JavaFX Tutorials

When building applications in JavaFX, there are various tools available - for developers/programmers there is Netbeans. For the design/graphical side of applications, there are plugins available for Adobe PhotoShop / Illustrator, namely ‘Project Nile’. However, many people wanting to use JavaFX may not have Adobe graphic packages available to them. Photoshop-less or Illustrator-less people now have an alternative with the latest build of Inkscape, thanks to Silveira Neto and friends.

Inkscape is actually a fantastic program (I’ve used it for years), its native format is SVG, but it supports many other popular formats.

Inkscape is a Vector Graphics Editor, similar to Adobe Illustrator, that strives to be SVG Compliant, open source, responsive and extensible.

On a recent post, Inkscape and JavaFX working together, Silveira explains a little about the new JavaFX export feature for Inkscape.

You can get a pre-compiled, ready-to-use version of inkscape with JavaFX export support from here. I’ve download and test ‘Inkscape20225-0811201443.7z‘ dated (20-Nov-2008 14:4) and it works just fine. However, this is a test build version, so there may be bugs. You can actually download and use more than one version of Inkscape, so it may be worth while using the stable release for actual graphic work, and just use the above build to do the export to JavaFX.

It was hoped that JavaFX would be released on the 2nd December, and according to this Sun Blog post, it is - but posts in the JavaFX forum are now stating the 4th December. Anyway, it should be sometime next week!. You will (hopefully) be able to download it here from the 2nd of December or perhaps the 4th of December.

As far as I can tell, it’s still not entirely clear which license JavaFX 1.0 will be release under - I’m guessing most people will be hoping it’s NOT released under the GPL V3. The main problem with GPL V3 with software library frameworks, is that anyone building with it or extending it may be forced to release the full source code (the wording of this license can be understood to mean this). This is fine for hardcode open source fans and hobbiests, but not for serious home users and certainly not businesses. ExtJS, a popular JS framework, used this method earlier this year - they had thousands of business users building applications with it, then they changed the license to GPL V3. They claim than all users must release FULL source code if they update to the latest release, or buy a license (it’s released under a dual license where you need to obide by the GPL3 or buy a license to keep your source private). I strongly suspect JavaFX will not follow this road.

We suspect that the release next week will be limited, with other tools and further support to follow in the months to come.

Roll on December 2nd (or 4th?)….

Now is a great time to start out with JavaFX. At the time of writting this, only the preview release is available, but that will be enough to get started with. We find it can actually be better to start learning something new before the official release - it’s like starting at the shallow end, and gradually moving in deeper as the laguage and tools develop over time.

Before you can install the preview release of the JavaFX SDK (Software Development Kit) you need to have the most recent stable Java JDK (Java Development Kit) installed (around 72Mb download) - Apple users can get it the Mac Java JDK here.

Once you have downloaded and installed the Java SDK (if you do not already have it installed), it is time to get the JavaFX SDK. At present, this is available in two forms - either Netbeans 6.1 or Project Nile. Lets see which one is best for you..

Netbeans 6.1 with JavaFX

Netbeans is the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) provided free from Sun Microsystems. This is aimed at application developers and supports many programming laguages. Probably the best option if you already have experience with an IDE or programming. However, you could install this and Project Nile.

Get Netbeans from here
(Download size: 38 Mb)

To add JavaFX to a previously installed Netbeans 6.1, go here for instructions.

Note - It is hoped that a newer version of Netbeans with JavaFX will be available next month (December 08).

Project Nile

Project Nile comes with plugins for Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Illustrator CS3, and a selection of tools. The idea is to enable designers the ability to export designs for use in JavaFX (save graphics in a format useable with JavaFX, along with JavaFX scripts). It may be worth trying this out if you use Photoshop or Illustrator for your application interface designs. You can install this along with Netbeans.

Get Project Nile here (Download size: 16 Mb)

More information on how to test and use Project Nile can be found here.

Now that you have downloaded and installed everything you need, you may want to get started with some sample applications.

Looks like things are shaking up in the Sun JavaFX front, and perhaps we could be seing an official release of JavaFX sooner rather than later.

On Moday, at the Adobe Max conference, Sun announced that the JavaFX toolkit is almost ready for release. They also mentioned that they are fully committed to JavaFX. This is despite the fact the Sun expect to lay-off upto 6,000 employees.

Why stay committed to pushing JavaFX with jobs losses on the cards?

Even though much of JavaFX will be released under the same licensing model as Java, Sun know that the success of JavaFX will make them money. Sounds like a good enough reason to stay focused!

Here are a few quotes from Sun officials made at Adobe Max…

Eric Klein (Java Vice Director of Maketing) said:

“We can actually today show you JavaFX running and we are very close to shipping the final product”

and

“The Java business is actually a very profitable business for Sun”

If I was the VP for Java Marketing I would be saying the same things. Interesting times ahead!

Quick welcome message - Welcome to our new tutorials website dedicated to the all new JavaFX from Sun.

JavaFX is a family of products for creating rich internet applications (RIA) with immersive media and content, for next generation rich interactive applications for desktop, mobile devices, TV, and other platforms.

JavaFX Script is a high-performance declarative scripting language, similar to JavaScript, Java and ActionScript but an entirely new language.

At the time of writting this, JavaFX is available as a preview release only, however the first official release is expected spring 2009.

We look forward to working with this new technology and toolset - stay tuned for our first range of tutorials very soon!

Should Adobe AIR / Flex be worried? only time will tell!

Find out more at: http://www.sun.com/software/javafx/

.. and even more at: http://javafx.com/