Oracle offers JavaFX 2.0 beta

May 27, 2011

JavaFX 2.0, an upgrade to the Java-based rich client platform that originated at Sun Microsystems, was made available in a beta form this week by the Java team at Oracle.

In its road map for JavaFX 2.0, Oracle cites introduction of Java APIs that open JavaFX capabilities to all Java developers without them having to learn a new scripting language. Previously, JavaFX Script has been proposed as scripting language for using JavaFX capabilities. The download page for JavaFX 2.0 beta release features an SDK, a runtime, and a plug-in for the NetBeans IDE.

[ General availability of JavaFX 2.0 has been slated for later this year. | Keep up with the latest developer news with InfoWorld's Developer World newsletter. | Follow Paul Krill on Twitter.]

"JavaFX provides a powerful and expressive Java-based UI platform capable of handling large-scale, computationally intensive, data-driven business applications. JavaFX applications are completely developed in Java while leveraging the power of standards-based programming practices and design patterns," said Tori Wieldt in a Java Team blog post. "JavaFX provides a rich set of UI controls, graphics, and media API with high-performance hardware-accelerated graphics, Web, and media engines to simplify development of immersive visual applications."

Other areas of focus cited in the road map include the ability to embed HTML content within a Java application, media playback, and improved deployment. Multithreading improvements are noted as well. Also, the JavaFX runtime is slated to start faster for simple and typical applications. A hardware-accelerated graphics pipeline, named "Prism," targets DirectX on Windows platforms and OpenGL on other platforms. JavaFX 2.0 supports full-screen video, and a new implementation of animated transitions will reduce CPU load and allow for more concurrent animated transitions, the road map states.

Postponed features cited on the road map include grid layout from CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), CSS animations, and an out-of-the-box control for playing media content. JavaFX is vying for developer share in a crowded rich client development market that already features not only Adobe Flash but Microsoft Silverlight the standards-based HTML5 platform.

This article, "Oracle offers JavaFX 2.0 beta," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in business technology news and get a digest of the key stories each day in the InfoWorld Daily newsletter. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.

Paul Krill is an editor at large at InfoWorld, focusing on coverage of application development (desktop and mobile) and core Web technologies such as HTML5, Java, and Flash.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/application-development/oracle-offers-javafx-20-beta-475

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