125 <p>This document introduces the FXML markup language and explains how it can be used to simplify development of JavaFX applications.</p>
126
127 <h2><a id="elements">Elements</a></h2>
128 <p>In FXML, an XML element represents one of the following:</p>
129 <ul>
130 <li>A class instance</li>
131 <li>A property of a class instance</li>
132 <li>A "static" property</li>
133 <li>A "define" block</li>
134 <li>A block of script code</li>
135 </ul>
136
137 <p>Class instances, instance properties, static properties, and define blocks are discussed in this section below. Scripting is discussed in a later section.</p>
138
139 <h3><a id="class_instance_elements">Class Instance Elements</a></h3>
140 <p>Class instances can be constructed in FXML in several ways. The most common is via instance declaration elements, which simply create a new instance of a class by name. Other ways of creating class instances include referencing existing values, copying existing values, and including external FXML files. Each is discussed in more detail below.</p>
141
142 <h4><a id="instance_declaration_elements">Instance Declarations</a></h4>
143 <p>If an element's tag is considered an instance declaration if the tag begins with uppercase letter (and the class is imported) or, as in Java, it denotes a fully-qualified (including the package name) name of a class. When the FXML loader (also introduced later) encounters such an element, it creates an instance of that class.</p>
144
145 <p>Importing a class is done using the "import" processing instruction (PI). For example, the following PI imports the <span class="code">javafx.scene.control.Label</span> class into the current FXML document’s namespace:</p>
146
147 <pre class="code">
148 <?import javafx.scene.control.Label?>
149 </pre>
150
151 <p>This PI imports all classes from the javafx.scene.control package into the current namespace:</p>
152
153 <pre class="code">
154 <?import javafx.scene.control.*?>
155 </pre>
156
157
158 <p>Any class that adheres to JavaBean constructor and property naming conventions can be readily instantiated and configured using FXML. The following is a simple but complete example that creates an instance of <span class="code">javafx.scene.control.Label</span> and sets its "text" property to "Hello, World!":</p>
159
160 <pre class="code">
161 <?import javafx.scene.control.Label?>
162 <Label text="Hello, World!"/>
163 </pre>
164
165 <p>Note that the <span class="code">Label</span>’s "text" property in this example is set using an XML attribute. Properties can also be set using nested property elements. Property elements are discussed in more detail later in this section. Property attributes are discussed in a later section.</p>
166
167 <p>Classes that don't conform to Bean conventions can also be constructed in FXML, using an object called a "builder". Builders are discussed in more detail later.</p>
168
169 <h5>Maps</h5>
170 <p>Internally, the FXML loader uses an instance of <span class="code">com.sun.javafx.fxml.BeanAdapter</span> to wrap an instantiated object and invoke its setter methods. This (currently) private class implements the <span class="code">java.util.Map</span> interface and allows a caller to get and set Bean property values as key/value pairs.</p>
171
172 <p>If an element represents a type that already implements <span class="code">Map</span> (such as <span class="code">java.util.HashMap</span>), it is not wrapped and its <span class="code">get()</span> and <span class="code">put()</span> methods are invoked directly. For example, the following FXML creates an instance of <span class="code">HashMap</span> and sets its "foo" and "bar" values to "123" and "456", respectively:
173
174 <pre class="code">
175 <HashMap foo="123" bar="456"/>
176 </pre>
177
178 <h5>fx:value</h5>
179 <p>The <span class="code">fx:value</span> attribute can be used to initialize an instance of a type that does not have a default constructor but provides a static <span class="code">valueOf(String)</span> method. For example, <span class="code">java.lang.String</span> as well as each of the primitive wrapper types define a <span class="code">valueOf()</span> method and can be constructed in FXML as follows:</p>
180
181 <pre class="code">
182 <String fx:value="Hello, World!"/>
183 <Double fx:value="1.0"/>
184 <Boolean fx:value="false"/>
185 </pre>
186
187 <p>Custom classes that define a static <span class="code">valueOf(String)</span> method can also be constructed this way.</p>
188
189 <h5>fx:factory</h5>
190 <p>The <span class="code">fx:factory</span> attribute is another means of creating objects whose classes do not have a default constructor. The value of the attribute is the name of a static, no-arg factory method for producing class instances. For example, the following markup creates an instance of an observable array list, populated with three string values:</p>
191
192 <pre class="code">
193 <FXCollections fx:factory="observableArrayList">
194 <String fx:value="A"/>
195 <String fx:value="B"/>
196 <String fx:value="C"/>
197 </FXCollections>
198 </pre>
199
200 <h5>Builders</h5>
201 <p>A third means of creating instances of classes that do not conform to Bean conventions (such as those representing immutable values) is a "builder". The builder design pattern delegates object construction to a mutable helper class (called a "builder") that is responsible for manufacturing instances of the immutable type.</p>
202
203 <p>Builder support in FXML is provided by two interfaces. The <span class="code">javafx.util.Builder</span> interface defines a single method named <span class="code">build()</span> which is responsible for constructing the actual object:</p>
204
205 <pre class="code">
206 public interface Builder<T> {
207 public T build();
208 }
209 </pre>
210
211 <p>A <span class="code">javafx.util.BuilderFactory</span> is responsible for producing builders that are capable of instantiating a given type:</p>
212
213 <pre class="code">
214 public interface BuilderFactory {
215 public Builder<?> getBuilder(Class<?> type);
216 }
217 </pre>
218
219 <p>A default builder factory, <span class="code">JavaFXBuilderFactory</span>, is provided in the <span class="code">javafx.fxml</span> package. This factory is capable of creating and configuring most immutable JavaFX types. For example, the following markup uses the default builder to create an instance of the immutable <span class="code">javafx.scene.paint.Color</span> class:
220
221 <pre class="code">
222 <Color red="1.0" green="0.0" blue="0.0"/>
223 </pre>
224
225 <p>Note that, unlike Bean types, which are constructed when the element's start tag is processed, objects constructed by a builder are not instantiated until the element's closing tag is reached. This is because all of the required arguments may not be available until the element has been fully processed. For example, the Color object in the preceding example could also be written as:</p>
226
227 <pre class="code">
228 <Color>
229 <red>1.0</red>
230 <green>0.0</green>
231 <blue>0.0</blue>
232 </Color>
233 </pre>
234
235 <p>The <span class="code">Color</span> instance cannot be fully constructed until all three of the color components are known.</p>
236
237 <p>When processing markup for an object that will be constructed by a builder, the <span class="code">Builder</span> instances are treated like value objects - if a <span class="code">Builder</span> implements the <span class="code">Map</span> interface, the <span class="code">put()</span> method is used to set the builder's attribute values. Otherwise, the builder is wrapped in a <span class="code">BeanAdapter</span> and its properties are assumed to be exposed via standard Bean setters.</p>
238
239 <h4><a id="include_elements"><fx:include></a></h4>
240 <p>The <span class="code"><fx:include></span> tag creates an object from FXML markup defined in another file. It is used as follows:</p>
241
242 <pre class="code">
243 <fx:include source="<span class="variable">filename</span>"/>
244 </pre>
245
246 <p>where <span class="variable">filename</span> is the name of the FXML file to include. Values that begin with a leading slash character are treated as relative to the classpath. Values with no leading slash are considered relative to the path of the current document.</p>
247
248 <p>For example, given the following markup:</p>
249
250 <pre class="code">
251 <?import javafx.scene.control.*?>
252 <?import javafx.scene.layout.*?>
253 <VBox xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
254 <children>
255 <fx:include source="my_button.fxml"/>
256 </children>
257 </VBox>
258 </pre>
259
260 <p>If <span class="filename">my_button.fxml</span> contains the following:
261
262 <pre class="code">
263 <?import javafx.scene.control.*?>
264 <Button text="My Button"/>
265 </pre>
266
267 <p>the resulting scene graph would contain a <span class="code">VBox</span> as a root object with a single <span class="code">Button</span> as a child node.</p>
268
269 <p>Note the use of the "fx" namespace prefix. This is a reserved prefix that defines a number of elements and attributes that are used for internal processing of an FXML source file. It is generally declared on the root element of a FXML document. Other features provided by the "fx" namespace are described in the following sections.</p>
270
271 <p><span class="code"><fx:include></span> also supports attributes for specifying the name of the resource bundle that should be used to localize the included content, as well as the character set used to encode the source file. Resource resolution is discussed in a later section.</p>
272
273 <pre class="code">
274 <fx:include source="<span class="variable">filename</span>" resources="<span class="variable">resource_file</span>" charset="utf-8"/>
275 </pre>
276
277 <h4><a id="constant_elements"><fx:constant></a></h4>
278 <p>The <span class="code"><fx:constant></span> element creates a reference to a class constant. For example, the following markup sets the value of the "minWidth" property of a<span class="code">Button</span> instance to the value of the <span class="code">NEGATIVE_INFINITY</span> constant defined by the <span class="code">java.lang.Double</span> class:</p>
279
280 <pre class="code">
281 <Button>
282 <minHeight><Double fx:constant="NEGATIVE_INFINITY"/></minHeight>
283 </Button>
284 </pre>
285
286 <h4><a id="reference_elements"><fx:reference></a></h4>
287 <p>The <span class="code"><fx:reference></span> element creates a new reference to an existing element. Wherever this tag appears, it will effectively be replaced by the value of the named element. It is used in conjunction with either the <span class="code">fx:id</span> attribute or with a script variables, both of which are discussed in more detail in later sections. The "source" attribute of the <span class="code"><fx:reference></span> element specifies the name of the object to which the new element will refer.</p>
288
289 <p>For example, the following markup assigns a previously-defined <span class="code">Image</span> instance named "myImage" to the "image" property of an <span class="code">ImageView</span> control:</p>
290
291 <pre class="code">
292 <ImageView>
293 <image>
294 <fx:reference source="myImage"/>
295 </image>
296 </ImageView>
297 </pre>
298
299 <p>Note that, since it is also possible to dereference a variable using the attribute variable resolution operator (discussed later in the <a href="#attributes">Attributes</a> section), <span class="code">fx:reference</span> is generally only used when a reference value must be specified as an element, such as when adding the reference to a collection:</p>
300
301 <pre class="code">
302 <ArrayList>
303 <fx:reference source="element1"/>
304 <fx:reference source="element2"/>
305 <fx:reference source="element3"/>
306 </ArrayList>
307 </pre>
308
309 <p>For most other cases, using an attribute is simpler and more concise.</p>
310
311 <h4><a id="copy_elements"><fx:copy></a></h4>
312 <p>The <span class="code"><fx:copy></span> element creates a copy of an existing element. Like <span class="code"><fx:reference></span>, it is used with the fx:id attribute or a script variable. The element's "source" attribute specifies the name of the object that will be copied. The source type must define a copy constructor that will be used to construct the copy from the source value.</p>
313
314 <p>At the moment, no JavaFX platform classes provide such a copy constructor, so this element is provided primarily for use by application developers. This may change in a future release.</p>
315
316 <h4><a id="root_elements"><fx:root></a></h4>
317 <p>The <span class="code"><fx:root></span> element creates a reference to a previously defined root element. It is only valid as the root node of an FXML document. <span class="code"><fx:root></span> is used primarily when creating custom controls that are backed by FXML markup. This is discussed in more detail in the <a href="#fxmlloader">FXMLLoader</a> section.</p>
318
319 <h3><a id="property_elements">Property Elements</a></h3>
320 <p>Elements whose tag names begin with a lowercase letter represent object properties. A property element may represent one of the following:</p>
321
322 <ul>
323 <li>A property setter</li>
324 <li>A read-only list property</li>
325 <li>A read-only map property</li>
326 </ul>
327
328 <h4><a id="property_setter_elements">Property Setters</a></h4>
329 <p>If an element represents a property setter, the contents of the element (which must be either a text node or a nested class instance element) are passed as the value to the setter for the property.</p>
330
331 <p>For example, the following FXML creates an instance of the <span class="code">Label</span> class and sets the value of the label's "text" property to "Hello, World!":</p>
332
333 <pre class="code">
334 <?import javafx.scene.control.Label?>
335 <Label>
336 <text>Hello, World!</text>
337 </Label>
338 </pre>
339
340 <p>This produces the same result as the earlier example which used an attribute to set the "text" property:</p>
341
342 <pre class="code">
343 <?import javafx.scene.control.Label?>
344 <Label text="Hello, World!"/>
345 </pre>
346
347 <p>Property elements are generally used when the property value is a complex type that can't be represented using a simple string-based attribute value, or when the character length of the value is so long that specifying it as an attribute would have a negative impact on readability.</p>
348
349 <h5>Type Coercion</h5>
350 <p>FXML uses "type coercion" to convert property values to the appropriate type as needed. Type coercion is required because the only data types supported by XML are elements, text, and attributes (whose values are also text). However, Java supports a number of different data types including built-in primitive value types as well as extensible reference types.</p>
351
352 <p>The FXML loader uses the <span class="code">coerce()</span> method of <span class="code">BeanAdapter</span> to perform any required type conversions. This method is capable of performing basic primitive type conversions such as <span class="code">String</span> to <span class="code">boolean</span> or <span class="code">int</span> to <span class="code">double</span>, and will also convert <span class="code">String</span> to <span class="code">Class</span> or <span class="code">String</span> to <span class="code">Enum</span>. Additional conversions can be implemented by defining a static <span class="code">valueOf()</span> method on the target type.</p>
353
354 <h4><a id="read_only_list_property_elements">Read-Only List Properties</a></h4>
355 <p>A read-only list property is a Bean property whose getter returns an instance of <span class="code">java.util.List</span> and has no corresponding setter method. The contents of a read-only list element are automatically added to the list as they are processed.</p>
356
357 <p>For example, the "children" property of <span class="code">javafx.scene.Group</span> is a read-only list property representing the group's child nodes:</p>
358
359 <pre class="code">
360 <?import javafx.scene.*?>
361 <?import javafx.scene.shape.*?>
362 <Group xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
363 <children>
364 <Rectangle fx:id="rectangle" x="10" y="10" width="320" height="240"
365 fill="#ff0000"/>
366 ...
367 </children>
368 </Group>
369 </pre>
370
371 <p>As each sub-element of the <span class="code"><children></span> element is read, it is added to the list returned by <span class="code">Group#getChildren()</span>.
372
373 <h4><a id="read_only_map_property_elements">Read-Only Map Properties</a></h4>
374 <p>A read-only map property is a bean property whose getter returns an instance of <span class="code">java.util.Map</span> and has no corresponding setter method. The attributes of a read-only map element are applied to the map when the closing tag is processed.</p>
375
376 <p>The "properties" property of <span class="code">javafx.scene.Node</span> is an example of a read-only map property. The following markup sets the "foo" and "bar" properties of a <span class="code">Label</span> instance to "123" and "456", respectively:</p>
377
378 <pre class="code">
379 <?import javafx.scene.control.*?>
380 <Button>
381 <properties foo="123" bar="456"/>
382 </Button>
383 </pre>
384
385 <p>Note that a read-only property whose type is neither a <span class="code">List</span> nor a <span class="code">Map</span> will be treated as if it were a read-only map. The return value of the getter method will be wrapped in a <span class="code">BeanAdapter</span> and can be used in the same way as any other read-only map.</p>
386
387 <h4><a id="default_properties">Default Properties</a></h4>
388 <p>A class may define a "default property" using the <span class="code">@DefaultProperty</span> annotation defined in the <span class="code">javafx.beans</span> package. If present, the sub-element representing the default property can be omitted from the markup.</p>
389
390 <p>For example, since <span class="code">javafx.scene.layout.Pane</span> (the superclass of <span class="code">javafx.scene.layout.VBox</span>) defines a default property of "children", a <span class="code"><children></span> element is not required; the loader will automatically add the sub-elements of the <span class="code">VBox</span> to the container's "children" collection:</p>
391
392 <pre class="code">
393 <?import javafx.scene.*?>
394 <?import javafx.scene.shape.*?>
395 <VBox xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
396 <Button text="Click Me!"/>
397 ...
398 </VBox>
399 </pre>
400
401 <p>Note that default properties are not limited to collections. If an element's default property refers to a scalar value, any sub-element of that element will be set as the value of the property.</p>
402
403 <p>For example, since <span class="code">javafx.scene.control.ScrollPane</span> defines a default property of "content", a scroll pane containing a <span class="code">TextArea</span> as its content can be specified as follows:
404
405 <pre class="code">
406 <ScrollPane>
407 <TextArea text="Once upon a time..."/>
408 </ScrollPane>
409 </pre>
410
411 <p>Taking advantage of default properties can significantly reduce the verbosity of FXML markup.</p>
412
413 <h3><a id="static_property_elements">Static Properties</a></h3>
414 <p>An element may also represent a "static" property (sometimes called an "attached property"). Static properties are properties that only make sense in a particular context. They are not intrinsic to the class to which they are applied, but are defined by another class (often, the parent container of a control).</p>
415
416 <p>Static properties are prefixed with the name of class that defines them. For example, The following FXML invokes the static setter for <span class="code">GridPane</span>'s "rowIndex" and "columnIndex" properties:</p>
417
418 <pre class="code">
419 <GridPane>
420 <children>
421 <Label text="My Label">
422 <GridPane.rowIndex>0</GridPane.rowIndex>
423 <GridPane.columnIndex>0</GridPane.columnIndex>
424 </Label>
425 </children>
426 </TabPane>
427 </pre>
428
429 <p>This translates roughly to the following in Java:</p>
430
431 <pre class="code">
432 GridPane gridPane = new GridPane();
433
434 Label label = new Label();
435 label.setText("My Label");
436
437 GridPane.setRowIndex(label, 0);
438 GridPane.setColumnIndex(label, 0);
439
440 gridPane.getChildren().add(label);
441 </pre>
442
443 <p>
444 The calls to <span class="code">GridPane#setRowIndex()</span> and <span class="code">GridPane#setColumnIndex()</span> "attach" the index data to the <span class="code">Label</span> instance. <span class="code">GridPane</span> then uses these during layout to arrange its children appropriately. Other containers, including <span class="code">AnchorPane</span>, <span class="code">BorderPane</span>, and <span class="code">StackPane</span>, define similar properties.</p>
445
446 <p>As with instance properties, static property elements are generally used when the property value cannot be efficiently represented by an attribute value. Otherwise, static property attributes (discussed in a later section) will generally produce more concise and readable markup.</p>
447
448 <h3><a id="define_elements">Define Blocks</a></h3>
449 <p>The <span class="code"><fx:define></span> element is used to create objects that exist outside of the object hierarchy but may need to be referred to elsewhere.</p>
450
451 <p>For example, when working with radio buttons, it is common to define a <span class="code">ToggleGroup</span> that will manage the buttons' selection state. This group is not part of the scene graph itself, so should not be added to the buttons' parent. A define block can be used to create the button group without interfering with the overall structure of the document:</p>
452
453 <pre class="code">
454 <VBox>
455 <fx:define>
456 <ToggleGroup fx:id="myToggleGroup"/>
457 </fx:define>
458 <children>
459 <RadioButton text="A" toggleGroup="$myToggleGroup"/>
460 <RadioButton text="B" toggleGroup="$myToggleGroup"/>
461 <RadioButton text="C" toggleGroup="$myToggleGroup"/>
462 </children>
463 </VBox>
464 </pre>
465
466 <p>Elements in define blocks are usually assigned an ID that can be used to refer to the element's value later. IDs are discussed in more detail in later sections.</p>
467
468 <h2><a id="attributes">Attributes</a></h2>
469 <p>An attribute in FXML may represent one of the following:</p>
470 <ul>
471 <li>A property of a class instance</li>
472 <li>A "static" property</li>
473 <li>An event handler</li>
474 </ul>
475
476 <p>Each are discussed in more detail in the following sections.</p>
477
478 <h3><a id="instance_property_attributes">Instance Properties</a></h3>
479 <p>Like property elements, attributes can also be used to configure the properties of a class instance. For example, the following markup creates a <span class="code">Button</span> whose text reads "Click Me!":</p>
480
481 <pre class="code">
482 <?import javafx.scene.control.*?>
483 <Button text="Click Me!"/>
484 </pre>
485
486 <p>As with property elements, property attributes support type coercion. When the following markup is processed, the "x", "y", "width", and "height" values will be converted to doubles, and the "fill" value will be converted to a <span class="code">Color</span>:</p>
487
488 <pre class="code">
489 <Rectangle fx:id="rectangle" x="10" y="10" width="320" height="240"
490 fill="#ff0000"/>
491 </pre>
492
493 <p>Unlike property elements, which are applied as they are processed, property attributes are not applied until the closing tag of their respective element is reached. This is done primarily to facilitate the case where an attribute value depends on some information that won't be available until after the element's content has been completely processed (for example, the selected index of a <span class="code">TabPane</span> control, which can't be set until all of the tabs have been added).</p>
494
495 <p>Another key difference between property attributes and property elements in FXML is that attributes support a number of "resolution operators" that extend their functionality. The following operators are supported and are discussed in more detail below:</p>
496
497 <ul>
498 <li>Location resolution</li>
499 <li>Resource resolution</li>
500 <li>Variable resolution</li>
501 </ul>
502
503 <h4><a id="location_resolution">Location Resolution</a></h4>
504 <p>As strings, XML attributes cannot natively represent typed location information such as a URL. However, it is often necessary to specify such locations in markup; for example, the source of an image resource. The location resolution operator (represented by an "@" prefix to the attribute value) is used to specify that an attribute value should be treated as a location relative to the current file rather than a simple string.</p>
505
506 <p>For example, the following markup creates an ImageView and populates it with image data from <span class="filename">my_image.png</span>, which is assumed to be located at a path relative to the current FXML file:</p>
507
508 <pre class="code">
509 <ImageView>
510 <image>
511 <Image url="@my_image.png"/>
512 </image>
513 </ImageView>
514 </pre>
515
516 <p>Since <span class="code">Image</span> is an immutable object, a builder is required to construct it. Alternatively, if <span class="code">Image</span> were to define a <span class="code">valueOf(URL)</span> factory method, the image view could be populated as follows:</p>
517
518 <pre class="code">
519 <ImageView image="@my_image.png"/>
520 </pre>
521
522 <p>The value of the "image" attribute would be converted to a URL by the FXML loader, then coerced to an <span class="code">Image</span> using the <span class="code">valueOf()</span> method.</p>
523
524 <p>Note that whitespace values in the URL must be encoded; for example, to refer to a file named "My Image.png", the FXML document should contain the following:</p>
525
526 <pre class="code">
527 <Image url="@My%20Image.png"/>
528 </pre>
529
530 <p>rather than:</p>
531
532 <pre class="code">
533 <Image url="@My Image.png"/>
534 </pre>
535
536 <h4><a id="resource_resolution">Resource Resolution</a></h4>
537
538 <p>In FXML, resource substitution can be performed at load time for localization purposes. When provided with an instance of <span class="code">java.util.ResourceBundle</span>, the FXML loader will replace instances of resource names with their locale-specific values. Resource names are identified by a "%" prefix, as shown below:</p>
539
540 <pre class="code">
541 <Label text="%myText"/>
542 </pre>
543
544 <p>If the loader is given a resource bundle defined as follows:</p>
545
546 <pre class="code">
547 myText = This is the text!
548 </pre>
549
550
551 <p>the output of the FXML loader would be a <span class="code">Label</span> instance containing the text "This is the text!".</p>
552
553 <h4><a id="variable_resolution">Variable Resolution</a></h4>
554 <p>An FXML document defines a variable namespace in which named elements and script variables may be uniquely identified. The variable resolution operator allows a caller to replace an attribute value with an instance of a named object before the corresponding setter method is invoked. Variable references are identified by a "$" prefix, as shown below:</p>
555
556 <pre class="code">
557 <fx:define>
558 <ToggleGroup fx:id="myToggleGroup"/>
559 </fx:define>
560 ...
561 <RadioButton text="A" toggleGroup="$myToggleGroup"/>
562 <RadioButton text="B" toggleGroup="$myToggleGroup"/>
563 <RadioButton text="C" toggleGroup="$myToggleGroup"/>
564 </pre>
565
566 <p>Assigning an <span class="code">fx:id</span> value to an element creates a variable in the document's namespace that can later be referred to by variable dereference attributes, such as the "toggleGroup" attribute shown above, or in script code, discussed in a later section. Additionally, if the object's type defines an "id" property, this value will also be passed to the objects <span class="code">setId()</span> method.</p>
567
568 <h4><a id="escape_sequences">Escape Sequences</a></h4>
569
570 <p>If the value of an attribute begins with one of the resource resolution prefixes, the character can be escaped by prepending it with a leading backslash ("\") character. For example, the following markup creates a <span class="code">Label</span> instance whose text reads "$10.00":</p>
571
572 <pre class="code">
573 <Label text="\$10.00"/>
574 </pre>
575
576 <h4><a id="expression_binding">Expression Binding</a></h4>
577 <p>Attribute variables as shown above are resolved once at load time. Later updates to the variables value are not automatically reflected in any properties to which the value was assigned. In many cases, this is sufficient; however, it is often convenient to "bind" a property value to a variable or expression such that changes to the variable are automatically propagated to the target property. Expression bindings can be used for this purpose.</p>
578
579 <p>An expression binding also begins with the variable resolution operator, but is followed by a set of curly braces which wrap the expression value. For example, the following markup binds the value of a text input's "text" property to the "text" property of a <span class="code">Label</span> instance:</p>
580
581 <pre class="code">
582 <TextField fx:id="textField"/>
583 <Label text="${textField.text}"/>
584 </pre>
585
586 <p>As the user types in the text input, the label's text content will be automatically updated.</p>
587
588 <p>More complex expression are also supported. A list of supported constants and operators follows:</p>
589
590 <table>
591 <caption>Constants and Operators Table</caption>
592 <tr><th scope="col">Constant / Operator</th><th scope="col">Description</th></tr>
593 <tr><th scope="row">"string"<br />'string'</th><td>A string constant</td></tr>
594 <tr><th scope="row">true<br />false</th><td>A boolean constant</td></tr>
595 <tr><th scope="row">null</th><td>A constant representing the null value</td></tr>
596 <tr><th scope="row">50.0<br />3e5<br />42</th><td>A numerical constant</td></tr>
597 <tr><th scope="row">- <br/>(unary operator)</th><td>Unary minus operator, applied on a number</td>
598 <tr><th scope="row">! <br/>(unary operator)</th><td>Unary negation of a boolean</td></tr>
599 <tr><th scope="row">+ - <br />
600 * /
601 %</th> <td>Numerical binary operators</td></tr>
602 <tr><th scope="row">&& ||</th><td>Boolean binary operators</td></tr>
603 <tr><th scope="row">> >= <br />
604 < <= <br />
605 == !=</th>
606 <td>Binary operators of comparison.<br/> Both arguments must be of type Comparable</td></tr>
607 </table>
608
609 <h3><a id="static_property_attributes">Static Properties</a></h3>
610 <p>Attributes representing static properties are handled similarly to static property elements and use a similar syntax. For example, the earlier <span class="code">GridPane</span> markup shown earlier to demonstrate static property elements could be rewritten as follows:</p>
611
612 <pre class="code">
613 <GridPane>
614 <children>
615 <Label text="My Label" GridPane.rowIndex="0" GridPane.columnIndex="0"/>
616 </children>
617 </TabPane>
618 </pre>
619
620 <p>In addition to being more concise, static property attributes, like instance property attributes, support location, resource, and variable resolution operators, the only limitation being that it is not possible to create an expression binding to a static property.</p>
621
622 <h3><a id="event_handler_attributes">Event Handlers</a></h3>
623 <p>Event handler attributes are a convenient means of attaching behaviors to document elements. Any class that defines a <span class="code">setOn<span class="variable">Event</span>()</span> method can be assigned an event handler in markup.</p>
624
625 <p>FXML supports three types of event handler attributes: script event handlers, controller method event handlers and expressions. Each are discussed below.</p>
626
627 <h4><a id="script_event_handlers">Script Event Handlers</a></h4>
628 <p>A script event handler is an event handler that executes script code when the event is fired, similar to event handlers in HTML. For example, the following script-based handler for the button's "onAction" event uses JavaScript to write the text "You clicked me!" to the console when the user presses the button:</p>
629
630 <pre class="code">
631 <?language javascript?>
632 ...
633
634 <VBox>
635 <children>
636 <Button text="Click Me!"
637 onAction="java.lang.System.out.println('You clicked me!');"/>
638 </children>
639 </VBox>
640 </pre>
641
642 <p>Note the use of the language processing instruction at the beginning of the code snippet. This PI tells the FXML loader which scripting language should be used to execute the event handler. A page language must be specified whenever inline script is used in an FXML document, and can only be specified once per document. However, this does not apply to external scripts, which may be implemented using any number of supported scripting languages. Scripting is discussed in more detail in the next section.</p>
643
644 <h4><a id="controller_method_event_handlers">Controller Method Event Handlers</a></h4>
645 <p>A controller method event handler is a method defined by a document's "controller". A controller is an object that is associated with the deserialized contents of an FXML document and is responsible for coordinating the behaviors of the objects (often user interface elements) defined by the document.</p>
646
647 <p>A controller method event handler is specified by a leading hash symbol followed by the name of the handler method. For example:</p>
648
649 <pre class="code">
650 <VBox fx:controller="com.foo.MyController"
651 xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
652 <children>
653 <Button text="Click Me!" onAction="#handleButtonAction"/>
654 </children>
655 </VBox>
656 </pre>
657
658 <p>Note the use of the <span class="code">fx:controller</span> attribute on the root element. This attribute is used to associate a controller class with the document. If <span class="code">MyController</span> is defined as follows:</p>
659
660 <pre class="code">
661 package com.foo;
662
663 public class MyController {
664 public void handleButtonAction(ActionEvent event) {
665 System.out.println("You clicked me!");
666 }
667 }
668 </pre>
669
670 <p>the <span class="code">handleButtonAction()</span> will be called when the user presses the button, and the text "You clicked me!" will be written to the console.</p>
671
672 <p>In general, a handler method should conform to the signature of a standard event handler; that is, it should take a single argument of a type that extends <span class="code">javafx.event.Event</span> and should return void (similar to an event delegate in C#). The event argument often carries important and useful information about the nature of the event; however, it is optional and may be omitted if desired.
673 So this is also a valid handler:</p>
674
675 <pre class="code">
676 package com.foo;
677
678 public class MyController {
679 public void handleButtonAction() {
680 System.out.println("You clicked me!");
681 }
682 }
683 </pre>
684
685 <p>Controllers are discussed in more detail in a later section.</p>
686
687 <h4><a id="expression_handlers">Event handlers from expressions</a></h4>
688 <p>Any expression that point to a <a href="#variable_resolution">variable</a> of javafx.event.EventHandler type
689 can be used as an expression handler. </p>
690 <p>
691 Previous example using an expression handler:
692 </p>
698 </children>
699 </VBox>
700 </pre>
701
702 <p> With the controller that contains a field like this </p>
703
704 <pre class="code">
705 public class MyController {
706
707 @FXML
708 public EventHandler<ActionEvent> onActionHandler = new EventHandler<>() { ... }
709
710 ...
711 }
712 </pre>
713
714 <p> Note that other kinds of expressions, like <a href="#expression_binding">binding expressions</a>
715 are not supported in this context. </p>
716
717 <h4><a id="collections_and_property_handlers">Special handlers for collections and properties</a></h4>
718 <p> Collections and object properties cannot be listen to using <span class="code">setOn<span class="variable">Event</span>()</span> methods.
719 For these reason, special handler methods need to be used.
720 <span class="code">ObservableList</span>, <span class="code">ObservableMap</span> or <span class="code">ObservableSet</span>
721 uses a special <span class="code">onChange</span> attribute that points to a handler method with a <span class="code">ListChangeListner.Change</span>, <span class="code">MapChangeListener.Change</span> or <span class="code">SetChangeListener.Change</span> parameter respectively.
722 </p>
723 <pre class="code">
724 <VBox fx:controller="com.foo.MyController"
725 xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
726 <children onChange="#handleChildrenChange"/>
727 </VBox>
728 </pre>
729
730 where the handler method looks like this:
731
732 <pre class="code">
733 package com.foo;
734
735 import javafx.collections.ListChangeListener.Change;
736
737 public class MyController {
738 public void handleChildrenChange(ListChangeListener.Change c) {
739 System.out.println("Children changed!");
740 }
741 }
742 </pre>
743
744 <p>Similarly, the property handlers are methods that have the same parameters as changed method of ChangeListener :</p>
745 <p><span class="code">changed(ObservableValue<? extends T> observable, T oldValue, T newValue)</span></p>
746
747 <p>A handler for parent property would look like this</p>
748 <pre class="code">
749 public class MyController {
750 public void handleParentChange(ObservableValue value, Parent oldValue, Parent newValue) {
751 System.out.println("Parent changed!");
752 }
753 }
754 </pre>
755
756 <p>For convenience, the first parameter can be a subclass of <span class="code">ObservableValue</span>,
757 e.g. <span class="code">Property</span></p>
758
759 <p>For registering to a property, a special <span class="code">on<propertyName>Change</span>
760 attribute must be used.</p>
761
762 <pre class="code">
763 <VBox fx:controller="com.foo.MyController"
764 xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml" onParentChange="#handleParentChange"/>
765 </pre>
766
767 <p>Note that collections and properties do not currently support scripting handlers.</p>
768
769 <h2><a id="scripting">Scripting</a></h2>
770 <p>
771 The <span class="code"><fx:script></span> tag allows a caller to import scripting code into or embed script within a FXML file. Any JVM scripting language can be used, including JavaScript, Groovy, and Clojure, among others. Script code is often used to define event handlers directly in markup or in an associated source file, since event handlers can often be written more concisely in more loosely-typed scripting languages than they can in a statically-typed language such as Java.</p>
772
773 <p>For example, the following markup defines a function called <span class="code">handleButtonAction()</span> that is called by the action handler attached to the <span class="code">Button</span> element:</p>
774
775 <pre class="code">
776 <?language javascript?>
777
778 <?import javafx.scene.control.*?>
779 <?import javafx.scene.layout.*?>
780
781 <VBox xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
782 <fx:script>
783
784 function handleButtonAction(event) {
785 java.lang.System.out.println('You clicked me!');
786 }
787 </fx:script>
788
789 <children>
790 <Button text="Click Me!" onAction="handleButtonAction(event);"/>
791 </children>
792 </VBox>
793 </pre>
804 <VBox xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
805 <fx:script source="example.js" charset="cp1252"/>
806
807 <children>
808 <Button text="Click Me!" onAction="handleButtonAction(event);"/>
809 </children>
810 </VBox>
811 </pre>
812
813 <div class="caption">example.js</div>
814 <pre class="code">
815
816 function handleButtonAction(event) {
817 java.lang.System.out.println('You clicked me!');
818 }
819 </pre>
820
821 <p>It is often preferable to separate code from markup in this way, since many text editors support syntax highlighting for the various scripting languages supported by the JVM. It can also help improve readability of the source code and markup.</p>
822
823
824 <p>Note that script blocks are not limited to defining event handler functions. Script code is executed as it is processed, so it can also be used to dynamically configure the structure of the resulting output. As a simple example, the following FXML includes a script block that defines a variable named "labelText". The value of this variable is used to populate the text property of a <span class="code">Label</span> instance:</p>
825
826 <pre class="code">
827 <fx:script>
828 var myText = "This is the text of my label.";
829 </fx:script>
830
831 ...
832
833 <Label text="$myText"/>
834 </pre>
835
836
837 <p><strong>Warning:</strong>As of JavaFX 8, <span class="code">importClass()</span> javascript function is no longer supported. You have to use fully qualified names as in the example above or load a nashorn compatibility script.</p>
838
839 <pre class="code">
840 load("nashorn:mozilla_compat.js");
841 importClass(java.lang.System);
842
843 function handleButtonAction(event) {
844 System.out.println('You clicked me!');
845 }
846 </pre>
847
848 <h2><a id="controllers">Controllers</a></h2>
849 <p>While it can be convenient to write simple event handlers in script, either inline or defined in external files, it is often preferable to define more complex application logic in a compiled, strongly-typed language such as Java. As discussed earlier, the <span class="code">fx:controller</span> attribute allows a caller to associate a "controller" class with an FXML document. A controller is a compiled class that implements the "code behind" the object hierarchy defined by the document.</p>
850
851 <p>As shown earlier, controllers are often used to implement event handlers for user interface elements defined in markup:</p>
852
853 <pre class="code">
854 <VBox fx:controller="com.foo.MyController"
855 xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
856 <children>
857 <Button text="Click Me!" onAction="#handleButtonAction"/>
858 </children>
859 </VBox>
860 </pre>
861
862 <pre class="code">
863 package com.foo;
864
865 public class MyController {
866 public void handleButtonAction(ActionEvent event) {
867 System.out.println("You clicked me!");
868 }
869 }
870 </pre>
871
872 <p>In many cases, it is sufficient to simply declare event handlers in this manner. However, when more control over the behavior of the controller and the elements it manages is required, the controller can define an <span class="code">initialize()</span> method, which will be called once on an implementing controller when the contents of its associated document have been completely loaded:</p>
873
874 <pre class="code">
875 public void initialize();
876 </pre>
877
878 <p>This allows the implementing class to perform any necessary post-processing on the content. It also provides the controller with access to the resources that were used to load the document and the location that was used to resolve relative paths within the document (commonly equivalent to the location of the document itself).</p>
879
880 <p>For example, the following code defines an <span class="code">initialize()</span> method that attaches an action handler to a button in code rather than via an event handler attribute, as was done in the previous example. The button instance variable is injected by the loader as the document is read. The resulting application behavior is identical:</p>
881
882 <pre class="code">
883 <VBox fx:controller="com.foo.MyController"
884 xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
885 <children>
886 <Button fx:id="button" text="Click Me!"/>
887 </children>
888 </VBox>
889 </pre>
890
891 <pre class="code">
892 package com.foo;
893
894 public class MyController implements Initializable {
895 public Button button;
896
897 @Override
898 public void initialize(URL location, Resources resources)
899 button.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
900 @Override
902 System.out.println("You clicked me!");
903 }
904 });
905 }
906 }
907 </pre>
908
909 <h3><a id="fxml_annotation">@FXML</a></h3>
910 <p>Note
911 that, in the previous examples, the controller member fields and
912 event handler methods were declared as public so they can be set
913 or invoked by the loader. In practice, this is not often
914 an issue, since a controller is generally only visible to the FXML
915 loader that creates it.
916 However, for developers who prefer more restricted
917 visibility for controller fields or handler methods, the <span
918 class="code">javafx.fxml.FXML</span> annotation can be used. This
919 annotation marks a protected or private class member as accessible
920 to FXML.
921 If the class being annotated is in a named module, the
922 module containing that class must <span class="code">open</span>
923 the containing package to at least
924 the <span class="code">javafx.fxml</span> module.</p>
925
926 <p>For example, the controllers from the previous examples could be rewritten as follows:</p>
927
928 <pre class="code">
929 package com.foo;
930
931 public class MyController {
932 @FXML
933 private void handleButtonAction(ActionEvent event) {
934 System.out.println("You clicked me!");
935 }
936 }
937 </pre>
938
939 <pre class="code">
940 package com.foo;
941
942 public class MyController implements Initializable {
943 @FXML private Button button;
944
945 @FXML
946 protected void initialize()
947 button.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
948 @Override
949 public void handle(ActionEvent event) {
950 System.out.println("You clicked me!");
951 }
952 });
953 }
954 }
955 </pre>
956
957 <p>In the first version, the <span class="code">handleButtonAction()</span> is tagged with <span class="code">@FXML</span> to allow markup defined in the controller's document to invoke it. In the second example, the button field is annotated to allow the loader to set its value. The <span class="code">initialize()</span> method is similarly annotated.</p>
958
959 <h3><a id="nested_controllers">Nested Controllers</a></h3>
960 <p>Controller instances for nested FXML documents loaded via the <span class="code"><fx:include></span> element are mapped directly to member fields of the including controller. This allows a developer to easily access functionality defined by an include (such as a dialog window presented by an application's main window controller). For example, given the following code:
961
962 <div class="caption">main_window_content.fxml</div>
963 <pre class="code">
964 <VBox fx:controller="com.foo.MainController">
965 <fx:define>
966 <fx:include fx:id="dialog" source="dialog.fxml"/>
967 </fx:define>
968 ...
969 </VBox>
970 </pre>
971
972 <div class="caption">MainController.java</div>
973 <pre class="code">
974 public class MainController extends Controller {
975 @FXML private Window dialog;
976 @FXML private DialogController dialogController;
977
978 ...
979 }
980 </pre>
981
982 <p>when the controller's <span class="code">initialize()</span> method is called, the <span class="code">dialog</span> field will contain the root element loaded from the "dialog.fxml" include, and the <span class="code">dialogController</span> field will contain the include's controller. The main controller can then invoke methods on the included controller, to populate and show the dialog, for example. Note that as the content of the file referenced by fx:include otherwise would become part of the scene graph spanned from main_window_content.fxml, it is necessary to wrap fx:include by fx:define to separate the scene graphs of both windows.</p>
983
984 <h2><a id="fxmlloader">FXMLLoader</a></h2>
985 <p>The <span class="code">FXMLLoader</span> class is responsible for actually loading an FXML source file and returning the resulting object graph. For example, the following code loads an FXML file from a location on the classpath relative to the loading class and localizes it with a resource bundle named "com.foo.example". The type of the root element is assumed to be a subclass of <span class="code">javafx.scene.layout.Pane</span>, and the document is assumed to define a controller of type <span class="code">MyController</span>:</p>
986
987 <pre class="code">
988 URL location = getClass().getResource("example.fxml");
989 ResourceBundle resources = ResourceBundle.getBundle("com.foo.example");
990 FXMLLoader fxmlLoader = new FXMLLoader(location, resources);
991
992 Pane root = (Pane)fxmlLoader.load();
993 MyController controller = (MyController)fxmlLoader.getController();
994 </pre>
995
996 <p>Note that the output of an <span class="code">FXMLLoader#load()</span> operation is an instance hierarchy that reflects the actual named classes in the document, not <span class="code">org.w3c.dom</span> nodes representing those classes. Internally, <span class="code">FXMLLoader</span> uses the <span class="code">javax.xml.stream</span> API (also known as the <i>Streaming API for XML</i>, or <i>StAX</i>) to load an FXML document. StAX is an extremely efficient event-based XML parsing API that is conceptually similar to its W3C predecessor, SAX. It allows an FXML document to be processed in a single pass, rather than loaded into an intermediate DOM structure and then post-processed.</p>
997
998 <h3><a id="custom_components">Custom Components</a></h3>
999 <p>The <span class="code">setRoot()</span> and <span class="code">setController()</span> methods of <span class="code">FXMLLoader</span> allow a caller to inject document root and controller values, respectively, into the document namespace, rather than delegating creation of these values to <span class="code">FXMLLoader</span> itself. This allows a developer to easily create reusable controls that are internally implemented using markup, but (from an API perspective) appear identically to controls implemented programmatically.</p>
1000
1001 <p>For example, the following markup defines the structure of a simple custom control containing a <span class="code">TextField</span> and a <span class="code">Button</span> instance. The root container is defined as an instance of <span class="code">javafx.scene.layout.VBox</span>:</p>
1002
1003 <pre class="code">
1004 <?import javafx.scene.*?>
1005 <?import javafx.scene.control.*?>
1006 <?import javafx.scene.layout.*?>
1007
1008 <fx:root type="javafx.scene.layout.VBox" xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
1009 <TextField fx:id="textField"/>
1010 <Button text="Click Me" onAction="#doSomething"/>
1011 </fx:root>
1012 </pre>
1013
1014 <p>As mentioned earlier, the <span class="code"><fx:root></span> tag creates a reference to a previously defined root element. The value of this element is obtained by calling the <span class="code">getRoot()</span> method of <span class="code">FXMLLoader</span>. Prior to calling <span class="code">load()</span>, the caller must specify this value via a call to <span class="code">setRoot()</span>. The caller may similarly provide a value for the document's controller by calling <span class="code">setController()</span>, which sets the value that will be used as the document's controller when the document is read. These two methods are commonly used together when creating custom FXML-based components.</p>
1015
1016 <p>In the following example, the <span class="code">CustomControl</span> class extends <span class="code">VBox</span> (the type declared by the <span class="code"><fx:root></span> element), and sets itself as both the root and controller of the FXML document in its constructor. When the document is loaded, the contents of <span class="code">CustomControl</span> will be populated with the contents of the previous FXML document:</p>
1017
1018 <pre class="code">
1019 package fxml;
1020
1021 import java.io.IOException;
1022
1023 import javafx.beans.property.StringProperty;
1024 import javafx.fxml.FXML;
1025 import javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader;
1026 import javafx.scene.control.TextField;
1027 import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
1028
1029 public class CustomControl extends VBox {
1030 @FXML private TextField textField;
1031
1032 public CustomControl() {
1033 FXMLLoader fxmlLoader = new FXMLLoader(getClass().getResource("custom_control.fxml"));
1034 fxmlLoader.setRoot(this);
1035 fxmlLoader.setController(this);
1036
1061 </pre>
1062
1063 <p>Now, callers can use instances of this control in code or in markup, just like any other control; e.g.:</p>
1064
1065 <div class="caption">Java</div>
1066 <pre class="code">
1067 HBox hbox = new HBox();
1068 CustomControl customControl = new CustomControl();
1069 customControl.setText("Hello World!");
1070 hbox.getChildren().add(customControl);
1071 </pre>
1072
1073 <div class="caption">FXML</div>
1074 <pre class="code">
1075 <HBox>
1076 <CustomControl text="Hello World!"/>
1077 </HBox>
1078 </pre>
1079
1080 <h2><a id="deploy_as_module">Deploying an Application as a Module</a></h2>
1081 <p>If <span class="code">FXMLLoader</span> is used to load types in a named
1082 module, the application must ensure that all types that are referenced in the
1083 FXML files, including the controller class and any custom <span class="code">Node</span>
1084 classes, are reflectively accessible to the <span class="code">javafx.fxml</span>
1085 module. A type is reflectively accessible if the module
1086 <span class="code">opens</span> the containing package to at least the
1087 <span class="code">javafx.fxml</span> module.
1088 </p>
1089
1090 <p>For example, if <span class="code">com.foo.MyController</span> is in the
1091 <span class="code">foo.app</span> module, the
1092 <span class="code">module-info.java</span> might look like this:
1093 </p>
1094 <pre><span class="code">module foo.app {
1095 opens com.foo to javafx.fxml;
1096 }</span></pre>
1097
1098 <p>Alternatively, a type is reflectively accessible if the module
1099 <span class="code">exports</span> the containing package unconditionally.
1100 </p>
1101 <hr>
1102 <p>
1103 <small><a href="http://bugreport.java.com/bugreport/">Report a bug or suggest an enhancement</a><br> Copyright © 2008, 2018, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.</small>
1104 </p>
1105 </body>
1106 </html>
|
125 <p>This document introduces the FXML markup language and explains how it can be used to simplify development of JavaFX applications.</p>
126
127 <h2><a id="elements">Elements</a></h2>
128 <p>In FXML, an XML element represents one of the following:</p>
129 <ul>
130 <li>A class instance</li>
131 <li>A property of a class instance</li>
132 <li>A "static" property</li>
133 <li>A "define" block</li>
134 <li>A block of script code</li>
135 </ul>
136
137 <p>Class instances, instance properties, static properties, and define blocks are discussed in this section below. Scripting is discussed in a later section.</p>
138
139 <h3><a id="class_instance_elements">Class Instance Elements</a></h3>
140 <p>Class instances can be constructed in FXML in several ways. The most common is via instance declaration elements, which simply create a new instance of a class by name. Other ways of creating class instances include referencing existing values, copying existing values, and including external FXML files. Each is discussed in more detail below.</p>
141
142 <h4><a id="instance_declaration_elements">Instance Declarations</a></h4>
143 <p>If an element's tag is considered an instance declaration if the tag begins with uppercase letter (and the class is imported) or, as in Java, it denotes a fully-qualified (including the package name) name of a class. When the FXML loader (also introduced later) encounters such an element, it creates an instance of that class.</p>
144
145 <p>Importing a class is done using the "import" processing instruction (PI). For example, the following PI imports the <span class="code">javafx.scene.control.Label</span> class into the current FXML document’s namespace:</p>
146
147 <pre class="code">
148 <?import javafx.scene.control.Label?>
149 </pre>
150
151 <p>This PI imports all classes from the javafx.scene.control package into the current namespace:</p>
152
153 <pre class="code">
154 <?import javafx.scene.control.*?>
155 </pre>
156
157
158 <p>Any class that adheres to JavaBean constructor and property naming conventions can be readily instantiated and configured using FXML. The following is a simple but complete example that creates an instance of <span class="code">javafx.scene.control.Label</span> and sets its "text" property to "Hello, World!":</p>
159
160 <pre class="code">
161 <?import javafx.scene.control.Label?>
162 <Label text="Hello, World!"/>
163 </pre>
164
165 <p>Note that the <span class="code">Label</span>’s "text" property in this example is set using an XML attribute. Properties can also be set using nested property elements. Property elements are discussed in more detail later in this section. Property attributes are discussed in a later section.</p>
166
167 <p>Classes that don't conform to Bean conventions can also be constructed in FXML, using an object called a "builder". Builders are discussed in more detail later.</p>
168
169 <h5>Maps</h5>
170 <p>Internally, the FXML loader uses an instance of <span class="code">com.sun.javafx.fxml.BeanAdapter</span> to wrap an instantiated object and invoke its setter methods. This (currently) private class implements the <span class="code">java.util.Map</span> interface and allows a caller to get and set Bean property values as key/value pairs.</p>
171
172 <p>If an element represents a type that already implements <span class="code">Map</span> (such as <span class="code">java.util.HashMap</span>), it is not wrapped and its <span class="code">get()</span> and <span class="code">put()</span> methods are invoked directly. For example, the following FXML creates an instance of <span class="code">HashMap</span> and sets its "foo" and "bar" values to "123" and "456", respectively:
173
174 <pre class="code">
175 <HashMap foo="123" bar="456"/>
176 </pre>
177
178 <h5>fx:value</h5>
179 <p>The <span class="code">fx:value</span> attribute can be used to initialize an instance of a type that does not have a default constructor but provides a static <span class="code">valueOf(String)</span> method. For example, <span class="code">java.lang.String</span> as well as each of the primitive wrapper types define a <span class="code">valueOf()</span> method and can be constructed in FXML as follows:</p>
180
181 <pre class="code">
182 <String fx:value="Hello, World!"/>
183 <Double fx:value="1.0"/>
184 <Boolean fx:value="false"/>
185 </pre>
186
187 <p>Custom classes that define a static <span class="code">valueOf(String)</span> method can also be constructed this way.</p>
188
189 <h5>fx:factory</h5>
190 <p>The <span class="code">fx:factory</span> attribute is another means of creating objects whose classes do not have a default constructor. The value of the attribute is the name of a static, no-arg factory method for producing class instances. For example, the following markup creates an instance of an observable array list, populated with three string values:</p>
191
192 <pre class="code">
193 <FXCollections fx:factory="observableArrayList">
194 <String fx:value="A"/>
195 <String fx:value="B"/>
196 <String fx:value="C"/>
197 </FXCollections>
198 </pre>
199
200 <h5>Builders</h5>
201 <p>A third means of creating instances of classes that do not conform to Bean conventions (such as those representing immutable values) is a "builder". The builder design pattern delegates object construction to a mutable helper class (called a "builder") that is responsible for manufacturing instances of the immutable type.</p>
202
203 <p>Builder support in FXML is provided by two interfaces. The <span class="code">javafx.util.Builder</span> interface defines a single method named <span class="code">build()</span> which is responsible for constructing the actual object:</p>
204
205 <pre class="code">
206 public interface Builder<T> {
207 public T build();
208 }
209 </pre>
210
211 <p>A <span class="code">javafx.util.BuilderFactory</span> is responsible for producing builders that are capable of instantiating a given type:</p>
212
213 <pre class="code">
214 public interface BuilderFactory {
215 public Builder<?> getBuilder(Class<?> type);
216 }
217 </pre>
218
219 <p>A default builder factory, <span class="code">JavaFXBuilderFactory</span>, is provided in the <span class="code">javafx.fxml</span> package. This factory is capable of creating and configuring most immutable JavaFX types. For example, the following markup uses the default builder to create an instance of the immutable <span class="code">javafx.scene.paint.Color</span> class:
220
221 <pre class="code">
222 <Color red="1.0" green="0.0" blue="0.0"/>
223 </pre>
224
225 <p>Note that, unlike Bean types, which are constructed when the element's start tag is processed, objects constructed by a builder are not instantiated until the element's closing tag is reached. This is because all of the required arguments may not be available until the element has been fully processed. For example, the Color object in the preceding example could also be written as:</p>
226
227 <pre class="code">
228 <Color>
229 <red>1.0</red>
230 <green>0.0</green>
231 <blue>0.0</blue>
232 </Color>
233 </pre>
234
235 <p>The <span class="code">Color</span> instance cannot be fully constructed until all three of the color components are known.</p>
236
237 <p>When processing markup for an object that will be constructed by a builder, the <span class="code">Builder</span> instances are treated like value objects - if a <span class="code">Builder</span> implements the <span class="code">Map</span> interface, the <span class="code">put()</span> method is used to set the builder's attribute values. Otherwise, the builder is wrapped in a <span class="code">BeanAdapter</span> and its properties are assumed to be exposed via standard Bean setters.</p>
238
239 <h4><a id="include_elements"><fx:include></a></h4>
240 <p>The <span class="code"><fx:include></span> tag creates an object from FXML markup defined in another file. It is used as follows:</p>
241
242 <pre class="code">
243 <fx:include source="<span class="variable">filename</span>"/>
244 </pre>
245
246 <p>where <span class="variable">filename</span> is the name of the FXML file to include. Values that begin with a leading slash character are treated as relative to the classpath. Values with no leading slash are considered relative to the path of the current document.</p>
247
248 <p>For example, given the following markup:</p>
249
250 <pre class="code">
251 <?import javafx.scene.control.*?>
252 <?import javafx.scene.layout.*?>
253 <VBox xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
254 <children>
255 <fx:include source="my_button.fxml"/>
256 </children>
257 </VBox>
258 </pre>
259
260 <p>If <span class="filename">my_button.fxml</span> contains the following:
261
262 <pre class="code">
263 <?import javafx.scene.control.*?>
264 <Button text="My Button"/>
265 </pre>
266
267 <p>the resulting scene graph would contain a <span class="code">VBox</span> as a root object with a single <span class="code">Button</span> as a child node.</p>
268
269 <p>Note the use of the "fx" namespace prefix. This is a reserved prefix that defines a number of elements and attributes that are used for internal processing of an FXML source file. It is generally declared on the root element of a FXML document. Other features provided by the "fx" namespace are described in the following sections.</p>
270
271 <p><span class="code"><fx:include></span> also supports attributes for specifying the name of the resource bundle that should be used to localize the included content, as well as the character set used to encode the source file. Resource resolution is discussed in a later section.</p>
272
273 <pre class="code">
274 <fx:include source="<span class="variable">filename</span>" resources="<span class="variable">resource_file</span>" charset="utf-8"/>
275 </pre>
276
277 <h4><a id="constant_elements"><fx:constant></a></h4>
278 <p>The <span class="code"><fx:constant></span> element creates a reference to a class constant. For example, the following markup sets the value of the "minWidth" property of a<span class="code">Button</span> instance to the value of the <span class="code">NEGATIVE_INFINITY</span> constant defined by the <span class="code">java.lang.Double</span> class:</p>
279
280 <pre class="code">
281 <Button>
282 <minHeight><Double fx:constant="NEGATIVE_INFINITY"/></minHeight>
283 </Button>
284 </pre>
285
286 <h4><a id="reference_elements"><fx:reference></a></h4>
287 <p>The <span class="code"><fx:reference></span> element creates a new reference to an existing element. Wherever this tag appears, it will effectively be replaced by the value of the named element. It is used in conjunction with either the <span class="code">fx:id</span> attribute or with a script variables, both of which are discussed in more detail in later sections. The "source" attribute of the <span class="code"><fx:reference></span> element specifies the name of the object to which the new element will refer.</p>
288
289 <p>For example, the following markup assigns a previously-defined <span class="code">Image</span> instance named "myImage" to the "image" property of an <span class="code">ImageView</span> control:</p>
290
291 <pre class="code">
292 <ImageView>
293 <image>
294 <fx:reference source="myImage"/>
295 </image>
296 </ImageView>
297 </pre>
298
299 <p>Note that, since it is also possible to dereference a variable using the attribute variable resolution operator (discussed later in the <a href="#attributes">Attributes</a> section), <span class="code">fx:reference</span> is generally only used when a reference value must be specified as an element, such as when adding the reference to a collection:</p>
300
301 <pre class="code">
302 <ArrayList>
303 <fx:reference source="element1"/>
304 <fx:reference source="element2"/>
305 <fx:reference source="element3"/>
306 </ArrayList>
307 </pre>
308
309 <p>For most other cases, using an attribute is simpler and more concise.</p>
310
311 <h4><a id="copy_elements"><fx:copy></a></h4>
312 <p>The <span class="code"><fx:copy></span> element creates a copy of an existing element. Like <span class="code"><fx:reference></span>, it is used with the fx:id attribute or a script variable. The element's "source" attribute specifies the name of the object that will be copied. The source type must define a copy constructor that will be used to construct the copy from the source value.</p>
313
314 <p>At the moment, no JavaFX platform classes provide such a copy constructor, so this element is provided primarily for use by application developers. This may change in a future release.</p>
315
316 <h4><a id="root_elements"><fx:root></a></h4>
317 <p>The <span class="code"><fx:root></span> element creates a reference to a previously defined root element. It is only valid as the root node of an FXML document. <span class="code"><fx:root></span> is used primarily when creating custom controls that are backed by FXML markup. This is discussed in more detail in the <a href="#fxmlloader">FXMLLoader</a> section.</p>
318
319 <h3><a id="property_elements">Property Elements</a></h3>
320 <p>Elements whose tag names begin with a lowercase letter represent object properties. A property element may represent one of the following:</p>
321
322 <ul>
323 <li>A property setter</li>
324 <li>A read-only list property</li>
325 <li>A read-only map property</li>
326 </ul>
327
328 <h4><a id="property_setter_elements">Property Setters</a></h4>
329 <p>If an element represents a property setter, the contents of the element (which must be either a text node or a nested class instance element) are passed as the value to the setter for the property.</p>
330
331 <p>For example, the following FXML creates an instance of the <span class="code">Label</span> class and sets the value of the label's "text" property to "Hello, World!":</p>
332
333 <pre class="code">
334 <?import javafx.scene.control.Label?>
335 <Label>
336 <text>Hello, World!</text>
337 </Label>
338 </pre>
339
340 <p>This produces the same result as the earlier example which used an attribute to set the "text" property:</p>
341
342 <pre class="code">
343 <?import javafx.scene.control.Label?>
344 <Label text="Hello, World!"/>
345 </pre>
346
347 <p>Property elements are generally used when the property value is a complex type that can't be represented using a simple string-based attribute value, or when the character length of the value is so long that specifying it as an attribute would have a negative impact on readability.</p>
348
349 <h5>Type Coercion</h5>
350 <p>FXML uses "type coercion" to convert property values to the appropriate type as needed. Type coercion is required because the only data types supported by XML are elements, text, and attributes (whose values are also text). However, Java supports a number of different data types including built-in primitive value types as well as extensible reference types.</p>
351
352 <p>The FXML loader uses the <span class="code">coerce()</span> method of <span class="code">BeanAdapter</span> to perform any required type conversions. This method is capable of performing basic primitive type conversions such as <span class="code">String</span> to <span class="code">boolean</span> or <span class="code">int</span> to <span class="code">double</span>, and will also convert <span class="code">String</span> to <span class="code">Class</span> or <span class="code">String</span> to <span class="code">Enum</span>. Additional conversions can be implemented by defining a static <span class="code">valueOf()</span> method on the target type.</p>
353
354 <h4><a id="read_only_list_property_elements">Read-Only List Properties</a></h4>
355 <p>A read-only list property is a Bean property whose getter returns an instance of <span class="code">java.util.List</span> and has no corresponding setter method. The contents of a read-only list element are automatically added to the list as they are processed.</p>
356
357 <p>For example, the "children" property of <span class="code">javafx.scene.Group</span> is a read-only list property representing the group's child nodes:</p>
358
359 <pre class="code">
360 <?import javafx.scene.*?>
361 <?import javafx.scene.shape.*?>
362 <Group xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
363 <children>
364 <Rectangle fx:id="rectangle" x="10" y="10" width="320" height="240"
365 fill="#ff0000"/>
366 ...
367 </children>
368 </Group>
369 </pre>
370
371 <p>As each sub-element of the <span class="code"><children></span> element is read, it is added to the list returned by <span class="code">Group#getChildren()</span>.
372
373 <h4><a id="read_only_map_property_elements">Read-Only Map Properties</a></h4>
374 <p>A read-only map property is a bean property whose getter returns an instance of <span class="code">java.util.Map</span> and has no corresponding setter method. The attributes of a read-only map element are applied to the map when the closing tag is processed.</p>
375
376 <p>The "properties" property of <span class="code">javafx.scene.Node</span> is an example of a read-only map property. The following markup sets the "foo" and "bar" properties of a <span class="code">Label</span> instance to "123" and "456", respectively:</p>
377
378 <pre class="code">
379 <?import javafx.scene.control.*?>
380 <Button>
381 <properties foo="123" bar="456"/>
382 </Button>
383 </pre>
384
385 <p>Note that a read-only property whose type is neither a <span class="code">List</span> nor a <span class="code">Map</span> will be treated as if it were a read-only map. The return value of the getter method will be wrapped in a <span class="code">BeanAdapter</span> and can be used in the same way as any other read-only map.</p>
386
387 <h4><a id="default_properties">Default Properties</a></h4>
388 <p>A class may define a "default property" using the <span class="code">@DefaultProperty</span> annotation defined in the <span class="code">javafx.beans</span> package. If present, the sub-element representing the default property can be omitted from the markup.</p>
389
390 <p>For example, since <span class="code">javafx.scene.layout.Pane</span> (the superclass of <span class="code">javafx.scene.layout.VBox</span>) defines a default property of "children", a <span class="code"><children></span> element is not required; the loader will automatically add the sub-elements of the <span class="code">VBox</span> to the container's "children" collection:</p>
391
392 <pre class="code">
393 <?import javafx.scene.*?>
394 <?import javafx.scene.shape.*?>
395 <VBox xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
396 <Button text="Click Me!"/>
397 ...
398 </VBox>
399 </pre>
400
401 <p>Note that default properties are not limited to collections. If an element's default property refers to a scalar value, any sub-element of that element will be set as the value of the property.</p>
402
403 <p>For example, since <span class="code">javafx.scene.control.ScrollPane</span> defines a default property of "content", a scroll pane containing a <span class="code">TextArea</span> as its content can be specified as follows:
404
405 <pre class="code">
406 <ScrollPane>
407 <TextArea text="Once upon a time..."/>
408 </ScrollPane>
409 </pre>
410
411 <p>Taking advantage of default properties can significantly reduce the verbosity of FXML markup.</p>
412
413 <h3><a id="static_property_elements">Static Properties</a></h3>
414 <p>An element may also represent a "static" property (sometimes called an "attached property"). Static properties are properties that only make sense in a particular context. They are not intrinsic to the class to which they are applied, but are defined by another class (often, the parent container of a control).</p>
415
416 <p>Static properties are prefixed with the name of class that defines them. For example, The following FXML invokes the static setter for <span class="code">GridPane</span>'s "rowIndex" and "columnIndex" properties:</p>
417
418 <pre class="code">
419 <GridPane>
420 <children>
421 <Label text="My Label">
422 <GridPane.rowIndex>0</GridPane.rowIndex>
423 <GridPane.columnIndex>0</GridPane.columnIndex>
424 </Label>
425 </children>
426 </TabPane>
427 </pre>
428
429 <p>This translates roughly to the following in Java:</p>
430
431 <pre class="code">
432 GridPane gridPane = new GridPane();
433
434 Label label = new Label();
435 label.setText("My Label");
436
437 GridPane.setRowIndex(label, 0);
438 GridPane.setColumnIndex(label, 0);
439
440 gridPane.getChildren().add(label);
441 </pre>
442
443 <p>
444 The calls to <span class="code">GridPane#setRowIndex()</span> and <span class="code">GridPane#setColumnIndex()</span> "attach" the index data to the <span class="code">Label</span> instance. <span class="code">GridPane</span> then uses these during layout to arrange its children appropriately. Other containers, including <span class="code">AnchorPane</span>, <span class="code">BorderPane</span>, and <span class="code">StackPane</span>, define similar properties.</p>
445
446 <p>As with instance properties, static property elements are generally used when the property value cannot be efficiently represented by an attribute value. Otherwise, static property attributes (discussed in a later section) will generally produce more concise and readable markup.</p>
447
448 <h3><a id="define_elements">Define Blocks</a></h3>
449 <p>The <span class="code"><fx:define></span> element is used to create objects that exist outside of the object hierarchy but may need to be referred to elsewhere.</p>
450
451 <p>For example, when working with radio buttons, it is common to define a <span class="code">ToggleGroup</span> that will manage the buttons' selection state. This group is not part of the scene graph itself, so should not be added to the buttons' parent. A define block can be used to create the button group without interfering with the overall structure of the document:</p>
452
453 <pre class="code">
454 <VBox>
455 <fx:define>
456 <ToggleGroup fx:id="myToggleGroup"/>
457 </fx:define>
458 <children>
459 <RadioButton text="A" toggleGroup="$myToggleGroup"/>
460 <RadioButton text="B" toggleGroup="$myToggleGroup"/>
461 <RadioButton text="C" toggleGroup="$myToggleGroup"/>
462 </children>
463 </VBox>
464 </pre>
465
466 <p>Elements in define blocks are usually assigned an ID that can be used to refer to the element's value later. IDs are discussed in more detail in later sections.</p>
467
468 <h2><a id="attributes">Attributes</a></h2>
469 <p>An attribute in FXML may represent one of the following:</p>
470 <ul>
471 <li>A property of a class instance</li>
472 <li>A "static" property</li>
473 <li>An event handler</li>
474 </ul>
475
476 <p>Each are discussed in more detail in the following sections.</p>
477
478 <h3><a id="instance_property_attributes">Instance Properties</a></h3>
479 <p>Like property elements, attributes can also be used to configure the properties of a class instance. For example, the following markup creates a <span class="code">Button</span> whose text reads "Click Me!":</p>
480
481 <pre class="code">
482 <?import javafx.scene.control.*?>
483 <Button text="Click Me!"/>
484 </pre>
485
486 <p>As with property elements, property attributes support type coercion. When the following markup is processed, the "x", "y", "width", and "height" values will be converted to doubles, and the "fill" value will be converted to a <span class="code">Color</span>:</p>
487
488 <pre class="code">
489 <Rectangle fx:id="rectangle" x="10" y="10" width="320" height="240"
490 fill="#ff0000"/>
491 </pre>
492
493 <p>Unlike property elements, which are applied as they are processed, property attributes are not applied until the closing tag of their respective element is reached. This is done primarily to facilitate the case where an attribute value depends on some information that won't be available until after the element's content has been completely processed (for example, the selected index of a <span class="code">TabPane</span> control, which can't be set until all of the tabs have been added).</p>
494
495 <p>Another key difference between property attributes and property elements in FXML is that attributes support a number of "resolution operators" that extend their functionality. The following operators are supported and are discussed in more detail below:</p>
496
497 <ul>
498 <li>Location resolution</li>
499 <li>Resource resolution</li>
500 <li>Variable resolution</li>
501 </ul>
502
503 <h4><a id="location_resolution">Location Resolution</a></h4>
504 <p>As strings, XML attributes cannot natively represent typed location information such as a URL. However, it is often necessary to specify such locations in markup; for example, the source of an image resource. The location resolution operator (represented by an "@" prefix to the attribute value) is used to specify that an attribute value should be treated as a location relative to the current file rather than a simple string.</p>
505
506 <p>For example, the following markup creates an ImageView and populates it with image data from <span class="filename">my_image.png</span>, which is assumed to be located at a path relative to the current FXML file:</p>
507
508 <pre class="code">
509 <ImageView>
510 <image>
511 <Image url="@my_image.png"/>
512 </image>
513 </ImageView>
514 </pre>
515
516 <p>Since <span class="code">Image</span> is an immutable object, a builder is required to construct it. Alternatively, if <span class="code">Image</span> were to define a <span class="code">valueOf(URL)</span> factory method, the image view could be populated as follows:</p>
517
518 <pre class="code">
519 <ImageView image="@my_image.png"/>
520 </pre>
521
522 <p>The value of the "image" attribute would be converted to a URL by the FXML loader, then coerced to an <span class="code">Image</span> using the <span class="code">valueOf()</span> method.</p>
523
524 <p>Note that whitespace values in the URL must be encoded; for example, to refer to a file named "My Image.png", the FXML document should contain the following:</p>
525
526 <pre class="code">
527 <Image url="@My%20Image.png"/>
528 </pre>
529
530 <p>rather than:</p>
531
532 <pre class="code">
533 <Image url="@My Image.png"/>
534 </pre>
535
536 <h4><a id="resource_resolution">Resource Resolution</a></h4>
537
538 <p>In FXML, resource substitution can be performed at load time for localization purposes. When provided with an instance of <span class="code">java.util.ResourceBundle</span>, the FXML loader will replace instances of resource names with their locale-specific values. Resource names are identified by a "%" prefix, as shown below:</p>
539
540 <pre class="code">
541 <Label text="%myText"/>
542 </pre>
543
544 <p>If the loader is given a resource bundle defined as follows:</p>
545
546 <pre class="code">
547 myText = This is the text!
548 </pre>
549
550
551 <p>the output of the FXML loader would be a <span class="code">Label</span> instance containing the text "This is the text!".</p>
552
553 <h4><a id="variable_resolution">Variable Resolution</a></h4>
554 <p>An FXML document defines a variable namespace in which named elements and script variables may be uniquely identified. The variable resolution operator allows a caller to replace an attribute value with an instance of a named object before the corresponding setter method is invoked. Variable references are identified by a "$" prefix, as shown below:</p>
555
556 <pre class="code">
557 <fx:define>
558 <ToggleGroup fx:id="myToggleGroup"/>
559 </fx:define>
560 ...
561 <RadioButton text="A" toggleGroup="$myToggleGroup"/>
562 <RadioButton text="B" toggleGroup="$myToggleGroup"/>
563 <RadioButton text="C" toggleGroup="$myToggleGroup"/>
564 </pre>
565
566 <p>Assigning an <span class="code">fx:id</span> value to an element creates a variable in the document's namespace that can later be referred to by variable dereference attributes, such as the "toggleGroup" attribute shown above, or in script code, discussed in a later section. Additionally, if the object's type defines an "id" property, this value will also be passed to the objects <span class="code">setId()</span> method.</p>
567
568 <h4><a id="escape_sequences">Escape Sequences</a></h4>
569
570 <p>If the value of an attribute begins with one of the resource resolution prefixes, the character can be escaped by prepending it with a leading backslash ("\") character. For example, the following markup creates a <span class="code">Label</span> instance whose text reads "$10.00":</p>
571
572 <pre class="code">
573 <Label text="\$10.00"/>
574 </pre>
575
576 <h4><a id="expression_binding">Expression Binding</a></h4>
577 <p>Attribute variables as shown above are resolved once at load time. Later updates to the variables value are not automatically reflected in any properties to which the value was assigned. In many cases, this is sufficient; however, it is often convenient to "bind" a property value to a variable or expression such that changes to the variable are automatically propagated to the target property. Expression bindings can be used for this purpose.</p>
578
579 <p>An expression binding also begins with the variable resolution operator, but is followed by a set of curly braces which wrap the expression value. For example, the following markup binds the value of a text input's "text" property to the "text" property of a <span class="code">Label</span> instance:</p>
580
581 <pre class="code">
582 <TextField fx:id="textField"/>
583 <Label text="${textField.text}"/>
584 </pre>
585
586 <p>As the user types in the text input, the label's text content will be automatically updated.</p>
587
588 <p>More complex expression are also supported. A list of supported constants and operators follows:</p>
589
590 <table>
591 <caption>Constants and Operators Table</caption>
592 <tr><th scope="col">Constant / Operator</th><th scope="col">Description</th></tr>
593 <tr><th scope="row">"string"<br />'string'</th><td>A string constant</td></tr>
594 <tr><th scope="row">true<br />false</th><td>A boolean constant</td></tr>
595 <tr><th scope="row">null</th><td>A constant representing the null value</td></tr>
596 <tr><th scope="row">50.0<br />3e5<br />42</th><td>A numerical constant</td></tr>
597 <tr><th scope="row">- <br/>(unary operator)</th><td>Unary minus operator, applied on a number</td>
598 <tr><th scope="row">! <br/>(unary operator)</th><td>Unary negation of a boolean</td></tr>
599 <tr><th scope="row">+ - <br />
600 * /
601 %</th> <td>Numerical binary operators</td></tr>
602 <tr><th scope="row">&& ||</th><td>Boolean binary operators</td></tr>
603 <tr><th scope="row">> >= <br />
604 < <= <br />
605 == !=</th>
606 <td>Binary operators of comparison.<br/> Both arguments must be of type Comparable</td></tr>
607 </table>
608
609 <h3><a id="static_property_attributes">Static Properties</a></h3>
610 <p>Attributes representing static properties are handled similarly to static property elements and use a similar syntax. For example, the earlier <span class="code">GridPane</span> markup shown earlier to demonstrate static property elements could be rewritten as follows:</p>
611
612 <pre class="code">
613 <GridPane>
614 <children>
615 <Label text="My Label" GridPane.rowIndex="0" GridPane.columnIndex="0"/>
616 </children>
617 </TabPane>
618 </pre>
619
620 <p>In addition to being more concise, static property attributes, like instance property attributes, support location, resource, and variable resolution operators, the only limitation being that it is not possible to create an expression binding to a static property.</p>
621
622 <h3><a id="event_handler_attributes">Event Handlers</a></h3>
623 <p>Event handler attributes are a convenient means of attaching behaviors to document elements. Any class that defines a <span class="code">setOn<span class="variable">Event</span>()</span> method can be assigned an event handler in markup.</p>
624
625 <p>FXML supports three types of event handler attributes: script event handlers, controller method event handlers and expressions. Each are discussed below.</p>
626
627 <h4><a id="script_event_handlers">Script Event Handlers</a></h4>
628 <p>A script event handler is an event handler that executes script code when the event is fired, similar to event handlers in HTML. For example, the following script-based handler for the button's "onAction" event uses JavaScript to write the text "You clicked me!" to the console when the user presses the button:</p>
629
630 <pre class="code">
631 <?language javascript?>
632 ...
633
634 <VBox>
635 <children>
636 <Button text="Click Me!"
637 onAction="java.lang.System.out.println('You clicked me!');"/>
638 </children>
639 </VBox>
640 </pre>
641
642 <p>Note the use of the language processing instruction at the beginning of the code snippet. This PI tells the FXML loader which scripting language should be used to execute the event handler. A page language must be specified whenever inline script is used in an FXML document, and can only be specified once per document. However, this does not apply to external scripts, which may be implemented using any number of supported scripting languages. Scripting is discussed in more detail in the next section.</p>
643
644 <h4><a id="controller_method_event_handlers">Controller Method Event Handlers</a></h4>
645 <p>A controller method event handler is a method defined by a document's "controller". A controller is an object that is associated with the deserialized contents of an FXML document and is responsible for coordinating the behaviors of the objects (often user interface elements) defined by the document.</p>
646
647 <p>A controller method event handler is specified by a leading hash symbol followed by the name of the handler method. For example:</p>
648
649 <pre class="code">
650 <VBox fx:controller="com.foo.MyController"
651 xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
652 <children>
653 <Button text="Click Me!" onAction="#handleButtonAction"/>
654 </children>
655 </VBox>
656 </pre>
657
658 <p>Note the use of the <span class="code">fx:controller</span> attribute on the root element. This attribute is used to associate a controller class with the document. If <span class="code">MyController</span> is defined as follows:</p>
659
660 <pre class="code">
661 package com.foo;
662
663 public class MyController {
664 public void handleButtonAction(ActionEvent event) {
665 System.out.println("You clicked me!");
666 }
667 }
668 </pre>
669
670 <p>the <span class="code">handleButtonAction()</span> will be called when the user presses the button, and the text "You clicked me!" will be written to the console.</p>
671
672 <p>In general, a handler method should conform to the signature of a standard event handler; that is, it should take a single argument of a type that extends <span class="code">javafx.event.Event</span> and should return void (similar to an event delegate in C#). The event argument often carries important and useful information about the nature of the event; however, it is optional and may be omitted if desired.
673 So this is also a valid handler:</p>
674
675 <pre class="code">
676 package com.foo;
677
678 public class MyController {
679 public void handleButtonAction() {
680 System.out.println("You clicked me!");
681 }
682 }
683 </pre>
684
685 <p>Controllers are discussed in more detail in a later section.</p>
686
687 <h4><a id="expression_handlers">Event handlers from expressions</a></h4>
688 <p>Any expression that point to a <a href="#variable_resolution">variable</a> of javafx.event.EventHandler type
689 can be used as an expression handler. </p>
690 <p>
691 Previous example using an expression handler:
692 </p>
698 </children>
699 </VBox>
700 </pre>
701
702 <p> With the controller that contains a field like this </p>
703
704 <pre class="code">
705 public class MyController {
706
707 @FXML
708 public EventHandler<ActionEvent> onActionHandler = new EventHandler<>() { ... }
709
710 ...
711 }
712 </pre>
713
714 <p> Note that other kinds of expressions, like <a href="#expression_binding">binding expressions</a>
715 are not supported in this context. </p>
716
717 <h4><a id="collections_and_property_handlers">Special handlers for collections and properties</a></h4>
718 <p> Collections and object properties cannot be listen to using <span class="code">setOn<span class="variable">Event</span>()</span> methods.
719 For these reason, special handler methods need to be used.
720 <span class="code">ObservableList</span>, <span class="code">ObservableMap</span> or <span class="code">ObservableSet</span>
721 uses a special <span class="code">onChange</span> attribute that points to a handler method with a <span class="code">ListChangeListner.Change</span>, <span class="code">MapChangeListener.Change</span> or <span class="code">SetChangeListener.Change</span> parameter respectively.
722 </p>
723 <pre class="code">
724 <VBox fx:controller="com.foo.MyController"
725 xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
726 <children onChange="#handleChildrenChange"/>
727 </VBox>
728 </pre>
729
730 where the handler method looks like this:
731
732 <pre class="code">
733 package com.foo;
734
735 import javafx.collections.ListChangeListener.Change;
736
737 public class MyController {
738 public void handleChildrenChange(ListChangeListener.Change c) {
739 System.out.println("Children changed!");
740 }
741 }
742 </pre>
743
744 <p>Similarly, the property handlers are methods that have the same parameters as changed method of ChangeListener :</p>
745 <p><span class="code">changed(ObservableValue<? extends T> observable, T oldValue, T newValue)</span></p>
746
747 <p>A handler for parent property would look like this</p>
748 <pre class="code">
749 public class MyController {
750 public void handleParentChange(ObservableValue value, Parent oldValue, Parent newValue) {
751 System.out.println("Parent changed!");
752 }
753 }
754 </pre>
755
756 <p>For convenience, the first parameter can be a subclass of <span class="code">ObservableValue</span>,
757 e.g. <span class="code">Property</span></p>
758
759 <p>For registering to a property, a special <span class="code">on<propertyName>Change</span>
760 attribute must be used.</p>
761
762 <pre class="code">
763 <VBox fx:controller="com.foo.MyController"
764 xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml" onParentChange="#handleParentChange"/>
765 </pre>
766
767 <p>Note that collections and properties do not currently support scripting handlers.</p>
768
769 <h2><a id="scripting">Scripting</a></h2>
770 <p>
771 The <span class="code"><fx:script></span> tag allows a caller to import scripting code into or embed script within a FXML file. Any JVM scripting language can be used, including JavaScript, Groovy, and Clojure, among others. Script code is often used to define event handlers directly in markup or in an associated source file, since event handlers can often be written more concisely in more loosely-typed scripting languages than they can in a statically-typed language such as Java.</p>
772
773 <p>For example, the following markup defines a function called <span class="code">handleButtonAction()</span> that is called by the action handler attached to the <span class="code">Button</span> element:</p>
774
775 <pre class="code">
776 <?language javascript?>
777
778 <?import javafx.scene.control.*?>
779 <?import javafx.scene.layout.*?>
780
781 <VBox xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
782 <fx:script>
783
784 function handleButtonAction(event) {
785 java.lang.System.out.println('You clicked me!');
786 }
787 </fx:script>
788
789 <children>
790 <Button text="Click Me!" onAction="handleButtonAction(event);"/>
791 </children>
792 </VBox>
793 </pre>
804 <VBox xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
805 <fx:script source="example.js" charset="cp1252"/>
806
807 <children>
808 <Button text="Click Me!" onAction="handleButtonAction(event);"/>
809 </children>
810 </VBox>
811 </pre>
812
813 <div class="caption">example.js</div>
814 <pre class="code">
815
816 function handleButtonAction(event) {
817 java.lang.System.out.println('You clicked me!');
818 }
819 </pre>
820
821 <p>It is often preferable to separate code from markup in this way, since many text editors support syntax highlighting for the various scripting languages supported by the JVM. It can also help improve readability of the source code and markup.</p>
822
823
824 <p>Note that script blocks are not limited to defining event handler functions. Script code is executed as it is processed, so it can also be used to dynamically configure the structure of the resulting output. As a simple example, the following FXML includes a script block that defines a variable named "labelText". The value of this variable is used to populate the text property of a <span class="code">Label</span> instance:</p>
825
826 <pre class="code">
827 <fx:script>
828 var myText = "This is the text of my label.";
829 </fx:script>
830
831 ...
832
833 <Label text="$myText"/>
834 </pre>
835
836
837 <p><strong>Warning:</strong>As of JavaFX 8, <span class="code">importClass()</span> javascript function is no longer supported. You have to use fully qualified names as in the example above or load a nashorn compatibility script.</p>
838
839 <pre class="code">
840 load("nashorn:mozilla_compat.js");
841 importClass(java.lang.System);
842
843 function handleButtonAction(event) {
844 System.out.println('You clicked me!');
845 }
846 </pre>
847
848 <h2><a id="controllers">Controllers</a></h2>
849 <p>While it can be convenient to write simple event handlers in script, either inline or defined in external files, it is often preferable to define more complex application logic in a compiled, strongly-typed language such as Java. As discussed earlier, the <span class="code">fx:controller</span> attribute allows a caller to associate a "controller" class with an FXML document. A controller is a compiled class that implements the "code behind" the object hierarchy defined by the document.</p>
850
851 <p>As shown earlier, controllers are often used to implement event handlers for user interface elements defined in markup:</p>
852
853 <pre class="code">
854 <VBox fx:controller="com.foo.MyController"
855 xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
856 <children>
857 <Button text="Click Me!" onAction="#handleButtonAction"/>
858 </children>
859 </VBox>
860 </pre>
861
862 <pre class="code">
863 package com.foo;
864
865 public class MyController {
866 public void handleButtonAction(ActionEvent event) {
867 System.out.println("You clicked me!");
868 }
869 }
870 </pre>
871
872 <p>In many cases, it is sufficient to simply declare event handlers in this manner. However, when more control over the behavior of the controller and the elements it manages is required, the controller can define an <span class="code">initialize()</span> method, which will be called once on an implementing controller when the contents of its associated document have been completely loaded:</p>
873
874 <pre class="code">
875 public void initialize();
876 </pre>
877
878 <p>This allows the implementing class to perform any necessary post-processing on the content. It also provides the controller with access to the resources that were used to load the document and the location that was used to resolve relative paths within the document (commonly equivalent to the location of the document itself).</p>
879
880 <p>For example, the following code defines an <span class="code">initialize()</span> method that attaches an action handler to a button in code rather than via an event handler attribute, as was done in the previous example. The button instance variable is injected by the loader as the document is read. The resulting application behavior is identical:</p>
881
882 <pre class="code">
883 <VBox fx:controller="com.foo.MyController"
884 xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
885 <children>
886 <Button fx:id="button" text="Click Me!"/>
887 </children>
888 </VBox>
889 </pre>
890
891 <pre class="code">
892 package com.foo;
893
894 public class MyController implements Initializable {
895 public Button button;
896
897 @Override
898 public void initialize(URL location, Resources resources)
899 button.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
900 @Override
902 System.out.println("You clicked me!");
903 }
904 });
905 }
906 }
907 </pre>
908
909 <h3><a id="fxml_annotation">@FXML</a></h3>
910 <p>Note
911 that, in the previous examples, the controller member fields and
912 event handler methods were declared as public so they can be set
913 or invoked by the loader. In practice, this is not often
914 an issue, since a controller is generally only visible to the FXML
915 loader that creates it.
916 However, for developers who prefer more restricted
917 visibility for controller fields or handler methods, the <span
918 class="code">javafx.fxml.FXML</span> annotation can be used. This
919 annotation marks a protected or private class member as accessible
920 to FXML.
921 If the class being annotated is in a named module, the
922 module containing that class must <span class="code">open</span>
923 the containing package to at least
924 the <span class="code">javafx.fxml</span> module.</p>
925
926 <p>For example, the controllers from the previous examples could be rewritten as follows:</p>
927
928 <pre class="code">
929 package com.foo;
930
931 public class MyController {
932 @FXML
933 private void handleButtonAction(ActionEvent event) {
934 System.out.println("You clicked me!");
935 }
936 }
937 </pre>
938
939 <pre class="code">
940 package com.foo;
941
942 public class MyController implements Initializable {
943 @FXML private Button button;
944
945 @FXML
946 protected void initialize()
947 button.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
948 @Override
949 public void handle(ActionEvent event) {
950 System.out.println("You clicked me!");
951 }
952 });
953 }
954 }
955 </pre>
956
957 <p>In the first version, the <span class="code">handleButtonAction()</span> is tagged with <span class="code">@FXML</span> to allow markup defined in the controller's document to invoke it. In the second example, the button field is annotated to allow the loader to set its value. The <span class="code">initialize()</span> method is similarly annotated.</p>
958
959 <h3><a id="nested_controllers">Nested Controllers</a></h3>
960 <p>Controller instances for nested FXML documents loaded via the <span class="code"><fx:include></span> element are mapped directly to member fields of the including controller. This allows a developer to easily access functionality defined by an include (such as a dialog window presented by an application's main window controller). For example, given the following code:
961
962 <div class="caption">main_window_content.fxml</div>
963 <pre class="code">
964 <VBox fx:controller="com.foo.MainController">
965 <fx:define>
966 <fx:include fx:id="dialog" source="dialog.fxml"/>
967 </fx:define>
968 ...
969 </VBox>
970 </pre>
971
972 <div class="caption">MainController.java</div>
973 <pre class="code">
974 public class MainController extends Controller {
975 @FXML private Window dialog;
976 @FXML private DialogController dialogController;
977
978 ...
979 }
980 </pre>
981
982 <p>when the controller's <span class="code">initialize()</span> method is called, the <span class="code">dialog</span> field will contain the root element loaded from the "dialog.fxml" include, and the <span class="code">dialogController</span> field will contain the include's controller. The main controller can then invoke methods on the included controller, to populate and show the dialog, for example. Note that as the content of the file referenced by fx:include otherwise would become part of the scene graph spanned from main_window_content.fxml, it is necessary to wrap fx:include by fx:define to separate the scene graphs of both windows.</p>
983
984 <h2><a id="fxmlloader">FXMLLoader</a></h2>
985 <p>The <span class="code">FXMLLoader</span> class is responsible for actually loading an FXML source file and returning the resulting object graph. For example, the following code loads an FXML file from a location on the classpath relative to the loading class and localizes it with a resource bundle named "com.foo.example". The type of the root element is assumed to be a subclass of <span class="code">javafx.scene.layout.Pane</span>, and the document is assumed to define a controller of type <span class="code">MyController</span>:</p>
986
987 <pre class="code">
988 URL location = getClass().getResource("example.fxml");
989 ResourceBundle resources = ResourceBundle.getBundle("com.foo.example");
990 FXMLLoader fxmlLoader = new FXMLLoader(location, resources);
991
992 Pane root = (Pane)fxmlLoader.load();
993 MyController controller = (MyController)fxmlLoader.getController();
994 </pre>
995
996 <p>Note that the output of an <span class="code">FXMLLoader#load()</span> operation is an instance hierarchy that reflects the actual named classes in the document, not <span class="code">org.w3c.dom</span> nodes representing those classes. Internally, <span class="code">FXMLLoader</span> uses the <span class="code">javax.xml.stream</span> API (also known as the <i>Streaming API for XML</i>, or <i>StAX</i>) to load an FXML document. StAX is an extremely efficient event-based XML parsing API that is conceptually similar to its W3C predecessor, SAX. It allows an FXML document to be processed in a single pass, rather than loaded into an intermediate DOM structure and then post-processed.</p>
997
998 <h3><a id="custom_components">Custom Components</a></h3>
999 <p>The <span class="code">setRoot()</span> and <span class="code">setController()</span> methods of <span class="code">FXMLLoader</span> allow a caller to inject document root and controller values, respectively, into the document namespace, rather than delegating creation of these values to <span class="code">FXMLLoader</span> itself. This allows a developer to easily create reusable controls that are internally implemented using markup, but (from an API perspective) appear identically to controls implemented programmatically.</p>
1000
1001 <p>For example, the following markup defines the structure of a simple custom control containing a <span class="code">TextField</span> and a <span class="code">Button</span> instance. The root container is defined as an instance of <span class="code">javafx.scene.layout.VBox</span>:</p>
1002
1003 <pre class="code">
1004 <?import javafx.scene.*?>
1005 <?import javafx.scene.control.*?>
1006 <?import javafx.scene.layout.*?>
1007
1008 <fx:root type="javafx.scene.layout.VBox" xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
1009 <TextField fx:id="textField"/>
1010 <Button text="Click Me" onAction="#doSomething"/>
1011 </fx:root>
1012 </pre>
1013
1014 <p>As mentioned earlier, the <span class="code"><fx:root></span> tag creates a reference to a previously defined root element. The value of this element is obtained by calling the <span class="code">getRoot()</span> method of <span class="code">FXMLLoader</span>. Prior to calling <span class="code">load()</span>, the caller must specify this value via a call to <span class="code">setRoot()</span>. The caller may similarly provide a value for the document's controller by calling <span class="code">setController()</span>, which sets the value that will be used as the document's controller when the document is read. These two methods are commonly used together when creating custom FXML-based components.</p>
1015
1016 <p>In the following example, the <span class="code">CustomControl</span> class extends <span class="code">VBox</span> (the type declared by the <span class="code"><fx:root></span> element), and sets itself as both the root and controller of the FXML document in its constructor. When the document is loaded, the contents of <span class="code">CustomControl</span> will be populated with the contents of the previous FXML document:</p>
1017
1018 <pre class="code">
1019 package fxml;
1020
1021 import java.io.IOException;
1022
1023 import javafx.beans.property.StringProperty;
1024 import javafx.fxml.FXML;
1025 import javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader;
1026 import javafx.scene.control.TextField;
1027 import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
1028
1029 public class CustomControl extends VBox {
1030 @FXML private TextField textField;
1031
1032 public CustomControl() {
1033 FXMLLoader fxmlLoader = new FXMLLoader(getClass().getResource("custom_control.fxml"));
1034 fxmlLoader.setRoot(this);
1035 fxmlLoader.setController(this);
1036
1061 </pre>
1062
1063 <p>Now, callers can use instances of this control in code or in markup, just like any other control; e.g.:</p>
1064
1065 <div class="caption">Java</div>
1066 <pre class="code">
1067 HBox hbox = new HBox();
1068 CustomControl customControl = new CustomControl();
1069 customControl.setText("Hello World!");
1070 hbox.getChildren().add(customControl);
1071 </pre>
1072
1073 <div class="caption">FXML</div>
1074 <pre class="code">
1075 <HBox>
1076 <CustomControl text="Hello World!"/>
1077 </HBox>
1078 </pre>
1079
1080 <h2><a id="deploy_as_module">Deploying an Application as a Module</a></h2>
1081 <p>If <span class="code">FXMLLoader</span> is used to load types in a named
1082 module, the application must ensure that all types that are referenced in the
1083 FXML files, including the controller class and any custom <span class="code">Node</span>
1084 classes, are reflectively accessible to the <span class="code">javafx.fxml</span>
1085 module. A type is reflectively accessible if the module
1086 <span class="code">opens</span> the containing package to at least the
1087 <span class="code">javafx.fxml</span> module.
1088 </p>
1089
1090 <p>For example, if <span class="code">com.foo.MyController</span> is in the
1091 <span class="code">foo.app</span> module, the
1092 <span class="code">module-info.java</span> might look like this:
1093 </p>
1094 <pre><span class="code">module foo.app {
1095 opens com.foo to javafx.fxml;
1096 }</span></pre>
1097
1098 <p>Alternatively, a type is reflectively accessible if the module
1099 <span class="code">exports</span> the containing package unconditionally.
1100 </p>
1101 <hr>
1102 <p>
1103 <small><a href="http://bugreport.java.com/bugreport/">Report a bug or suggest an enhancement</a><br> Copyright © 2008, 2019, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.</small>
1104 </p>
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