Visual Studio Code Javafx

 



In this tutorial, we transform the sample application created by IntelliJ IDEA into a basic JavaFX Hello World application.

  1. JavaFX Scene Builder is a visual layout tool that lets users quickly design JavaFX application user interfaces, without coding. Users can drag and drop UI components to a work area, modify their properties, apply style sheets, and the FXML code for the layout that they are creating is automatically generated in the background.
  2. JavaFX has its own set of properties/values, for examle:.scroll-bar.thumb -fx-background-color: derive (-fx-outer-border, 10%); -fx-background-insets: 0; -fx-background-radius: 0; -fx-margin: 0; -fx-padding: 0.

For more information on how to configure a sample application, refer to Create a new JavaFX project.

Rename the Controller class

Visual Studio IDE Visual Studio for Mac Visual Studio Code To continue downloading, click here Visual Studio IDE, Code Editor, Azure DevOps, & App Center 2021-03-29T13:40:33-07:00.

To adjust the sample application to your needs, you may want to start with renaming the files. For example, let's rename the Controller class to SampleController.

  1. In the editor, place the caret at the class name and from the main menu, select Refactor | RenameShift+F6.

    Controller is now highlighted.

  2. Type Sample before Controller and Press Enter to indicate that you have completed the refactoring.

  3. Switch to sample.fxml in the editor and note that the value of the GridPanel fx:controller attribute has changed from 'sample.Controller' to 'sample.SampleController'.

The Rename refactoring helps you change the names of symbols, files, directories across your project.

Add a button

In the interface of our application, let's define a button that is going to show Hello World! after you click it.

Add the following two elements between the opening and closing <GridPane> tags in the file sample.fxml:

<Button>text='Say 'Hello World' onAction='#sayHelloWorld'/> <Label>GridPane.rowIndex='1' fx:id='helloWorld'/>
Code

sayHelloWorld is shown in red and helloWorld is highlighted. This means that IntelliJ IDEA cannot resolve the corresponding references. Let's fix this.

Complete the code for SampleController

Let's define the field helloWorld in the SampleController class. We will also add the corresponding event handler method sayHelloWorld that will set the text for the helloWorld label.

  1. In sample.fxml, place the caret at helloWorld and press Alt+Enter.

  2. Select Create Field 'helloWorld'.

    IntelliJ IDEA switches to SampleController.java where the IDE has added the declaration of the field helloWorld. Press Enter to quit the refactoring mode.

    Also note the import statement that has just been added import javafx.scene.control.Label; and the icon to the left of the field declaration. This is a navigation icon; click it to go back to sample.fxml.

  3. Place the caret at sayHelloWorld and press Alt+Enter.

  4. Select Create Method 'void sayHelloWorld(ActionEvent)'.

    IntelliJ IDEA adds the corresponding method declaration to SampleController.java.

  5. Press Shift+Enter to quit the refactoring mode and start a new line.

  6. Type the following code to set the text for the label:

Context actions, such as quick-fixes and intention actions, help you optimize your code and fix potential and actual problems.

Run the application

At this step, the code is ready. Let's run the application to see the result.

  1. Click on the toolbar or press Shift+F10.

    The application window now shows the Say 'Hello World' button.

  2. Click this button to display the Hello World! text.

Javafx

Style the UI with CSS

Let's change the appearance of the UI by adding a style sheet and defining formatting styles.

  1. In the file sample.fxml, add a reference to sample.css that we haven't created yet.

    Add the stylesheets attribute within the opening <GridPane> tag:

    stylesheets='/sample/sample.css'

  2. Press Alt+Enter and select Create File sample.css

  3. When the .css file is created, add the following style definitions.

    The first of the styles makes the background in the application window 'bisque' and the second one - sets the font size for the Hello World! text to 20 pixels.

    .root { -fx-background-color: bisque; } .label { -fx-font-size: 20; }

  4. Click on the toolbar or press Shift+F10 to run the application.

package sample; import javafx.application.Application; import javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader; import javafx.scene.Parent; import javafx.scene.Scene; import javafx.stage.Stage; public class Main extends Application { @Override public void start(Stage primaryStage) throws Exception{ Parent root = FXMLLoader.load(getClass().getResource('sample.fxml')); primaryStage.setTitle('Hello World'); primaryStage.setScene(new Scene(root, 300, 275)); primaryStage.show(); } public static void main(String[] args) { launch(args); } }
package sample; import javafx.event.ActionEvent; import javafx.scene.control.Label; public class SampleController { public Label helloWorld; public void sayHelloWorld(ActionEvent actionEvent) { helloWorld.setText('Hello World!'); } }
.root { -fx-background-color: bisque; } .label { -fx-font-size: 20; }
<?import javafx.scene.control.Button?> <?import javafx.scene.control.Label?> <?import javafx.scene.layout.GridPane?> <GridPane fx:controller='sample.SampleController' stylesheets='/sample/sample.css' xmlns:fx='http://javafx.com/fxml' alignment='center' hgap='10' vgap='10'> <Button text='Say 'Hello World' onAction='#sayHelloWorld'/> <Label GridPane.rowIndex='1' fx:id='helloWorld'/> </GridPane>

Support for Java in Visual Studio Code is provided through a wide range of extensions. Combined with the power of core VS Code, these extensions give you a lightweight and performant code editor that also supports many of the most common Java development techniques.

This article will give you an overview of different capabilities of Visual Studio Code for Java developers. For a quick walkthrough of editing, running, and debugging a Java program with Visual Studio Code, use the button below.

Overview

VS Code provides essential language features such as code completion, refactoring, linting, formatting, and code snippets along with convenient debugging and unit test support. VS Code also integrates with tooling and frameworks such as Maven, Tomcat, Jetty, and Spring Boot. Leveraging the power of Visual Studio Code, Java developers get an excellent tool for both quick code editing and also the full debugging and testing cycle. It's a great choice for your Java work if you're looking for a tool which:

Visual studio code javafx setup
  • Is fast, lightweight, free, and open source.
  • Supports many other languages, not just Java.
  • Helps start your Java journey without installing and learning a complex IDE.
  • Provides great microservices support including popular frameworks, container tooling, and cloud integration.
  • Offers team-based collaboration features such as Visual Studio Live Share.
  • Improves your productivity through IntelliSense and other code-aware editing features.

Install Visual Studio Code for Java

To help you set up quickly, we recommend you use the Coding Pack for Java, which is the bundle of VS Code, the Java Development Kit (JDK), and a collection of suggested extensions by Microsoft. The Coding Pack can also be used to fix an existing development environment.

Install the Coding Pack for Java - macOS

Note: The Coding Pack for Java is only available for Windows and macOS. For other operating systems, you will need to manually install a JDK, VS Code, and Java extensions.

If you have already installed VS Code and want to add Java support to it, we recommend to use Java Extension Pack, a collection of extensions suggested by Microsoft:

Alternatively, you can add Java language support to VS Code by installing the popular Java extensions by yourself.

Download VS Code - If you haven't downloaded VS Code yet, quickly install for your platform (Windows, macOS, Linux).

There are also other popular Java extensions you can pick for your own needs, including:

Thanks to the great Java community around VS Code, the list doesn't end there. You can search for more Java extensions easily within VS Code:

  1. Go to the Extensions view (⇧⌘X (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+X)).
  2. Filter the extensions list by typing 'java'.

This document describes some of the key features included in those Java extensions.

Getting started

NOTE: If you are using VS Code on Windows and want to take advantage of the Windows Subsystem for Linux, see Developing in WSL.

Before you start, you must have the Java SE Development Kit (JDK) on your local environment. To run the VS Code for Java extension, Java SE 11 or above version is required; for projects, VS Code for Java supports projects with version 1.5 or above. For how to configure, refer to Configure JDK.

For developers new to Java or new to VS Code, we provide a Getting Started experience. Once you've installed the Java Extension Pack, you can open the Getting Started experience from within VS Code with the Java: Getting Started command from the Command Palette. Open the Command Palette (⇧⌘P (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+P)) and type 'Java: Getting Started'.

Working with Java source files

You can use VS Code to read, write, run, and debug Java source file(s) without creating a project. VS Code for Java supports two modes, lightweight and standard. Lightweight mode is ideal for scenarios that only deal with source file(s). If you want to work with a full scale project, standard mode will be required. You can easily switch from lightweight mode to standard mode, when needed. To learn more, see Lightweight Mode.

Working with Java project

There are three things you must understand to work with Java in VS Code:

  1. How does VS Code handle Workspaces?
  2. How does VS Code handle Java?
  3. How does VS Code handle Workspaces that contain Java?

VS Code Workspaces

In Visual Studio Code, a 'Workspace' means a collection of one or more filesystem folders (and their children) and all of the VS Code configurations that take effect when that 'Workspace' is open in VS Code. There are two kinds of 'Workspaces' in VS Code, 'folder workspaces' and 'multi-root workspaces'.

Javafx Project In Visual Studio Code

A 'folder workspace' is presented by VS Code when you open a filesystem folder (directory) in VS Code.

A 'multi-root workspace' can refer to multiple folders (directories) from disparate parts of the file system and VS Code displays the contents of the folder(s) of the workspace together in the File Explorer. To learn more, see Multi-root Workspaces.

Java project in VS Code

In contrast to IDEs such as IntelliJ IDEA, NetBeans, or Eclipse, the concept of a 'Java project' is provided entirely by extensions, and is not a core concept in the base VS Code. When working with 'Java projects' in VS Code, you must have the necessary extensions installed to work with those project files.

For example, Maven, Eclipse, and Gradle Java projects are supported through Language Support for Java(TM) by Red Hat, by utilizing M2Eclipse, which provides Maven support, and Buildship, which provides Gradle support through the Eclipse JDT Language Server.

With Maven for Java, you can generate projects from Maven Archetypes, browse through all the Maven projects within your workspace, and execute Maven goals easily from an embedded explorer. Projects can also be created and managed with the Project Manager for Java extension.

Visual Studio Code also supports working with standalone Java files outside of a Java project, described in the Java Tutorial with VS Code.

VS Code Workspaces that contain Java project

Assuming the necessary Java extensions are installed, opening a VS Code workspace that contains Java artifacts will cause those extensions to understand those artifacts and present options for working with them.

More details about Java project support can be found in Java Project Management in Visual Studio Code and Build Tools.

Editing

Code Navigation

Java in Visual Studio Code also supports source code navigation features such as search for symbol, Peek Definition, and Go to Definition. The Spring Boot Tools extension provides enhanced navigation and code completion support for Spring Boot projects.

One of the key advantages of VS Code is speed. When you open your Java source file or folder, within a few seconds, with the help of Lightweight Mode, you will be able to navigate your code base with Outline view as well as commands such as Go to Definition and Go to Reference. This is especially useful when you open a project for the first time.

Code Completion

IntelliSense is a general term for language features, including intelligent code completion (in-context method and variable suggestions) across all your files and for built-in and third-party modules. VS Code supports code completion and IntelliSense for Java through Language Support for Java(TM) by Red Hat. It also provides AI-assisted IntelliSense called IntelliCode by putting what you're most likely to use at the top of your completion list.

See also in Java Code Navigation and Editing. VS Code also supports a range of Refactoring and Linting features.

Debugging

Debugger for Java is a lightweight Java Debugger based on Java Debug Server. It works with Language Support for Java by Red Hat to allow users to debug Java code within Visual Studio Code.

Starting a debugging session is easy, click on the Run|Debug button available at the CodeLens of your main() function, or press F5. The debugger will automatically generate the proper configuration for you.

Although it's lightweight, the Java debugger supports advanced features such as expression evaluation, conditional breakpoints, and hot code replacement. For more debugging related information, visit Java Debugging.

Testing

With the support from the Java Test Runner extension, you can easily run, debug, and manage your JUnit and TestNG test cases. Recoverit for mac.

For more about testing, read Testing Java.

Visual Studio Code Javafx

Spring Boot, Tomcat, and Jetty

To further improve your Java productivity in VS Code, there are extensions for most popular frameworks and tools such as Spring Boot, Tomcat, and Jetty created by the community.

The Tomcat extension includes an explorer to easily navigate and manage your Tomcat servers. You can create, start, debug, stop, and rename your Tomcat server with the extension.

See Application Servers to learn more about support for Tomcat and Jetty as well as other application servers with VS Code.

Spring Boot support is provided by Pivotal. There are also Spring Initializr Java Support and Spring Boot Dashboard extensions available from Microsoft to further improve your experience with Spring Boot in Visual Studio Code.

See Spring Boot with VS Code to learn more about Spring Boot support with VS Code and also Deploy to Azure Web Apps or Deploy to Azure Spirng Cloud to learn more about deploying Spring apps to Azure from VS Code.

Next steps

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Learn more about Java in VS Code

Read on to find out more about Visual Studio Code:

Vscode Ide

  • Basic Editing - Learn about the powerful VS Code editor.
  • Code Navigation - Move quickly through your source code.
  • Tasks - use tasks to build your project and more
  • Debugging - find out how to use the debugger with your project