Steve On Java

All these widgets are available and working today on the WidgetFX 1.2 release.  To run WidgetFX, simply go to the WidgetFX home page and click on the Launch Dock link: http://widgetfx.org/

Here is a list of the major changes in this release:

• Improved Performance – The widget dock, as well as all widgets will benefit from performance improvements in JavaFX 1.2.
• Built-in Layout – Widgets now have an onLayout() function that can be used to layout the top-level nodes.
• Signed Widgets – Widgets can now be signed with certificates to get out of the sandbox and gain access to system resources.
• Additional API Hooks – New event handlers for onShow and onHide.
• Macintosh Bugfixes – Transparency now works with the latest JDK (1.6.0_13), and dialog interaction issues have been fixed.

You too can be a widget author and win some free prizes in our widget development contest.  The deadline is July 31st with a grand prize of a year’s worth of free books donated by my publisher, Apress.

WidgetFX Developer Contest

Happy Widget Hacking!

5/2 Update: Seats now available…  Sign-up now!

The JavaOne schedule builder just opened a few days ago, and the WidgetFX session has already filled up to capacity!

Here is a screenshot of what you will get if you try to sign up today:

WidgetFX Session Full!

So what if you wanted to attend, but haven’t signed up yet?  The JavaOne conference team is usually pretty good about reallocating rooms to make space for additional attendees, and if you click the yellow plus sign you will get an e-mail notification when additional space is available.

Fun Fact: The WidgetFX session was the earliest submitted session that was accepted by the review committee (check for yourself, there are no session numbers below TS-3789).

Also, you could always sign up for my other session with Jim Weaver on RIA Enterprise Application Development with JavaFX (TS-4861).  Only 191 seats left, so sign up ASAP.

I hope to see you at JavaOne!

I just got word back yesterday that the WidgetFX session for JavaOne was approved!  Josh Marinacci and I will be hosting the definitive session on desktop widgets for all you JavaFX fans.

WidgetFX JavaOne Session, sign up today!

The session is entitled “Getting Started with WidgetFX: Open-Source Widget Desktop Platform with JavaFX^TM Technology”, and will cover how to:

• Convert a JavaFX application to a desktop widget
• Package your widget so it will install and execute with one click
• Reuse existing JavaFX and Java technology-based APIs in your widget
• Develop signed widgets with access to system resources
• Communicate with enterprise Web services from the desktop, using JavaFX technology
• Hook into existing APIs to do cool things such as interact with hardware, use 3-D, and embed Flash
• Build widgets that can also be deployed on mobile devices

If you haven’t already signed up for JavaOne and are a JUG member, make sure to take advantage of the $100 discount mentioned on Van Riper’s blog.

See you at JavaOne!

We migrated the WidgetFX instance to a new server that has a number of benefits:

• Higher level of uptime via hotswap deployments
• Newer, more reliable server
• Support for a content management system for Widget distribution (coming soon)

Depending upon how fast the DNS changes propagated, you may have noticed some downtime if you launched the dock in the past 24 hours while we worked out some of the kinks on the new server.

In particular, if your dock launches with an error of “<jnlp>codebase has an invalid value: $$codebase” then you might have a bad jnlp file wedged in your cache.  It will eventually unwedge itself (jnlp caching is a black art), but you can fix it immediately by doing the following:

Web Start Control Panel

Open the Java Control Panel and click on “Settings…”:

Web Start Settings

The next time you load the dock it will get a clean copy of the jnlp file and jars.  (Good housekeeping anyway, because a large jnlp cache can cause performance problems.)

I have been busy cranking on the Pro JavaFX book, but thanks to Keith Combs, we have a 1.1 release of WidgetFX.  Some of the new features include:

• Improved performance and reduces CPU usage
• Compatibility with the JavaFX 1.1 release (No promise the version numbers will stay in sync into the future.)
• New, more permissive, open source license (We are now licensed under the new BSD license, which is very commercial friendly.)

The WidgetFX dock will auto-update itself the next time you launch it. Both the dock launch link and the new SDK can be found on the main web site:
http://widgetfx.org

Here is a screenshot of the WidgetFX dock running on my desktop with some user written widgets:

WidgetFX 1.1 Screenshot - How are you feeling today?

Congratulations to Enrique on the new World Smiley Widget (you know you want to vote!).  Also, thanks to Pär and Ludovic for updating the DiskSpace and World Clock widgets, respectively, in record time!  All the widgets shown above are featured on the WidgetFX project website and can be installed with a single click.

Due to the fact that JavaFX 1.1 is not binary compatible with JavaFX 1.0 you will need to recompile your widgets for the new release.  Also, if you use JFXtras make sure to pick up the latest 1.1 compatible version here.

One of the big performance optimizations in this release is to limit the drop shadow effect to the Widget clip if set.  For widgets with a lot of animation, this can dramatically improve performance.  Here is an example from the Clock widget on how to do this:

override var clip = Circle {
    centerX: bind width / 2,
    centerY: bind height / 2,
    radius: bind min(width, height) / 2
}

Enjoy the new release!

Update 1: This sample is now Java 1.5 compatible.

Update 2: The Calendar Tutorial has been updated for the WidgetFX 1.2 beta!  Updates are highlighted in red.

WidgetFX makes it simple to deploy JavaFX widgets to the desktop.  This tutorial that Keith Combs and I developed will show you how to create simple Calendar Widget that shows the current year, month, and day.  For some visual splash, we will also make the widget appear like a stack of calendar pages complete with a spiral binding.

Calendar Widget

The first step is to download the latest SDK from the WidgetFX site.  You can download the SDK from the following link: http://code.google.com/p/widgetfx/downloads/list

Read the rest of this entry »

The WidgetFX project reached a huge milestone today, hitting a production 1.0 release!

Here is a link to the public release page: http://widgetfx.org/

The new version is compatible with JavaFX 1.0 and sports a completely new look and feel for the desktop dock:

WidgetFX 1.0 on the Desktop

WidgetFX is an open-source desktop widget platform written from the ground up in the JavaFX Script language. It can run widgets written in JavaFX Script and Java and takes advantage of the latest features of the Java Platform.

Some of the new and noteworthy features include:

• Skinning Support – WidgetFX now takes advantage of the new CSS skinning support in the JavaFX 1.0 release so you can change the look of your widgets and even the WidgetFX dock itself!
• New Dock Theme – Graphics Designer, Mark Dingman, did a complete overhaul of the WidgetFX UI, providing a new color scheme, logo, and a simplified design.  Notice that when the dock is not highlighted you can now access your icons underneath it!
• Embedded Flash/Flex Widgets – WidgetFX makes it easy to take your existing investment in Flash or Flex applications and turn them into desktop widgets.  The same events you get in JavaFX are exposed via a Javascript bridge to Flex applications, so you can do full-featured widgets.
• Performance Enhancements & Bugfixes – There are too many small fixes and improvements to list here, but after several weeks of solid break-in time the dock is very stable on the JavaFX 1.0 platform.

Keith Combs helped revamp the website with a new theme and deployment toolkit support for Java auto-detection.  Give the new site a try and show off your JavaFX spirit by running WidgetFX today!

http://widgetfx.org/