Introduction to JavaFX and UI Controls

Tutorial 3 of 5

Introduction to JavaFX and UI Controls

This tutorial aims to introduce you to the basics of JavaFX and its User Interface (UI) controls. We will build simple applications and familiarize ourselves with the workings of JavaFX. By the end of this tutorial, you will have a solid foundation of JavaFX and its UI controls.

What You Will Learn

You will learn the following:
1. Basics of JavaFX
2. Working with JavaFX UI controls
3. Building simple applications with JavaFX

Prerequisites

You should have a basic understanding of Java programming. Familiarity with any GUI toolkit is a plus but not mandatory.

Step-by-Step Guide

JavaFX is a Java library used to build Rich Internet Applications. Its UI controls provide rich features and flexible style options.

JavaFX Basics

Every JavaFX application is a subclass of the javafx.application.Application class. The start(Stage stage) method is the entry point for all JavaFX applications.

JavaFX UI Controls

JavaFX provides a powerful set of UI controls like buttons, labels, text fields, checkboxes, etc. These controls are a part of the javafx.scene.control package.

Code Examples

Let's dive into some examples to understand better.

Example 1: Creating a Simple JavaFX Application

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

public class HelloWorld extends Application {
    @Override
    public void start(Stage stage) {
        // Creating a label control
        Label label = new Label("Hello, World!");

        // Creating a scene with the label as its root node
        Scene scene = new Scene(label, 200, 100);

        // Setting the scene to the stage
        stage.setScene(scene);

        // Displaying the stage
        stage.show();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        launch(args);
    }
}

This code creates a simple JavaFX application that displays "Hello, World!".

Summary

In this tutorial, we introduced JavaFX and its UI controls. We built a simple JavaFX application and learned how to use UI controls like Label.

Next Steps

You can explore more about JavaFX UI controls and try building more complex applications.

Additional Resources

  1. JavaFX Official Documentation
  2. JavaFX Tutorial - Oracle

Practice Exercises

  1. Create a JavaFX application that displays your name.
  2. Create a JavaFX application with a Button. When clicked, it should display "Button clicked!".

Tips for Further Practice

Try to explore more UI controls and their properties. You can also practice by replicating some common user interfaces.

Note: Solutions to these exercises can be found in the Oracle's JavaFX tutorial.