Apply Special Effects - JavaFX: Developing Rich Internet Applications - page 154

Ta b l e 6 . 1 Instance Variables for DropShadow

Default
Va l u e

Min
Va l u e

Max
Va l u e Variable Description

color The color of the shadow BLACK n/a n/a

offsetX The offset (in pixels) in the x direction 0.0 n/a n/a

offsetY The shadow offset (in pixels) in the y

direction

0.0 n/a n/a

radius The radius of the shadow blur in pixels 10.0 1.0 63.0

spread The spread of the shadow 0.0 0.0 1.0

It is not necessary to define all of these variables each time you want to use
DropShadow , as they default to values that you may find acceptable. As we run
through examples of other effects, explaining each of the instance variables in
detail would result in a very lengthy and cumbersome chapter. Instead, we'll
stick to easy-to-understand sample usages and suggest that for additional detail,
you consult the JavaFX API documentation.
So let's apply a DropShadow effect to our sample code. To do so, only two easy
insertions are required. The first involves letting the compiler know that the JavaFX
effects classes will be brought into play. This is done by including the following
import statement alongside your other imports:

import javafx.scene.effect.*;

Next, comes the more interesting modification of setting the Text node's effect
instance variable. So, for example, if you want to add a DropShadow effect to the
Text node referenced earlier, the effect instance variable could look something
like

effect: DropShadow { offsetX: 3, offsetY: 3 }

Listing 6.1 shows the code for the original Text node enhanced to include a
DropShadow effect, where the shadow offset is 3 pixels in the x and y direction.
The remaining unreferenced instance variables of the DropShadow effect are
assigned their default value.