Is possible to make sexy GUI with javaFX & swing ?

Question

I would like to do a "sexy" / user-friendly / appealing GUI in java. Swing is a limited in terms of "skin" customisation. I'm thinking about JavaFX but I don't it yet,

• what can I achieve with this technology ?
• how hard is it ?
• do you have examples of real-life examples of Swing/JavaFX integration ?

I would like to do something in this spirit of this, which is built on the .NET framework:

original link: http://www.patrickpayet.com/net/?p=329 edit: is their any getting started overview sample code that I can read to get a general feeling of the work needed to be done to achieve something in the spirit of the screenshot? maybe something like the miglayout's swing demo http://www.migcalendar.com/miglayout/swingdemoapp.jnlp

edit2: I found http://download.java.net/general/openjfx/demos/tutorial.jnlp it's really basic though, linked from http://www.deitel.com/ResourceCenters/Programming/JavaFX/JavaFXTutorialsandDemos/tabid/2187/Default.aspx

Answer 1

Doing such a GUI with JavaFX seems to be rather easy.

For a rapid view on the JavaFX echosystem, I would suggest you to take a look at those sites, showing most of the bleeding edge JavaFX technologies :

• Jonathan Giles blog on Swing/JavaFX/Griffon
• Dean Iverson blog going more in details about JavaFX components
• Amy Fowler blog
• And finally, take a look at JavaFX home site samples.

Answer 2

Yes, Swing is very customizable. I recommend reading Filthy Rich Clients.

For an example, have a look at Cezanne L&F.

Answer 3

Swing's L&F can help you in this case.

The traditional way to customize L&F is to write your own UI classes for all components, which is not easy.

The Synth L&F is included in JRE5 and become mature in JRE6. With Synth L&F you can customize your own look and feel with images and painter classes. You can also take a look at this IDE for Synth based L&F.

Answer 4

see this jfxstudio.wordpress.com /2009/07/26/on-line-poker-javafx-client/

Answer 5

Also checkout my entry to the JFXStudio challenge last year:

http://jfxstudio.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/challenge-five-winners/

This is a very simple "Video Poker" game written in just less than 3,000 characters (ie 30 lines of code). Note that 90% of the graphical elements are images, which gives you an idea of the scope you have for producing "sexy" UIs.

I'll also add that the main elements of this application were written in one evening. JavaFX is a very powerful tool for UI creation once you get used to it.