I just ran across a couple of encouraging comments on the Net…

Here’s the first link:

Announcing JavaFX Scene Builder Public Beta

I found this in the comments:

 Is Scene Builder going to be integrated with Netbeans and Eclipse in future?

Ya, we designed it so that the SceneBuilder could be embedded in IDEA, Eclipse, and NetBeans. Obviously we’ll be doing the work on NetBeans and hopefully Thomas or somebody in the community will plug it into Eclipse

I also found this ticket.  (Maybe something to watch?)

efxclipse.org Trac:Ticket #120 (new enhancement)

That project has an installation page.  I’ll have to try that out.  For now, let me just write it down…

efxclipse Installation page

I did find a nice tutorial for using JavaFX with Eclipse (its a little old because it doesn’t list Linux):

Java FX for Eclipse

The Linux files are here:

Index of /general/javafx/eclipse/

And, while I am at it, I want to use Swing with JavaFX, and this tutorial looks like a great place to start:

JavaFX for Swing Developers

After reinstalling my laptop with Ubuntu Natty, I had an issue with one of my custom built tools.  I have this tool that installs a Tomcat-based web application and server.  In the part that compiles the JSON library, I received a NullPointerException.

On further examination, I found that ToolProvider.getSystemJavaCompiler() was returning null for some reason.  I found the answer on IBM DeveloperWorks:

The ToolProvider.getSystemJavaCompiler()method can return null if tools.jar is not in the application’s classpath. The CharStringCompilerclass detects this possible configuration problem and throws an exception with a recommendation for fixing the problem. Note that Sun’s licensing allows tools.jar to be redistributed with the JRE.

What I found was that I was using a JRE instead of a JDK installation.  Of course, when I switch the Java Home to my JDK, I had some other error and the App wouldn’t even run.  So, I added the tools.jar from the JDK installation to the classpath and ran it with the JRE, and everything worked fine.

So, here is the code I use to compile (including the catch for the missing tools.jar):

		//compile
		JavaCompiler jc = ToolProvider.getSystemJavaCompiler();
		// handle issue where tools.jar is not on the classpath
		if(jc == null) {
			log.logException(new InstallException("Could not access the system Java compiler -- check to make sure tools.jar is on the class path."));
			return;
		}
		StandardJavaFileManager fm = jc.getStandardFileManager(null, null, null);
		File compilePath = new File(unzipPath, "org/json");
		Iterable<? extends JavaFileObject> files = fm.getJavaFileObjects(compilePath.listFiles());
		for(JavaFileObject f : files) {
			log.logInformation("Compiling - " + f.getName());
		}
		CompilationTask task = jc.getTask(log.getStream(), fm, null, null, null, files);
		try {
			fm.close();
		} catch (IOException e) {
			log.logException(new InstallException("Could not unzip " + zipPath, e));
		}
		boolean result = task.call();
		log.logInformation("**Compile result = " + result);

Resources

IBM DeveloperWorks: Create dynamic applications with javax.tools

I was able to install the package sun-java6-jdk from synaptic with no problems.  The update alternatives were what caused me problems:

skp@pecan:~$ sudo update-java-alternatives --list
[sudo] password for skp:
java-6-openjdk 1061 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk
java-6-sun 63 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
skp@pecan:~$ sudo update-java-alternatives --set java-6-sun
update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for mozilla-javaplugin.so.
update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for xulrunner-1.9-javaplugin.so.
update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for mozilla-javaplugin.so.
update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for xulrunner-1.9-javaplugin.so.
skp@pecan:~$

These errors threw me off at first because I thought they kept it from working.  You can run java -version to see that it really is using the correct version.  Sun’s version reports this:

skp@pecan:~$ java -version
java version "1.6.0_24"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_24-b07)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 19.1-b02, mixed mode)
skp@pecan:~$

Open JDK reports this:

skp@pecan:~$ java -version
java version "1.6.0_22"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea6 1.10.1) (6b22-1.10.1-0ubuntu1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.0-b11, mixed mode)

As far as I can tell, the “No Alternatives for” messages aren’t causing a problem, so I am not going to worry about it.  If you have any info on that, please comment.

This is the error message that I am getting from my Java that the Sun JDK has solved in the past. I’ll leave it for another later post, but I wanted to share it in case anyone has any ideas. Please comment if you do:

The program '.' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)'.
  (Details: serial 1359 error_code 8 request_code 140 minor_code 4)
  (Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
   that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
   To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
   option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
   backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)

Resources

• Ubuntu Forums: Yet Another Way to Install Java 6
• Old Bug Report from 2008
• Crash Course: Which Java For Ubuntu

I used the JDIC (JDesktop Integration Components) in a project or two of mine, and I thought it was a great start.  The world needs a single Java library that would give us access to the standard features of a Desktop.

The problem is that it seems the project is getting forsaken.  Consider this: (more…)

I have been fighting with using Swing to create user interfaces for while now.  The advantage with Swing is that it comes with Java and you don’t have to install any additional tools or jars to work with it.  The disadvantage is that you have to code everything manually.  I haven’t found a easy interface for designing GUI’s with Swing.

Since I have done a lot of work with HTML and web development, I thought it might be worth looking at building an HTML front end enveloped by Swing windows.  The only problem is that to make the interface work, I need Javascript.

The LOBO Project looks like my best bet here from my searches so far.  I found it from this Stack Overflow Thread.  It is a pure Java browser.  So, I am thinking that I can embed it in my projects and make that the front-end.

The same thread mentioned using something contained in JDIC.  I think I have used that for notification icons already, so that might be something worth looking into.  I found two other projects: Swingx-WS and WebSwing, but both of those don’t look as promising.

Then, I found Kyle Cordes’ post on using Rhino with Swing.  His code is available, so I need to check it out: Git Hub.

To step back a little, what I really want is a better alternative for creating GUIs.  I found a cool article, that had some other options.  I thought it was interesting that they mentioned having HTML as the front end.  The Visual Editor in Eclipse sounded like something else to check out.  I am going to have explore these instructions for installing more and this tutorial for including custom components.  Other open source options are FormLayoutMaker, Java Object Face, and the Atris Framework.

Another option that is worth looking into is a Chrome Web App.  I found a nice little guide for creating one, or you can read Google’s documentation.  My issue with that is that I need additional access that I don’t think Chrome will give me.

Please comment if you have any ideas.