JavaFX extends your web experience by delivering rich media and content across all the screens of your life. As users, you will be able to run JavaFX applications in a browser or drag and drop them onto the desktop. It's a seamless interface!

What is JavaFX technology?

JavaFX is a family of products for creating rich internet applications (RIAs) with immersive media and content across the multiple screens of your life. It includes a runtime and a tools suite that web scripters, designers, and developers can use to quickly build and deliver the next generation of rich Internet applications for desktop, mobile devices, TV, and other platforms. JavaFX tools suite will offer developer and authoring tools that bridge the gap between user experience design and development logic, giving designers and developers unprecedented collaboration opportunities.

What are Sun's plans to open source JavaFX?

We continually solicit and get feedback from the open source and Java developer communities about key elements of our technology, and this ongoing conversation often influences our product development.

Sun is committed to open source as part of its business model. Key elements of JavaFX are in open source today, and provide customers and partners the proven benefits and security of vendor independence and lower total cost of ownership.

The JavaFX compiler, parts of the graphics libraries, and tools are available now from the OpenJFX web site, under the GPL 2.0 open source license.

The JavaFX compiler and JavaFX tools will continue to be developed in the open, and the current JavaFX Preview SDK libraries will remain on OpenJFX.org. Sun is committed to delivering enhancements to the JavaFX platform. To this end, Sun will continue internal development and reconcile key elements with the open source builds, concurrent with future releases of the JavaFX platform.

How do Java SE and Swing fit in with JavaFX technology?

The JavaFX family of products is based on Java technology.

The primary component of JavaFX technology is JavaFX Script, a declarative language, which is easy to use for interface programmers or visual designers who are familiar with scripting languages. In JavaFX Script, the structure of the programming code closely matches the actual layout of the GUI, making it easier to understand and maintain.

Sun is not replacing Swing with JavaFX Script. Instead, JavaFX Script makes Swing easier to use. Swing remains one of the best GUI development toolkits of its kind for creating standard GUI components, buttons, listboxes, trees, and tables. Together with Java 2D, Swing makes it easy to customize existing components or to create new custom components to achieve virtually any desired visual effect.

What tools are available for building JavaFX Script applications?

The JavaFX tools suite offers creative solutions for both developers and designers. There is a JavaFX Script plugin with language support for NetBeans IDE. The plugin enables development of JavaFX applications within the cross-platform NetBeans tools suite. In addition, Project Nile is a set of easy-to-use plugins for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator that allow designers to export graphical assets to JavaFX applications. This tool simplifies the designer/developer workflow, enabling better collaboration between designers and developers.

Do I have to learn JavaFX Script to use JavaFX technology?

JavaFX Script is currently required to develop JavaFX applications. Developers can use the JavaFX Script plugin for NetBeans IDE to develop rich Internet applications (RIAs). If you have existing Java code, you can include it as you build your JavaFX application. Also planned in the future is a tool for visual and graphic designers that will enable them to build JavaFX applications without having to learn JavaFX Script.

Are you going to submit JavaFX technologies into the Java Community Process (JCP)?

Not in its first year of development.

Why doesn't JavaFX technology just use existing APIs like those in Java SE or Java ME-CDC profile? Why invent a new set?

JavaFX is a completely new technology that provides the presentation layer for the Java ecosystem. The technology is enhanced for creating rich interactive applications that work consistently across desktop, mobile, TV, and other consumer environments. JavaFX also provides optimized APIs for Java SE and Java ME for an enhanced user experience.

Will JavaFX technologies be available for CLDC and MIDP class devices too?

Yes, Sun intends to extend the benefits of JavaFX technologies to those classes of devices, although it has not yet announced a schedule for availability.

What is JavaFX Mobile?

The processing and networking capabilities in today's mobile handsets have the potential to deliver a new class of rich, Internet-enabled content. To allow content creators to tap into this power, Sun Microsystems is bringingJavaFX technology to mobile devices. Moreover, JavaFX Mobile builds on top of the market-leading Java ME platform to take advantage of its powerful, device-level capabilities. With the Java ME platform already running on over 2 billion handsets today, Sun is well positioned to establish JavaFX Mobile as the leading technology for rich Internet applications (RIAs) on mobile devices. Best of all, content created for JavaFX technology is capable of running on all the screens of your life. This means people building content based on JavaFX technology for the desktop, mobile phone, or other consumer devices will be able to deploy their content more broadly than with any other platform.

How does JavaFX technology compare to the competition?

There are a large number of requirements for rich Internet applications (RIAs) that are not met by any platform today, and Sun is uniquely positioned to address these challenges. JavaFX technology will offer a number of unprecedented advantages:

• Built on Java: JavaFX is not starting from scratch; it is built on the Java platform (Java SE and Java ME) and leverages all the power and capabilities of the Java platform.
• Across devices and screens: JavaFX applications will run across multiple devices and screens, including browser, desktop, mobile, TV, and more. The same JavaFX Script applications that run in the browser can also be deployed unmodified on the desktop.
• Open source: JavaFX is the only non-proprietary rich client environment with many components of the technology already available in open source.
• Designer/Developer workflow: There remains a distinct need to close the gap between a designer's vision and a programmer's skills with an easy-to-use, visually accurate, high-performance suite of tools. JavaFX technology and tools suite will empower designers to collaborate with developers working in Java technology. Project Nile simplifies the designer/developer workflow by allowing designers to export graphical assets from leading designer tools to JavaFX applications. A JavaFX Designer tool is planned for release in the future. The JavaFX Designer tool will provide a comprehensive visual design environment to allow designers to author rich, Internet-enabled content and applications without necessarily knowing the underlying JavaFX Script language or the specifics of the Java platform.