Steve On Java

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!