JavaFX

JavaFX is a technology from Sun that has been available as open source since December 2008 and optimizes the creation of web, desktop and mobile applications known as Rich Internet Applications. JavaFX is based on Java, so that its extensive interfaces and libraries can be used. A crucial core of the JavaFX environment is JavaFX Script - a proprietary scripting language.

JavaFX Mobile provides a software platform- under OEM license- for the mobile device market environment. Initially only Windows and Mac OS were supported - since version 1.2 also Linux and Solaris are supported. JavaFX is currently available in version 1.2.1 at the link below. Adobe Flash, Silverlight from Microsoft, AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) and Adobe Apollo are considered as alternative technologies to JavaFX, which should be considered in a differentiated manner in individual cases. For example, JavaFX can be used in completely different ways than AJAX.

JavaFX as a development platform

JavaFX is a platform for developing desktop and mobile applications - JavaFX refers to both the platform and the framework. Developers are supposed to use it to create Rich Internet Applications( RIA) - a specific form of interactive Web applications. However, the JavaFX approach also aims to unify classic desktop and web applications. The JavaFX environment contains among other things a compiler for the script language JavaFX Script, libraries and a Java Runtime Environment( JRE). JavaFX Script and the JRE do not replace the existing Java system, but build on the Java Virtual Machine ( JVM) and the standard class libraries such as Swing. With Java-FXScript the environment has a specific language, which generates class files during compilation, however - as with Java. By the way, all programs created with JavaFX Script can be executed on any current Java platform. In December 2008 all necessary components for the execution of JavaFX Script were also released with the Java Update 11.

JavaFX for integration of audio and video files

JavaFX realizes an orderly integration of many audio and video formats for direct use. Furthermore, the connection to modern web services is explicitly supported, and a direct connection to hardware accelerations such as DirectX and OpenGL to the target systems with Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris is also integrated. However, a design goal of JavaFX was also to push the creation of Java applications for mobile devices, so-called MIDLets such as phones, iPods, etc., since Java is a widely used technology in this market environment.

The core of the JavaFX technology is the script language JavaFX Script. This created a declarative scripting language that is explicitly based on Java, but structurally simpler than it. Thus a similar descriptive environment was realized as Flash, ActionScript or JavaScript. JavaFX Script makes it possible to develop graphical user interfaces using a scene graph and a large number of 2D and 3D effects, as well as other possibilities for animation. With JavaFX Script all advantages of Java can be used, without having to enter directly into the object-oriented world of Java. The user circle is to be supplemented thus in such a way that above all also rather creatively aligned users use JavaFX Script.

Despite the still early development stage of JavaFX already comfortable integrations exist into frequently used development environments as for example Eclipse and Netbeans IDE. Also Plug-Ins exist for the direct generation of JavaFX objects from vector diagrams - in connection with Scalabe Vector Graphics( SVG) - for graphic applications.

A disadvantage of the JavaFX technology is in particular still the remarkably long loading time of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) - that lets particularly complex graphic applications look obviously slow. On the other hand, the quick and easy porting of web services and desktop applications to mobile devices can be advantageous.

By the way, a source code repository for JavaFX is also available under the link below. A comprehensive documentation also describes the programming interfaces (Application Programming Interface, API) of the classes, which - based on HTML and Cascading Style Sheet( CSS) - can be viewed with any web browser.