Mexico City

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JavaFX™ Developer’s Guide

Acquisitions Editor
Greg Doench

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to
the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in
the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or
omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Topley, Kim.
JavaFX developer’s guide / Kim Topley.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-321-60165-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Java (Computer program language) 2.
JavaFX (Electronic resource) 3. Graphical user interfaces (Computer systems) 4.
Application software—Development. 5. Internet programming. I. Title.
QA76.73.J38T693 2010
005.13’3—dc22
2010010696

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ISBN 13: 978-0-321-60165-0
ISBN 10:
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❖
For the D in KADMAS,
the center of my universe.
❖

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Contents at a Glance
About the Author
Preface


xxv

xxvi

I: Introduction to JavaFX
1 An Overview of JavaFX 3
2 JavaFX Script Basics 17
3 JavaFX Script Development 33
4 A Simple JavaFX Application 45

II: The JavaFX Script Language
5 Variables and Data Types

89

6 Expressions, Functions, and Object Literals
7 Sequences

153

8 Controlling Program Flow
9 Binding

195

10 Triggers

221


11 JavaFX Script Classes
12 Platform APIs
13 Reflection

121

179

239

285

309

III: User Interfaces with JavaFX
14 User Interface Basics

341

15 Node Variables and Events
16 Shapes, Text, and Images

375
433

17 Coordinates, Transforms, and Layout
18 Animation

503


591

19 Video and Audio

627

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Contents at a Glance

20 Effects and Blending
21 Importing Graphics

651
703

22 Cross-Platform Controls
23 Style Sheets

737

811

24 Using Swing Controls

829

25 Building Custom Controls

26 Charts

vii

865

911

IV: Miscellaneous
27 Using External Data Sources
28 Packaging and Deployment

949
1025

A Using JavaFX Command-Line Tools
B CSS Properties

Index

1049

1061

1071

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Table of Contents
About the Author
Preface

xxv

xxvi

I: Introduction to JavaFX
1 An Overview of JavaFX
The JavaFX Platform

3

3

The JavaFX Script Language
Variable Declarations
Access to Java APIs
Object Literals
Binding

5

6
6

7

8


Scripts and Compilation
The JavaFX Runtime

8

9

User Interface Classes
Video and Audio
Animation

9

10

10

Network Access

12

JavaFX Development Tools
Deployment

13

14

Java Platform Dependencies and Installation

The Java Plug-In

14

15

Converting an Applet to an Installed Application

2 JavaFX Script Basics
Source File Structure
Comments

15

17
17

18

Single-Line Comments
Multiline Comments

18
18

Documentation Comments
The package Statement

20


The import Statement
Import by Name

20

20

Wildcard Imports
Static Imports

19

21

21

Automatic Imports

22

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Contents

Direct Class References
Other JavaFX Statements

23

23

Variable Declarations

23

Value Assignment and Data Manipulation
Using Java Methods

24

Binding Expressions

24

Functions

23

25

Flow-of-Control Statements
Class Definitions
Triggers

ix

26

26


26

JavaFX Keywords and Reserved Words
Script Execution and Arguments
Predefined Variables

27

28

31

3 JavaFX Script Development

33

Compiling and Running JavaFX Code

33

Development Using the NetBeans IDE
Development with the Eclipse IDE

34

39

Documentation in JavaFX Source Code


43

Viewing JavaFX Documentation in NetBeans
Viewing JavaFX Documentation in Eclipse

4 A Simple JavaFX Application

45

Building the SnowStorm Application
Creating the SnowStorm Project
Building the User Interface
Adding the Animation

43
44

46
46

47

58

Counting the Snowflakes

64

SnowStorm on the Web, a Phone, and TV


65

Running SnowStorm Using Java Web Start
Running SnowStorm as an Applet

65

67

Running SnowStorm on the Mobile Emulator

70

Running SnowStorm on the JavaFX TV Emulator
Debugging the SnowStorm Application
Setting Breakpoints

72

The Call Stack View

73

Inspecting Variables

73

72

72


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x

Contents

Changing Variable Values

74

Stepping Through Code

75

Disabling and Removing Breakpoints and Resuming
Execution 76
Profiling the SnowStorm Application
Using the NetBeans Profiler

77

77

Source Code for the SnowStorm Application

82


II: The JavaFX Script Language
5 Variables and Data Types
Variable Declarations

89

89

Declaring Variables with var

89

Declaring Variables with def

92

Variable Scopes
Object Types

93

94

Creating a JavaFX Object Instance
Invoking JavaFX Functions
Accessing Variables

95

96


Using Java Classes in JavaFX Code
Basic Data Types

97

Numeric Types

97

The Boolean Type
The String Type

97

102
103

String Localization
Type Inference

95

108

117

Visibility of Variables

119


6 Expressions, Functions, and Object Literals
Expressions and Operations

121

Numeric Operations

123

Boolean Operations

129

Object and Class Operations
JavaFX Functions

121

130

134

Declaring Functions

134

Functions and Variables

137


Functions Within Functions

138

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Contents

Invoking JavaFX Functions
Invoking Java Methods
Function Variables

138

138

139

Anonymous Functions

145

Visibility of Functions

147

Object Literals


147

Initializing a JavaFX Object

148

Variables in Object Literals

149

Functions in Object Literals

150

7 Sequences

153

Sequence Creation

153

The String Form of a Sequence
Range Notation

155

156


Sequence Equality and Copying
Querying Sequences

157

158

Obtaining the Size of a Sequence

158

Obtaining an Element of a Sequence
Obtaining Part of a Sequence

159

160

Querying a Sequence by Condition
Modifying Sequences

160

162

Replacing Elements
Inserting Elements

162
163


Removing Elements

165

Replacing a Range of Elements
Operations on Sequences

167

Comparing Sequences

167

Searching for Elements

166

168

Finding the Largest and Smallest Elements
Sorting a Sequence
Shuffling a Sequence

172

174

174


Array Variable Declaration

174

Array Variable Initialization

175

Array Operations
Array Size

169

171

Searching and Updating a Sorted Sequence
Java Arrays

xi

176

177

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xii


Contents

8 Controlling Program Flow
The if Statement

179

179

The while Statement

181

The break Statement

182

The continue statement
The for Statement

184

184

Iterating over a Sequence

184

The for Statement as an Expression


186

Iterating over a Subset of a Sequence
Iterating over Multiple Sequences
Iterating over an Iterable
Iterating over an Array
Exception Handling

9 Binding

187

188

190
193

193

195

Binding to Variables and Expressions
Binding to a Script Variable
Binding in an Object Literal
Binding to an Expression

195

195
196

199

Binding and the def Statement

201

Binding to an Instance Variable

201

Binding with a Conditional Expression
Bidirectional Binding

Eager and Lazy Binding
Binding and Functions

202

203
206

207

Binding and Unbound Functions
Binding and Bound Functions

207
209

Optimization of Bound Function Evaluation

Content of a Bound Function
Binding and Sequences
Binding to a Sequence

212

213

217
217

Binding to a Transformed Sequence
Binding to the Size of a Sequence

218
219

Binding to a Range of Sequence Elements

219

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Contents

10 Triggers

221


Triggers on Simple Variables
Declaring a Trigger

221

221

Getting the Previous Value
Triggers and Binding

223

223

Using a Trigger to Enforce Constraints
Triggers and Sequences

224

229

Replacing Elements in a Sequence

230

Removing Elements from a Sequence

231


Inserting Elements into a Sequence

233

Example Use of a Sequence Trigger

234

Triggers and Instance Variables

11 JavaFX Script Classes

240

An Example JavaFX Class
Class Visibility

236

239

JavaFX Class Declaration

241

242

Instance Variables

243


Instance Functions

246

Subclassing and Abstract Classes
An Abstract Base Class
Function Overloading
Function Overriding

249

249

Extending the Base Class

251

253
254

Function Selection by Classname
Using Bound Functions
259

Class Initialization

261

Initialization Order


258

258

Variable Overrides

261

Using the init and postinit Blocks
Classes and Script Files
Mixins

xiii

263

265

266

Implementing Logging with a Mixin
Mixin Characteristics

272

Mixins and Inheritance
Mixins and Triggers

267


273

280

Initialization and Mixins

281

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xiv

Contents

12 Platform APIs

285

Built-In Functions

285

Writing to the System Output Stream
Object Comparison

Arguments and System Properties
Application Arguments


288

System Properties

290

Application Shutdown

287

287

Named Arguments

Deferring Operations

286

286

292
294

Functions for Internationalization

295

Changing String Localization Defaults
Local Storage


296

298

Reading and Writing Data
Storage Metadata
Removing Data

299

301

303

Resource Names and Access Control
Conditional Features

13 Reflection

309

Context and Classes

309

The Reflection Context

309


Reflective Access to Classes
Types and Values

310

314

Representation of Types
Values

305

307

314

317

Variables and Functions

320

Reflecting on Variables

322

Reflecting on Functions

323


Filtered Searches

326

Reflecting on Variables and Functions
Using Reflection

327

328

Creating Class Instances: Part 1

328

Reading and Setting Variable Values
Invoking Functions

328

330

Creating and Accessing Sequences
Creating Class Instances: Part 2

333
336

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Contents

xv

III: User Interfaces with JavaFX
14 User Interface Basics
The Stage Class

341

342

Stage Appearance and State
Stage Position and Size
Style and Opacity
Extensions

354

357

The Scene Class
Nodes

358

360


Node Organization
Events

367

Colors

367

Effects

368

Alerts

342

348

361

369

Information Alert
Confirm Alert

370

Question Alert
3D Features


369
371

372

Cameras and the Z-Axis of the Scene Graph

15 Node Variables and Events
Cursors
Colors

375

375
378

Solid Colors

379

Linear Gradients

383

Radial Gradients

392

Events


401

Mouse Events

401

The Mouse and the MouseEvent Class
Keyboard Events

433

433

Basic Shapes
Paths

403

425

16 Shapes, Text, and Images
Shapes

372

434

451


SVGPath

456

Stroking and Filling Shapes

456

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xvi

Contents

Stroking Shapes
Shape Filling

456

463

The Text Class

466

Text Content and Positioning
Text Fill and Stroke
Text Decoration

Fonts

466

470

471

472

Font Characteristics

473

Physical and Logical Fonts
The Font Class

476

477

Listing Fonts and Font Families
Selecting Fonts

479

Groups and Custom Nodes
Images

479


482

486

Loading an Image

486

Displaying an Image

497

17 Coordinates, Transforms, and Layout
Transforms

Translation
Rotation
Scaling

503

503
506
508
511

Shearing

515


Combining Transforms
Transform Order

517

517

Combining Transforms and Node
Variable Settings 521
Clipping

523

Coordinates and Bounds

527

Getting Node Bounds

527

Coordinate System Conversions
Node Layout

537

538

Node Sizes and Layout

The Flow Container
The Stack Container

539

547
555

The HBox and VBox Containers

559

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Contents

The Tile Container

563

The Panel Container

572

The ClipView Node
Centering Nodes

574

577

SnowStorm Revisited

579

Placing the Background Image

581

Placing and Animating the Snow
Coordinates and Screens
Using Two Screens

585
588

Changing Screen Arrangement

Timelines

582

585

Discovering Screens

18 Animation

xvii


589

591
591

Time Literals and the Duration Class
Key Frames

595

596

Interpolation and Interpolators
Controlling a Timeline

600

605

Repeating an Animation

605

Automatically Reversing an Animation

607

Pausing, Stopping, and Restarting an Animation


608

Changing the Speed and Direction of an
Animation 609
Starting a Timeline from the End
Using a Timeline as a Timer
Animation Length
Transitions

610

611

613

613

The Transition Class
TranslateTransition
RotateTransition
ScaleTransition

614
616

617

FadeTransition

618


PathTransition

619

PauseTransition

613

622

Sequential and Parallel Transitions

622

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xviii

Contents

19 Video and Audio
The Media Class

627
628

The MediaPlayer Class


630

Controlling Media Playback

630

Restricting and Repeating Playback
Volume Control

632

633

Monitoring Playback

634

Synchronizing External Events with Playback
The MediaView Class

639

Size and Position of the Video Frame
The Viewport

20 Effects and Blending
Effects Overview

646


651

651

Effects Chains

651

Effects and Nodes

652

Effects and Groups

655

The JavaFX Effects Classes
GaussianBlur

656
659

DropShadow

660

InnerShadow

663


Shadow
Glow

664
665

666

Identity
Flood

656

657

MotionBlur

Bloom

640

644

Transforms and Effects

BoxBlur

637


667
669

ColorAdjust

669

InvertMask

671

Reflection

671

SepiaTone

673

PerspectiveTransform
DisplacementMap

673

679

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Contents

Blending

686

The Blend Effect

686

The Group Blend Mode
Lighting

xix

688

690

The surfaceScale Variable
The Bump Map
DistantLight

692

693

694

PointLight


697

SpotLight

698

21 Importing Graphics

703

The JavaFX Production Suite

703

Using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop Graphics
Exporting Graphics from Adobe Illustrator
Previewing the JavaFX Format Files

705

708

Loading Graphics into a JavaFX Application
Specifying Animation Paths with Illustrator
Embedding Fonts

705

710

717

720

Embedding Images

724

Using a Stub Node

725

Creating Multiple Copies of a Graphics Element
Importing SVG Graphics

733

22 Cross-Platform Controls
Controls Overview

737

The Label Control

738

737

Label and the Labeled Class
Basic Labels


739

741

Positioning of Text and Graphics
Multiline Text

742

746

Text Overruns and Wrapping
Button Controls

731

747

749

The Button Class

749

The Hyperlink Class

752

The ToggleButton, RadioButton, and

CheckBox Classes
756

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xx

Contents

The TextBox Control
TextBox Width

761

764

TextBox Height
Editability

764

764

Setting and Getting the Content of the TextBox
Selection

766


769

Copy and Paste

771

The PasswordBox Control
The ListView Control

771

773

Creating a ListView
ListView Selection

773
778

ListView Cell Rendering
The ChoiceBox Control
The ScrollBar Control

782

786
787

ScrollBar Value and Range
User Gestures


789

Using the ScrollBar Control
The ScrollView Control
Scrollable Node Size

797

797

797

Basic Slider Operation
Tick Marks

790

794

Scrollbar Display and Values
The Slider Control

789

798

800

The ProgressIndicator and ProgressBar Controls


804

Using the ProgressBar and ProgressIndicator
Controls 804
The Separator Control
Tooltips

807

808

23 Style Sheets

811

Style Sheet Basics

811

Using a Style Sheet
Style Sheet Structure
Selection by ID

812
813

814

Style Sheet Property Specifications

Fonts

824

824

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Contents

Paints

826

Effects

828

24 Using Swing Controls

829

Swing Component Wrappers

829

SwingComponent Variables


830

SwingComponent as a Node

830

Accessing the Wrapped Swing Component
Labels

832

833

Text and Icon

834

Positioning the Content of SwingLabel
Text Input

836

839

Configuring the SwingTextField Control
Handling Input
Buttons

xxi


840

842

843

The SwingAbstractButton and SwingButton
Classes 843
Toggle Buttons

846

Radio Buttons and Check Boxes
The SwingList Class

848

849

Creating a SwingList Control
Handling the Selection

850

852

The SwingScrollPane Class

852


The SwingComboBox Class

854

Using a Noneditable SwingComboBox
Using an Editable SwingComboBox
The SwingSlider Class

857

Using Other Swing Components

860

Using a Generic JavaFX Wrapper
Creating a JavaFX Wrapper Class

25 Building Custom Controls
Custom Nodes

855
856

860
862

865

865


The CoordinateGrid Node
Custom Containers

866

869

A Border Container

869

Using the Panel Class

884

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xxii

Contents

Custom Controls

887

Custom Control Architecture

887


Control Appearance and Styling

890

A Skeleton Custom Control

890

A Media Player Control Bar

895

26 Charts

911

Chart Basics

911

Chart Components
Chart Data

914

Chart Interaction
Pie Charts

912

914

914

Creating a Pie Chart
A 3D Pie Chart

914

916

Customizing a Pie Chart
Bar Charts

917

919

Creating a Bar Chart
A 3D Bar Chart

919

922

Bar Chart Customization
Line Charts

922


926

Creating a Line Chart

926

Line Chart Customization
Area Charts

928

930

Scatter Charts

932

Bubble Charts

934

Chart Interaction

936

Common Customizations
Chart Customization

937
937


XY Chart Customization
Axis Customization

939

941

IV: Miscellaneous
27 Using External Data Sources
The HttpRequest Class

949

950

Basic Use of the HttpRequest Class
Lifecycle of an HTTP Request
GET Requests

950

952

955

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Contents

PUT Requests

965

POST Requests

971

DELETE Requests

973

Using RESTful Web Services
Parsing XML

974

975

A Twitter Web Service Client
A JSON Web Service Client
RSS and Atom Feeds
Feeds Overview
RSS Feeds
Atom Feeds

xxiii


983
988

995
996

997
1004

Tasks and Progress Monitoring
Task State Variables

1009

Progress Monitoring

1010

A State Monitoring Example

1008

1011

Asynchronous Operations and Database Access
A Database Access Task

1014

1015


Implementing the Database Access Task

28 Packaging and Deployment

1018

1025

Packaging and Deployment for the Desktop

1026

Creating a Packaged Application and Applet
with javafxpackager 1026
Application Deployment
Applet Deployment

1029

1033

Setting and Reading Parameters
Incorporating Libraries

1037

1039

Compressing the JAR Files


1042

Signing Applications and Applets

1043

Packaging and Deployment for Mobile Devices
Creating a Packaged Mobile Application
Deployment

1045

1046

1047

A Using JavaFX Command-Line Tools

1049

Development Using Command-Line Tools
Compiling a JavaFX Application
Running a JavaFX Application

1049

1050
1051


Development Using an Ant Script

1052

Generating Documentation from JavaFX Source

1055

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xxiv

Contents

B CSS Properties

1061

Properties Applicable to Nodes
Group Properties

1062

ImageView Properties
Text Properties

1061


1062

1062

Properties Applicable to Shapes
ClipView Properties

1063

1064

Rectangle Properties

1064

Properties Applicable to Containers
Flow Properties
HBox Properties

1065

Stack Properties

1065

Tile Properties
VBox Properties

1064


1065

1066
1066

Properties Applicable to Controls

1067

Properties Applicable to Labeled Nodes
ListView Properties

1068

ScrollBar Properties

1068

ScrollView Properties

1069

Separator Properties

1069

Slider Properties

1069


TextBox and PasswordBox Properties

Index

1067

1070

1071

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About the Author
Kim Topley is a freelance computer consultant, based in England. He has worked in the
computer industry for 30 years, writing microcode for mainframe computers, device
drivers, file systems, and security features for the UNIX operating system, communications protocol stacks for Cray supercomputers, and C and Java applications for financial
institutions. He learned Java as a result of a chance encounter with the book Core Java in
a bookshop in 1995 and has written four Java books—Core JFC and Core Swing:
Advanced Programming, both published by Prentice Hall, and J2ME in a Nutshell and Java
Web Services in a Nutshell for O’Reilly Media. Kim has a keen interest in space flight and
aviation and has a private pilot’s license, which he would make more frequent use of if
the weather in England allowed it.

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