Practical Java Programming for IoT, AI, and Blockchain

CHAPTER 4Java Programming for Windows Applications

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”

—Beverly Sills

• 4.1 Introduction
• 4.2 Java Swing Applications
• 4.3 JavaFX Applications
• 4.4 Deploying JavaFX Applications
• 4.5 Summary
• 4.6 Chapter Review Questions

4.1 Introduction

You have now explored basic Java programming as a console application—text-based applications with no graphics. But on many occasions you might prefer to have graphical user interface (GUI) applications. In Java, you can use the Java Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT), Java Swing, and JavaFX widget toolkits to develop GUI programs. GUI programming has always been Java's Achilles heel, meaning it was cumbersome and had no built-in charting functions. Thanks to the latest version of JavaFX, all this is going to change. Comparing with Java Swing, JavaFX has improved event handling, has special effects, allows skins to be created with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), has more consistent controls, is easier for animation, and supports modern touchscreen devices. JavaFX claims to be the next-generation client application platform for desktop, mobile, and embedded systems built on Java. In this chapter, I will introduce first Java Swing applications and then JavaFX applications.

4.2 Java Swing Applications

Java Swing is a GUI widget toolkit that was developed to provide a more sophisticated set of GUI components than the earlier Java AWT widget toolkit. Example 4.1 shows a standard Java Swing GUI application, ...