Planning for JavaFX.next

[Rony G. Flatscher]

As no one else has asked for it, here it goes: improve javax.script support beyond the e-mail in
this list from 2016-12-07, entitled "RFE/Suggestions to improve JavaFX deployment of javax.script
(part of Java) engines and script code" by:

  * introudcing the possibility to define javax.script controllers,
  * employing javax.script.Invocable.getInterface(...) to become able to use javax.script code
    (objects) to implement the methods/functionality of any Java interface class, especially those
    that in the context of JavaFX are of paramount interest: any action, change handlers and the
    like (i.e. having script code employed for implementing javafx.event.EventHandler,
    javafx.beans.value.ChangeListener, javafx.util.Callback, ...)
  * enhance SceneBuilder such that it can be used for defining these new javax.script features
    (defining javax.script controllers, code, determining which script object is to be uesed for
    Listeners etc.) , maybe allow configurable plugins for javax.script related editors to ease coding
  * enhance javafxpackager to allow standalone jars to be created that use a javax.script as the
    main class/program to be run, such that no Java sourcecode would be needed to create full-blown
    JavaFX applications in javax.script languages
  * and ceterum censeo: allow any mix of javax.script code in FXML and HTML documents (FXMLLoader,
    WebEngine, and the like), where specific languages get identified by a "type" attribute and
    supply FILENAME and ARGV in the local ScriptContext, cf. other e-mail.

Again, please do not underestimate the importance of scripting languages for other programmers than
yourself (you all would probably solve any problem in this area with Java right away, which is fine;
but do not forget that not everyone is a Java-savvy programmer, but excellent in one of the many
available javax.script languages). Adding these javax.script related features is feasible and
actually not that difficult or effortful, yet you would really open up a huge stage ;) for script
programmers ...

---rony


On 08.12.2016 00:45, Jonathan Giles wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> Development on JDK 9 is slowly starting to ramp down, and we are starting to turn our attention to
> the goals for JavaFX in JDK 10 and beyond. We are starting to compile our list of what we think is
> important, but we really want to hear from the community about what their highest priorities are
> to them. As always, it's important to keep in mind what JavaFX is (e.g. it isn't aiming to be a
> high-performance game engine), but even still there are bound to be a number of places where
> people might want to weigh in, for example:
>
>  * New layout containers (e.g. Flexbox)
>  * Public APIs for UI control behaviors
>  * Marlin renderer enabled by default
>  * Support for CSS animations
>  * CSS performance improvements
>  * TableView improvements (cell spanning, row / column freezing, etc)
>  * TableView performance
>  * Focus traversal API
>  * WebGL support in WebView
>  * Improved image I/O support
>  * A JavaFX equivalent of the AWT Desktop APIs
>  * Multi-res image API
>  * NIO-backed writable images
>
> If there are other areas of interest that aren't listed here, please start discussing them and we
> can work together to determine priorities. If all you want to do is add a +1 for one of more of
> the items above, even that will be very useful.
>
> Thanks,
> -- Jonathan