From Zero to JavaFX in 5 minutes

• groupId: com.mycompany
• artifactId: my-jfx-project
• version: leave as default
• package: com.mycompany.myjfx

Step 3: Run the Project

Change directory into your newly created project and use Maven to launch your application:

cd my-jfx-project
mvn jfx:run

You should see a basic hello world style dialog popup like so:

Note: this run command is just a pure wrapper around the maven exec plugin. There is no special JavaFX magic going on here, it’s just a convenience method.

Step 4: Edit the Project

• IntelliJ IDEA and Maven (my pick – pretty much just File -> Open and then select the pom.xml file)
• Eclipse and Maven
• Netbeans and Maven

Since this a Maven application any dependencies you need will be downloaded, your classpath will be all setup for you and you simply can get stuck in and start editing, running and debugging your project.

The starter project includes some example FXML, basic logging and makes use of the very cool MigPane layout manager. All of this is just a guide, you can delete, edit, rename or do what you like to all of this code to create your perfectly customised JavaFX app.

Your project should look something like this, with MainApp being the main entry point that you run:

For tips on writing JavaFX applications see: http://docs.oracle.com/javafx/

For tips on using Maven to manage your dependencies: http://maven.apache.org/guides/getting-started/index.html

Step 5: Distribute your App

JavaFX applications can be deployed in a number of different ways – each option has it’s benefits and drawbacks - choose whichever option suits you.

Executable JAR file 

From the command line, and in the base directory of your project (where the POM file is) type:

mvn jfx:build-jar

Your executable JAR will be found at: {project.dir}/target/my-jfx-project-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jfx.jar

The Executable JAR file option is simple and handy as you can easily send the single JAR around to users and they can just double click it. It does require Java to be already installed on the user’s system though, and there’s no support for auto updating and advanced functions (like menu shortcuts, file associations, etc). Also be aware that if your jars contain files with the same name then they will clobber each other (see this issue)

‘BAT’ file (for Windows)

From the command line, and in the base directory of your project (where the POM file is) type:

mvn jfx:build-win-bat-bundle

A directory containing a Windows batch file  and all project JARs will be found at: {project.dir}/target/win-bat

The ‘BAT’ file option is great for quick demos, you can easily copy the directory to your demo machine and tweak the JAR files and scripts as needed. It does require Java to be already installed on the user’s system and java.exe being on the path, so it’s more for internal use than general end user consumption.

Webstart 

Webstart applications can either be signed, or unsigned. If they are not signed then they are limited by the browser’s sandbox. Most interesting applications will need to be signed and to do this you need to get a certificate to verify you are who you say you are.  For development this can be a pain, so the JavaFX Maven plugin includes the ability to generate a quick certificate for testing (i.e. you will be able to deploy but your users will see a “this app is not trusted” message when they run it).

To generate a certificate run the following command in the base directory of your project (change the domain, country code and state to match your details):

mvn jfx:generate-key-store -DcertDomain=com.yourcompany -DcertCountry=US -DcertState=WASHINGTON

You only need to do this once for your project and you can optionally check this development keystore into your source control so other developers can avoid this step.

To then build a Webstart bundle run:

mvn jfx:build-webstart

A directory containing  a HTML file, JNLP file and your signed JAR files will be found at: {project.dir}/target/webstart

You can copy this directory directly to any web server and point users at the HTML file to run your app. Both the HTML and JNLP files are built from velocity templates which you can customise to be anything you want.

• browser security issues means Java will always be auto-updated, your app may break at any time if a future version of JavaFX changes the way your app works
• there is a trend away from browser plugins and this option is not likely to be supported on major browsers soon

mvn jfx:build-native