JavaFX features in JDK 9

Tue Jun 30 12:09:13 UTC 2015

> On Jun 30, 2015, at 7:21 AM, Mike Hearn <mike at plan99.net> wrote:
> 
> ...
> With respect to things like "support WebRTC" or "support WebGL" -
> seriously? WebRTC is useful for exactly one kind of app, video chat. It
> seems to have been driven primarily so Google could make a Skype competitor
> inside Gmail without having to make a downloadable plugin. There are
> already many competing video call apps that work fine.

Video streaming, conferencing, etc. are important technologies.  But if you are going with a Java UI, there isn’t much point in handcuffing yourself to a Web UI that will have a far worse user experience.

> 
> As for WebGL, you can already do OpenGL from within Java just fine.

Not “just fine" in a JavaFX app though. With no access to native window handles or an OpenGL surface it’s not so simple.  You have to fall back to AWT/Swing or go native and then you’ve got issues with the OpenGL parts not being well integrated into the rest of the UI.  My commercial application has to create a separate AWT window to implement a video preview to avoid performance issues.  With the AWT window I can get the native window handle and blit directly to the window without extra copies of uncompressed HD video frames.

> Being
> able to do arbitrary GL within an FX scene graph would be nice for some
> apps, but of course, on Windows you'd really need to be using Direct3D or
> some kind of performance-hurting translation layer as WebGL itself uses.

Exactly.  Access to a native drawing surface has been discussed for a long time.  It would be nice to see some progress made with JavaFX 9.

> If I had a single wish it'd be for better rich text support, like a rich
> text editor component (maybe based on Tomas Mikula's work).

That would be a great area for improvement.

I personally would like to see my request for extensible media support (from 2008) to get some attention https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8091063
It should be possible (and reasonable) to write a non-linear editor like Final Cut Pro in Java (and some JNI) with a JavaFX UI.
 :-)

Scott

> 
> On Tue, Jun 30, 2015 at 1:13 PM, Jack Moxley <jack at moxley.co.uk> wrote:
> 
>> Maybe it should its aspirations a little higher, especially with the
>> advent of unity, webgl or even scenegraph impls such as jmonkeyengine that
>> do.
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On 30 Jun 2015, at 09:42, Felix Bembrick <felix.bembrick at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> <cough>JavaFX has *never* claimed to be write once, run anyway</cough>
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On 30 Jun 2015, at 18:13, Mike <mikegps1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> <cough>write once, run anywhere</cough>
>>>> 
>>>> This about sums it up!
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> On Tue, Jun 30, 2015 at 12:12 AM, Jack Moxley <jack at moxley.co.uk>
>> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> <cough>write once, run anywhere</cough>
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On 29 Jun 2015, at 21:45, Michał Zegan <webczat_200 at poczta.onet.pl>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>>>>>> Hash: SHA1
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Does it mean platform support for linux won't be implemented now, or
>>>>>> at all?
>>>>>> I usually use windows, but still depend on that support because I
>>>>>> sometimes use linux, so I am interested about that.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> W dniu 2015-06-29 o 22:40, Kevin Rushforth pisze:
>>>>>>> There is public API in 8u40 to support accessibility. Applications
>>>>>>> using standard JavaFX controls can, for example, use the
>>>>>>> accessibleText property to define the text that the screen reader
>>>>>>> will speak or the accessibleHelp property to provide a more
>>>>>>> detailed description. These properties have reasonable defaults,
>>>>>>> but can be overridden by applications. Additionally, if you use the
>>>>>>> "labelFor" property to point to a Control that the Label is
>>>>>>> associated with, the accessibility framework will use that when the
>>>>>>> screen reader is active.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Custom controls can override the queryAccessibleAttribute,
>>>>>>> executeAccessibleAction, and notifyAccessibleAttributeChanged
>>>>>>> methods.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> As for platform support, we currently support Windows and Mac
>>>>>>> platforms. We have no plan to make FX accessible on Linux .
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> -- Kevin
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Michał Zegan wrote: I saw it, and it seems promising, but: first,
>>>>>>> there is probably, or I heard it wrong? no public api for making
>>>>>>> accessibility related stuff... Also, I believe there is no linux
>>>>>>> accessibility bridge as opposed to windows and mac. And I do not
>>>>>>> know if I am wrong, or when this is going to be implemented.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> W dniu 2015-06-29 o 20:30, Kevin Rushforth pisze:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> JavaFX accessibility is already implemented and was delivered
>>>>>>>>>> in JDK 8u40.
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> -- Kevin
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> Michał Zegan wrote: What about accessibility work? Work on it
>>>>>>>>>> has been started, but not sure if it is still targetted for
>>>>>>>>>> 9.
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> W dniu 2015-06-27 o 20:16, Mike pisze:
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> a lot of FULL blown Webrtc support and building
>>>>>>>>>>>>> something in Javafx (like Scene Builder) that Proves
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Webrtc support would be awesome. Ditto to Webgl
>>>>>>>>>>>>> support.
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> On Sat, Jun 27, 2015 at 8:07 AM, Kevin Rushforth
>>>>>>>>>>>>> <kevin.rushforth at oracle.com
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hi Felix,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sorry for the delay. Most of us were still pretty
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> focused on 8u60, but we are turning our attention to
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> JDK 9 now.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The focus for JDK 9 is Jigsaw. The currently planned
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> big features (JEPs) for FX in JDK 9 are these:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> JEP 253: Prepare JavaFX UI Controls & CSS APIs for
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Modularization JEP 257: Update JavaFX/Media to Newer
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Version of GStreamer
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Related to Jigasw, we intend to look into new API for
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> heavily used internal methods / classes since they
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> will no longer be accessible otherwise. We also plan
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> to update WebKit at least one more time, and will
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> likely do a few RFEs such as better Hi-DPI support
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (with API control) on Mac, Windows, Linux.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> We don't currently plan any other big features for 9,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> but will consider additional RFEs if they are
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> important to enough developers and if they fit into
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the time frame.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> -- Kevin
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Felix Bembrick wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Anyone got anything or is there a link somewhere
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> that talks about these?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> On 15 June 2015 at 22:00, Felix Bembrick
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <felix.bembrick at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I realise we are a long way off JDK 9 still and
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> with crucial features such as Jigsaw still a
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> little up in the air but is it possible someone
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> could itemise the most likely new features,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> enhancements and bug fixes that we will see in
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> JavaFX when JDK 9 is released?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Of course it's purely speculation at this point
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> but it would assist me greatly to have some of
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> idea of where JavaFX is heading and which areas
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> are seen as most important.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Felix
>> 