Well wouldnt you know it – after asking for Javas entry into the GUI Integration sweepstakes (Adobe Apollo and Microsoft Silverlight are current contenders), Sun has announced at Java One its entry – JavaFX:
The above is a screenshot of coding JavaFX using NetBeans 5.5 and following the set of tutorials on site here (a word of caution – add the following phrase: import javafx.ui.*; to the top of all the examples after the first). JavaFX appears to be a combo declarative and scripting language for Java apps. The 6-8 examples I tested all ran on a PC desktop. The syntax is a cross between Java and JavaScript/PHP (see for yourself here) with reminders of MITs Curl.
There is one caution here – it is not clear how JavaFX works in the browser world – as a Java Applet or a standalone JSP/JSF/JavaFXed app. This then raises questions about online versus offline operations-clearly the Mobile apps of JavaFX will have to address that. Also there is no coverage in detail on database binding fumctionality other than an XML connection and data source bindings. But also reading between the lines there clearly is more to come in the launch and positioning of JavaFX.
So it appears GUI Integration developers are going to be required themselves to integrate into their knowledge bases yet another language/scripting system – be it Adobe Apollos MXML+ActionScript 3, Microsofts Silverlights XAML+C#/VB/ASP, and now Suns JavaFX+Java. However, for this observer, the proof will be in the putting – the vendor that makes the easiest putting of the same integrated GUI apps on any device on any platform, either online or offline will be the big winner in this race.
(c)JBSurveyer 2007 If you liked this, let others know:
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