Well we have spent some time now playing with and investigating JavaFX.
I wont go over some of the big positives I recently discussed but instead will focus on one particular topic – GUI components (or simply referred to as ‘components’ for the rest of this post).

Well here is the problem with JavaFX version 1 release and components – that is the lack thereof.

What is there then?
Well, there are some (certainly not all) wrapped Swing controls – these are the  components in the javafx.ext.swing package, then there is the JavaFX native javafx.scene.controls.TextBox and finally a couple of layout classes in javafx.scene.layout.
But this is nowhere near what I would call complete and a long way off what Sun are intending regarding a component set for JavaFX.

The problem seems to be we are stuck somewhere between using Swing components (which are wrapped in JavaFX classes to achieve such niceties as data binding) and using native JavaFX components which are intended to be nicely skin-able.

There are a couple of issues with the Swing based controls: 1) they are not style-able/skin-able and 2) they will apparently not be available on the mobile platform.

The issues with the native JavaFX controls is simple… they only have one so far!
These native controls will be great and provide the all important skin/style-ability.

So where does this leave us?
I for one am eagerly awaiting Sun to provide a full set of JavaFX native components. When this happens, I  don’t really see the benefit of making use of Swing based components. In fact it feels like Sun have only created a few Swing wrappers simply to provide some components for this first release. Will there be any benefit of have two distinct lines of components (Swing and native JavaFX)? I dont really think so.

It is vital Sun address this matter more than any other if they wish to see widespread adoption of the technology.

Its a shame the first release didn’t have a full set of components as this is often one of the more important aspects of general uptake.
One of the first things developers will ask themselves is “How good are the GUI controls and layout classes?” and “Are these controls easily skin-able?”. At the moment the answer would be “Not good enough yet.”

“Yet” being the important word to take though. I am sure Sun will sort this out. In fact in a way I am pleased they didn’t rush a set of components out.
Anyone who has worked with Flex (mx components) at any serious depth for any serious length of time will know one thing – they are buggy as hell! The mx components (if you go back to Flash) have been re-written no less than 3 times from the ground up!
The latest iteration being in Flex Gumbo, not yet released. So not speaking for Gumbo as I have yet to review it in depth, but all previous mx components have been rushed and poorly written (hence the re-writes rather than fixes).

The ball is firmly in Sun’s court. The next release will be a vital watch point.