Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
to call it an
engine
). This is due to the power that it brings to implementing user inter-
face (UI) and user experience (UX) “wins” in your Java 8 applications (in this case,
games). So, bear with me in these foundational chapters detailing how to master your
IDE (NetBeans 8.0), your programming language (Java 8), and this new media engine
(JavaFX 8) that is now a part of the Java 8 programming platform that is rapidly grow-
ing in power and popularity internationally.
Once you have examined how JavaFX 8.0 comes together at the highest level (just
like you did in
Chapter 3
), you will consider some of those key classes that you might
be using to construct Java 8 games, such as the
Node
class as well as the
Stage, Scene,
Group, StackPane, Animation, Layout, Shape, Geometry, Control, Media, Image,
Camera, Effect, Canvas, and Paint classes
. You have already studied the JavaFX
Application
class (see
Chapters 2
and
3
), so now you will focus on the classes that can
be used to build complex multimedia projects, such as Java 8 games.
Finally, you will take an in-depth look at the bootstrap JavaFX application that you
method create the primaryStage Stage object, using the
Stage()
constructor method,
and, inside of that, create your Scene object named
scene
, using the
Scene()
construct-
or method. You will explore how to use methods from the Stage class to set the
scene
and title and show the
Stage
as well as how to create and use the
StackPane
and
But-
ton
class (objects), and add an
EventHandler
to a
Button
.
Overview of JavaFX: From Scene Graph
Down to OS
As in the previous chapter, on Java 8, I am starting this overview of JavaFX at the
highest level, with the
Scene Graph API
and with visual editing tools, which are con-
tained in a JavaFX application called
Scene Builder
, which we will not be using
(Scene Builder is for application UI design not game design); we will use GIMP in-
stead. As you observed in
Chapter 1
(see
Figure 1-5
)
, Scene Builder is integrated into
NetBeans 8.0 (JavaFX is listed as being supported specifically for use in NetBeans,
primarily because Scene Builder has been made an integral part of NetBeans GUI).
As
Figure 4-1
demonstrates, these JavaFX application-building tools exist “
on top
of
” the
JavaFX 8 API
(a collection of
javafx
packages, such as
javafx.scene
and
javafx.application
), which is what ultimately allows you to build (using Scene Graph)
and UI design (using Scene Builder) your JavaFX new media creations (in this case, a
Java 8 game). Note that the JavaFX 8.0 API is connected (here, using steel bearings, to
