JavaFX + Maven on Ubuntu
Comments(13)
Well, I’ve been following JavaFx for a long time but I’ve only started trying out yesterday.
I need to create some GUI for testing some libraries I’ve been working on and I felt this was the right time to try out JavaFX.
The first challenge was to get the JavaFX Preview SDK working on my Ubuntu machine.
After googling around I found that the MacOSX version of the SDK works on Linux so I downloaded it from here.
Then I got the Netbeans JavaFX Plugin from the JavaFX_NB_Daily project. After installing the nbms I decided to switch the SDK provided by the plugin with the one I downloaded from Sun’s JavaFX page. For that I went into my netbeans directory “~/netbeans6-1″ onto the “javafx” directory, renamed the sdk dir and unziped sun’s sdk. This step is probably not necessary but I’d like to make sure I was working with Sun’s JavaFX SDK.
Well, with everything setup I started netbeans, create a project with the sample weather app and it ran just fine 
The next step was to get maven to compile a JavaFX project. I normally have several dependencies for each new project and I’ve really come to appreciate Maven for dealing with these for me.
Again I googled for it and found this: http://m2-javafxc.sourceforge.net/. Well it did what I needed, just had to figure out how to use my javafxc compiler. This is what I came up with in the end:
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<project>
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>pt.inevo.javafx</groupId>
<artifactId>javaFXMaven</artifactId>
<name>javaFXMaven</name>
<version>1.0</version>
<url>http://www.inevo.pt</url>
<properties>
<javafx.home>/home/nfgs/netbeans-6.1/javafx/javafx-sdk1.0pre1</javafx.home>
<netbeans.hint.useExternalMaven>true</netbeans.hint.useExternalMaven>
</properties>
<dependencies>
…
<dependency>
<groupId>javafx</groupId>
<artifactId>javafxrt</artifactId>
<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
<scope>system</scope>
<systemPath>${javafx.home}/lib/javafxrt.jar</systemPath>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>javafx</groupId>
<artifactId>javafx-swing</artifactId>
<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
<scope>system</scope>
<systemPath>${javafx.home}/lib/javafx-swing.jar</systemPath>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>javafx</groupId>
<artifactId>Scenario</artifactId>
<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
<scope>system</scope>
<systemPath>${javafx.home}/lib/Scenario.jar</systemPath>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>javafx</groupId>
<artifactId>javafxgui</artifactId>
<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
<scope>system</scope>
<systemPath>${javafx.home}/lib/javafxgui.jar</systemPath>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
<pluginRepositories>
<pluginRepository>
<id>m2-javafxc</id>
<name>Sourceforge M2-javafxc static repo</name>
<url>http://m2-javafxc.sourceforge.net/m2repo</url>
</pluginRepository>
</pluginRepositories>
<build>
<sourceDirectory>src/main/javafx</sourceDirectory>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<source>1.6</source>
<target>1.6</target>
<compilerId>javafxc</compilerId>
<include>**/*.fx</include>
<compilerArguments>
<jfxHome>false</jfxHome>
</compilerArguments>
</configuration>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>net.sf.m2javafxc</groupId>
<artifactId>plexus-compiler-javafxc</artifactId>
<version>0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>javafx</groupId>
<artifactId>javafxc</artifactId>
<version>0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
<scope>system</scope>
<systemPath>${javafx.home}/lib/javafxc.jar</systemPath>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<archive>
<manifest>
<mainClass>fxsketch.Main</mainClass>
</manifest>
</archive>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</project>
Now I can store my code in src/main/javafx and just open my project with netbeans (since it reads the pom.xml file).
I’m using the external maven since I’ve had a few problems with the internal version.
I hope this helps some of you. I’m really starting to appreciate JavaFx and can’t wait to get the Media SDK and the SG3D to really come up with something interesting 
Nice, i’ll try this setup! I’m currently looking to use picocontainer for DI in fx beans.
[...] + Maven的开发环境： http://blog.nelsonsilva.eu/2008/10/10/javafx-maven-on-ubuntu/ 注： [...]
Hi, how could I compile both Java and JavaFx source file using Maven? With your pom maven compiles only .fx files ignoring completely the standard java source file.
thanks.
I haven’t really tried that. I’m using java sources but they are packaged in another dependency so you could use multiple maven modules to achieve what you want. Basically you have your models and services in a java project with a jar and the view in JavaFX in another one.
If i have some time i can try to get maven to compile both Java and JavaFX and I’ll post it back here in the blog.
Thank you for reply. I will follow your suggestion.
How do you install the mac version of the sdk on ubuntu?
Thanks for a good guide!
I’m having some problems importing my project into Netbeans and making it have javafx “nature” and maven dependencies. If I open it as a Maven project, I can’t seem to launch it as a javafx app.
Any ideas would appreciated!
Cheers.
Hi Viktor,
I’ve setup Netbeans to Run and Debug the project using Maven.
Just go to the project’s properties > Actions
For “Run Project” I’ve got this:
Execute Goals: process-classes org.codehaus.mojo:exec-maven-plugin:1.1:exec” exec.executable=java
Set Properties: exec.args=”-classpath %classpath
For “Debug Project” :
Execute Goals: process-classes org.codehaus.mojo:exec-maven-plugin:1.1:exec” jpda.listen=true exec.executable=java
Set properties: exec.args=”-Xdebug -Djava.compiler=none -Xnoagent -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=n,address=${jpda.address} -classpath %classpath
Hope this helps…
Which Maven version was used in this article’s example? I’m using 2.0.9 and it complains that “system-scoped dependency must specify an absolute path systemPath”. systemPath is absolute path but after expanding parameter value which seems not to occur. There are two issues in Maven JIRA related to this, http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/MNG-2626 and http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/MNG-2694 so I wonder how did you make example work before these issues are fixed?
Solved it – paths to jars in JavaFX SDK 1.1 are different, and also m2eclipse 0.9.7 pom editor with embedded maven wrongly reports that systemPath is not absolute if it contains reference to variable, so with external maven and jar path adjusted things started working well. Thanks for sharing the article!
[...] and Maven Filed under: Java, JavaFX, Maven — karussell @ 7:41 pm There is a post which discusses all the details about how to set up JavaFX in a maven [...]
Nice, i’ll try this setup! I’m currently looking to use picocontainer for DI in fx beans.
Java, JavaFX, Maven — karussell