JavaFX, WidgetFX and my first widget

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:17:37 GMT

I became interested in the early version of the JavaFX Script language, F3 script, thanks to the nice GUI and graphics demos. I'm guessing I'm not alone in that :)

Anyway, the preview release of the JavaFX SDK was released a while ago and I looked at it with some interest. I became more interested in actually doing something with it when I saw the WidgetFX project, simply becuase I like the idea of widgets/gadgets etc. Until now I haven't been able to develop and run them in a Java environment. I also saw the oppertunity to actually learn JavaFX Script since widgets are a really good way to make a really small, but still useful application, while getting to know the language.

If you're interested in developing widgets you really should check out the WidgetFX Developers Google group. People like Stephen Chin, who's been answering loads of my questions :), are really good at answering all kinds of questions about WidgetFX!

It took me quite a lot of time to get at least a bit used to declarative UIs. I'm still not there, but I've made some progress and it's fun.

This is just a small post about my first widget, a disk space monitor. It's not a step by step tutorial, more of a tips and tricks for a beginner. I've included stuff I've learned when working with the JavaFX Script language and the WidgetFX API. It'll require at least some basic knowledge of the JavaFX script language.

Read on, visit the quite sparse DiskSpace Widget page or try it out right now.

pmd/blog - diskspace tag

JavaFX, WidgetFX and my first widget