About This Tutorial

1 Hello World, JavaFX Style

• Construct the Application
• Run the Application
• Where to Go Next

2 Creating a Form in JavaFX

• Create the Project
• Create a GridPane Layout
• Add Text, Labels, and Text Fields
• Add a Button and Text
• Add Code to Handle an Event
• Run the Application
• Where to Go from Here

3 Fancy Forms with JavaFX CSS

• Create the Project
• Create the CSS File
• Add a Background Image
• Style the Labels
• Style Text
• Style the Button
• Where to Go from Here

4 Using FXML to Create a User Interface

• Set Up the Project
• Load the FXML Source File
• Modify the Import Statements
• Create a GridPane Layout
• Add Text and Password Fields
• Add a Button and Text
• Add Code to Handle an Event
• Use a Scripting Language to Handle Events
• Style the Application with CSS
• Where to Go from Here

5 Animation and Visual Effects in JavaFX

• Set Up the Application
• Set Up the Project
• Add Graphics
• Add a Visual Effect
• Create a Background Gradient
• Apply a Blend Mode
• Add Animation
• Where to Go from Here

6 Deploying Your First JavaFX Application

• Deployment Modes
• Packaging the Application in NetBeans IDE
  • Sizing the Application Window
• Running the Application Outside NetBeans IDE
• Deploying the Packaged Files
• Other Ways to Package JavaFX Applications

Gail Chappell

Technical Writer, Oracle

Gail is part of the JavaFX documentation team and enjoys working on cutting-edge, innovative documentation.

Nancy Hildebrandt

Technical Writer, Oracle

Nancy is a technical writer in the JavaFX group. She has a background in content management systems, enterprise server-client software, and XML. She lives on 480 acres in the middle of nowhere with horses, a donkey, dogs, cats, and chickens, and stays connected by satellite.

Figure 3-1 Login Form With and Without CSS

Create the Project

If you followed the Getting Started guide from the start, then you already created the Login project required for this tutorial. If not, download the Login project by right-clickingLogin.zip and saving it to your file system. Extract the files from the zip file, and then open the project in NetBeans IDE.

Create the CSS File

Your first task is to create a new CSS file and save it in the same directory as the main class of your application. After that, you must make the JavaFX application aware of the newly added Cascading Style Sheet.

1. In the NetBeans IDE Projects window, expand theLogin project node and then theSource Packages directory node.

2. Right-click thelogin folder under the Source Packages directory and chooseNew, thenOther.

3. In the New File dialog box, chooseOther, thenCascading Style Sheet, and clickNext.

4. EnterLogin for the File Name text field and ensure the Folder text field value issrc\login.

5. ClickFinish.

6. In theLogin.java file, initialize thestyle sheets variable of theScene class to point to the Cascading Style Sheet by including the line of code shown in bold below so that it appears as shown inExample 3-1.

   Example 3-1 Initialize the stylesheets Variable

   Scene scene = new Scene(grid, 300, 275);primaryStage.setScene(scene);scene.getStylesheets().add (Login.class.getResource("Login.css").toExternalForm());primaryStage.show();

   This code looks for the style sheet in thesrc\login directory in the NetBeans project.

Add a Background Image

A background image helps make your form more attractive. For this tutorial, you add a gray background with a linen-like texture.

First, download the background image by right-clickingbackground.jpg and saving it to your file system. Then, copy the file into thesrc\login folder in the Login NetBeans project.

Now, add the code for thebackground-image property to the CSS file. Remember that the path is relative to the style sheet. So, in the code inExample 3-2, thebackground.jpg image is in the same directory as theLogin.css file.

.root {     -fx-background-image: url("background.jpg");}

The background image is applied to the.root style, which means it is applied to the root node of theScene instance. The style definition consists of the name of the property (-fx-background-image) and the value for the property (url(“background.jpg”)).

Figure 3-2 shows the login form with the new gray background.

Figure 3-2 Gray Linen Background

Description of "Figure 3-2 Gray Linen Background"

Style the Labels

The next controls to enhance are the labels. You will use the.label style class, which means the styles will affect all labels in the form. The code is inExample 3-3.

.label {    -fx-font-size: 12px;    -fx-font-weight: bold;    -fx-text-fill: #333333;    -fx-effect: dropshadow( gaussian , rgba(255,255,255,0.5) , 0,0,0,1 );}

This example increases the font size and weight and applies a drop shadow of a gray color (#333333). The purpose of the drop shadow is to add contrast between the dark gray text and the light gray background. See the section on effects in theJavaFX CSS Reference Guide for details on the parameters of the drop shadow property.

The enhanced User Name and Password labels are shown inFigure 3-3.

Figure 3-3 Bigger, Bolder Labels with Drop Shadow

Description of "Figure 3-3 Bigger, Bolder Labels with Drop Shadow"

Style Text

Now, create some special effects on the twoText objects in the form:scenetitle, which includes the textWelcome, andactiontarget, which is the text that is returned when the user presses the Sign in button. You can apply different styles toText objects used in such diverse ways.

1. In theLogin.java file, remove the following lines of code that define the inline styles currently set for the text objects:

   scenetitle.setFont(Font.font(“Tahoma”, FontWeight.NORMAL, 20));

   actiontarget.setFill(Color.FIREBRICK);

   By switching to CSS over inline styles, you separate the design from the content. This approach makes it easier for a designer to have control over the style without having to modify content.

2. Create an ID for each text node by using thesetID() method of the Node class:

   scenetitle.setId("welcome-text");

   actiontarget.setId("actiontarget");

3. In theLogin.css file, define the style properties for thewelcome-text andactiontarget IDs. For the style name, use the ID preceded by a number sign (#), as shown inExample 3-4.

   Example 3-4 Text Effect

   #welcome-text {   -fx-font-size: 32px;   -fx-font-family: "Arial Black";   -fx-fill: #818181;   -fx-effect: innershadow( three-pass-box , rgba(0,0,0,0.7) , 6, 0.0 , 0 , 2 );}#actiontarget {  -fx-fill: FIREBRICK;  -fx-font-weight: bold;  -fx-effect: dropshadow( gaussian , rgba(255,255,255,0.5) , 0,0,0,1 );  }

The size of the Welcome text is increased to 32 points and the font is changed to Arial Black. The text fill color is set to a dark gray color (#818181) and an inner shadow effect is applied, creating an embossing effect. You can apply an inner shadow to any color by changing the text fill color to be a darker version of the background. See the section on effects in theJavaFX CSS Reference Guide for details about the parameters of inner shadow property.

The style definition foractiontarget is similar to what you have seen before.

Figure 3-4 shows the font changes and shadow effects on the twoText objects.

Figure 3-4 Text with Shadow Effects

Description of "Figure 3-4 Text with Shadow Effects"

Style the Button

The next step is to style the button, making it change style when the user hovers the mouse over it. This change will give users an indication that the button is interactive, a standard design practice.

First, create the style for the initial state of the button by adding the code inExample 3-5. This code uses the.button style class selector, such that if you add a button to the form at a later date, then the new button will also use this style.

.button {    -fx-text-fill: white;    -fx-font-family: "Arial Narrow";    -fx-font-weight: bold;    -fx-background-color: linear-gradient(#61a2b1, #2A5058);    -fx-effect: dropshadow( three-pass-box , rgba(0,0,0,0.6) , 5, 0.0 , 0 , 1 );}

Now, create a slightly different look for when the user hovers the mouse over the button. You do this with the hover pseudo-class. A pseudo-class includes the selector for the class and the name for the state separated by a colon (:), as shown inExample 3-6.

.button:hover {    -fx-background-color: linear-gradient(#2A5058, #61a2b1);}

Figure 3-5 shows the initial and hover states of the button with its new blue-gray background and white bold text.

Figure 3-5 Initial and Hover Button States

Description of "Figure 3-5 Initial and Hover Button States"

Figure 3-6 shows the final application.

Figure 3-6 Final Stylized Application

Description of "Figure 3-6 Final Stylized Application"

Where to Go from Here

Here are some things for you to try next:

• See what you can create using CSS. Some documents that can help you areSkinning JavaFX Applications with CSS,Styling Charts with CSS, and theJavaFX CSS Reference Guide.Skinning with CSS and CSS Analyzer also provides information on how you can use the JavaFX Scene Builder tool to skin your JavaFX FXML layout.

• SeeStyling FX Buttons with CSS for examples of how to create common button styles using CSS.

• Try deploying your application outside NetBeans IDE. SeeDeploying Your First JavaFX Application.