Steve On Java

WidgetFX 1.2 Release Announcement

steveonjava | June 30, 2009

I am pleased to announce the 1.2 release of the WidgetFX project. This brings the project up to speed with the latest JavaFX 1.2 release, and includes many bugfixes and improvements to the framework.

I want to thank all the widget authors who made an extra effort to port their widgets during the beta period so they would be available from day 1 on the new version.

So what are you running in your dock?

: WidgetFX 1.2 Widgets

(from left-to-right: Clock, DiskSpace, WebFeed, Weather, SlideShow, Pac-Man, World Clock, Calendar)

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.