Kotlin Wrapper for JavaFX
KopperFX is a Kotlin Wrapper for JavaFX, which is supposed to simplify the use of JavaFX in Kotlin. For this purpose, extensions have been written especially for JavaFX. The goal is to be able to write JavaFX quickly and easily without unnecessary intermediate calls and without changing any core JavaFX concepts.
KopperFX was born in production use and extracted into a separate library as the same extension function were used over and over in different projects. Since then a lot of additional functions and functionality has been added.
When we started using Kotlin with JavaFX we of course took a look at the "lightweight" framework TornadoFX. And even though it contains a lot of interesting ideas there were also concepts that we absolutely did not like:
-
it forces you to learn a completely new language (DSL) to build your JavaFX application
-
it does not promote using FXML for building GUIs (though it does support it), which we think of as a killer feature especially when used with the excellent SceneBuilder
-
it contains functionality that we do not expect in a JavaFX wrapper (injection framework, REST client, additional controls, …)
-
the resulting code from using the DSL is not very clear or intuitive from the technical perspective (why does this work?) and thus makes debugging harder
If you are completely new to JavaFX and want this complete package, TornadoFX might just be the thing for you.
We on the other hand want to address developers with experience in building JavaFX applications and do not want to relearn their entire skill set.
Our goal is to make your life just a little bit easier when developing JavaFX applications with Kotlin without forcing stuff onto you that you do not want or need.
To use KopperFX, it can be easily integrated as a dependency:
repositories {
...
maven { url 'https://jitpack.io' }
}
dependencies {
implementation 'com.github.gonozalviii:KopperFX:0.6'
}repositories {
...
maven("https://jitpack.io" )
}
dependencies {
implementation("com.github.gonozalviii:KopperFX:0.6")
}<repositories>
<repository>
<id>jitpack.io</id>
<url>https://jitpack.io</url>
</repository>
</repositories>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.github.gonozalviii</groupId>
<artifactId>KopperFX</artifactId>
<version>0.6</version>
</dependency>The following examples show the differences between the current usage of JavaFX in Kotlin and the usage with KopperFX.
import com.github.gonozalviii.kopperfx.extensions.*
val nameProperty = SimpleStringProperty("")
var name: String by namePropertypane.children.add(node)
pane.children.addAll(node1, node2)
pane.children.remove(node)
pane.children.removeAll(node1, node2)pane += node
pane.addAll(node1, node2)
pane -= node
pane.removeAll(node1, node2)Kotlin
tableview.items.add(item)
tableview.items.addAll(item1, item2)
tableview.items.remove(item)
tableview.items.removeAll(item1, item2)tableview += item
tableview.addAll(item1, item2)
tableview -= item
tableview.removeAll(item1, item2)//Selected Item
val item = tableView.selectionModel.selectedItem
tableView.selectionModel.select(item)
//Selected Index
val index = tableView.selectionModel.selectedIndex
tableView.selectionModel.select(index)
//Filechooser
filechooser.extensionFilters.add(FileChooser.ExtensionFilter("MP3", "*.mp3"))
//FX Thread
Platform.runLater { println("Kotlin") }
//AnimationTimer
object : AnimationTimer() {
override fun handle(now: Long) {
println("Kotlin")
}
}.start()//Selected Item
val item = tableView.selectedItem
tableview.selectedItem = item
//Selected Index
val index = tableView.selectedIndex
tableview.selectedIndex = index
//Filechooser
filechooser.addExtensionFilter("MP3", "*.mp3")
//FX Thread
fxThread { println("KopperFX") }
//AnimationTimer
animationTimer { println("KopperFX") }