JavaFX and iOS - it will remain a dream

[Tom Schindl]

Hi,

If you want to take a look at the sources, they are available at
http://git.eclipse.org/c/efxclipse/org.eclipse.efxclipse.git/tree/bundles/tooling/org.eclipse.fx.ide.fxml.compiler.
Code is written in xtend - don't judge the code yet, I simply want
something going.

The process of the conversion looks like this:

FXML => Internal Memory Model => Java
     ^                        ^
   SaxParser               Converter


So I think your request to have different languages as output is
possible by implementing e.g. a JavaScript converter.

For you second request: Yes there's a helper class named
ExtendedFXMLLoader which you feed a FXML-Path and which at first tries
to load a compiled class and falling back to FXML if not found (see
attached sample).

The "biggest" problem I have with Controller-Fields and Methods who are
NOT public or package private (depends on the location of the FXML
relative to its controller) because there I still need to use
reflection. Anyone a good idea to get around reflection in case I can't
directly access them?

For the initial version I'll simply immediately fallback to reflection
and we could get smarter later on.

I'll expect a first version which supports the most basic stuff to get
out in the next few days. Attached you see my current state. You'll
notice the most basic things already work:
* Simple properties
* Sub-Trees including default properties
* Static properties
* Properties who need to be created through Builders

But naturally there's still a lot left to do ;-)

Tom


On 31.07.13 16:42, Danno Ferrin wrote:
> Where is the code base for this converter?  Done properly it can also be
> written to spit out the generated stubs, as well as output in any
> language the user may prefer.  A top grade implementation could
> integrate with FXMLLoader for a seamless experience ala .bss files.
> 
> On Tuesday, July 30, 2013, Tom Schindl wrote:
> 
>     I don't think it is a good idea to use fxml on embedded and mobile,
>     we are working on a fxml => java converter so you can add it to your
>     build process.
> 
>     Tom
> 
>     Von meinem iPhone gesendet
> 
>     Am 31.07.2013 um 08:11 schrieb Niklas Therning <niklas at therning.org
>     <javascript:;>>:
> 
>     >>>> after many days trying to really build iOS apps with JavaFX and
>     RoboVM
>     >> or
>     >>>> Avian I’m very frustrated because of the following things:
>     >>>>
>     >>>> Based on RoboVM, JavaFX on iOS runs unacceptable slow - I don’t
>     know
>     >> the
>     >>>> reason - maybe it’s the rendering model of JavaFX - maybe it’s the
>     >>>> currently unoptimized RoboVM
>     >>>> One big problem of RoboVM is it’s dependence of the Android
>     library, it
>     >>>> does not support the OpenJDK. That’s a big reason for many many
>     >> problems
>     >>>> when using JavaFX. So currently it’s not possible to use fxml files
>     >>>> (FXMLoader) because of the missing Stax xml parser and classes like
>     >>>> XMLInputFactory in the android library…
>     >
>     > There's now a compatibility library for the jfx78 backport which
>     includes
>     > the missing sun.* classes from OpenJDK [1]. So that will not be a
>     problem
>     > when running on RoboVM/Android. Daniel Zwolenski is working on
>     getting this
>     > into Maven which will make it nice and easy to develop with
>     RoboVM+OpenJFX.
>     >
>     > FXMLLoader relies an StAX and the Java Scripting API. Those can
>     both be
>     > made to work on RoboVM/Android. The POM of the compat project [1]
>     contains
>     > optional dependencies on the StAX API and JSR 223 API. For StAX
>     you'll also
>     > need a StAX provider [2][3]. For scripting you'll need a JSR 223
>     > implementation of the scripting language you're using, like Rhino for
>     > JavaScript [4][5]. Please note that I haven't tested FXML but it
>     should
>     > work (in theory at least ;-) ). Please give it a go. It will be a
>     great
>     > blog story if you can make it work on iOS.
>     >
>     > As for the performance issues with RoboVM+OpenJFX: those WILL be
>     addressed!
>     > You can either wait for it to happen or you can help out. One way
>     to do
>     > that would be sample code that exercises the code paths that need
>     to be
>     > optimized (e.g. the button rendering you posted about earlier).
>     Preferably
>     > the sample should run repeatedly without user interaction. You
>     should then
>     > be able to run Apple's Instruments application to profile this
>     sample. This
>     > will help us determine what needs to be optimized.
>     >
>     > /Niklas
>     >
>     > [1] https://github.com/robovm/robovm-jfx78-compat
>     > [2] https://github.com/FasterXML/aalto-xml
>     > [3] http://woodstox.codehaus.org/
>     > [4] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Rhino
>     > [5]
>     >
>     https://java.net/projects/scripting/sources/svn/show/trunk/engines/javascript?rev=236
> 

-------------- next part --------------
package test;

import java.io.IOException;

import org.eclipse.fx.core.fxml.ExtendedFXMLLoader;

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

public class CompiledTest extends Application {

	@Override
	public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
		ExtendedFXMLLoader l = new ExtendedFXMLLoader();
		try {
			BorderPane p = l.load(getClass().getClassLoader(), "test/Sample.fxml");
			Scene s = new Scene(p,300,300);
			primaryStage.setScene(s);
			primaryStage.show();
		} catch (IOException e) {
			// TODO Auto-generated catch block
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
	}

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		launch(args);
	}
}
-------------- next part --------------
package test;

import org.eclipse.fx.core.fxml.FXMLDocument;
import java.util.ResourceBundle;


import java.lang.*;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.GridPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;

import javafx.geometry.InsetsBuilder;

public class Sample extends FXMLDocument<BorderPane> {
	public BorderPane load(ResourceBundle bundle) {
		BorderPane root = new BorderPane();
		{
			Button e_1 = new Button();
			e_1.setText("Hello World");
			root.setCenter(e_1);
		}
		{
			HBox e_2 = new HBox();
			{
				Label e_3 = new Label();
				e_3.setText("Label 1");
				e_3.setMinWidth(100);
				e_2.getChildren().add(e_3);
				HBox.setHgrow(e_3,javafx.scene.layout.Priority.ALWAYS);
			}
			{
				Label e_4 = new Label();
				e_4.setText("Label 1");
				e_2.getChildren().add(e_4);
				Insets e_5;
				InsetsBuilder e_5Builder = InsetsBuilder.create();
				e_5Builder.bottom(5);
				e_5 = e_5Builder.build();
				HBox.setMargin(e_4,e_5);
			}
			{
				VBox e_6 = new VBox();
				{
					Label e_7 = new Label();
					e_7.setText("Def 1");
					e_6.getChildren().add(e_7);
				}
				{
					Label e_8 = new Label();
					e_8.setText("Def 2");
					e_6.getChildren().add(e_8);
				}
				e_2.getChildren().add(e_6);
			}
			{
				VBox e_9 = new VBox();
				{
					Label e_10 = new Label();
					e_10.setText("Label 1");
					e_9.getChildren().add(e_10);
					VBox.setVgrow(e_10,javafx.scene.layout.Priority.SOMETIMES);
				}
				{
					GridPane e_11 = new GridPane();
					{
						Label e_12 = new Label();
						e_12.setText("In Grid 0/0");
						e_11.getChildren().add(e_12);
						GridPane.setColumnIndex(e_12,0);
						GridPane.setRowIndex(e_12,0);
					}
					{
						Label e_13 = new Label();
						e_13.setText("In Grid 0/1");
						e_11.getChildren().add(e_13);
						GridPane.setColumnIndex(e_13,0);
						GridPane.setRowIndex(e_13,1);
					}
					e_9.getChildren().add(e_11);
				}
				e_2.getChildren().add(e_9);
			}
			root.setBottom(e_2);
		}
		return root;
	}
}