Using the JavaFX UI Controls - JavaFX 8: A Definitive Guide to Building Desktop, Mobile, and Embedded Java Clients - page 250

Assigning Items to a Table
The TableView constructor at the beginning of Listing 6-6 causes the ObservableList containing Person instances
(returned from the getTeamMembers() method) to be associated with the TableView . If the contents of the underlying
ObservableList change, the TableView is automatically updated to reflect the changes.
Defining TableView Columns
To define the columns in our TableView we use the methods shown in this snippet from Listing 6-6:
TableColumn firstNameColumn = new TableColumn("First Name");
firstNameColumn.setCellValueFactory(new PropertyValueFactory("firstName"));
firstNameColumn.setPrefWidth(180);
The String parameter we provide to the constructor specifies the text that should appear in the column
header, and the setPrefWidth() method specifies the column's preferred width in pixels.
The argument passed into the setCellValueFactory() method specifies a property that will be used to populate
this column. In this case, the property is the firstNameProperty defined in the Person model class of our StarterApp
program, shown in Listing 6-7.
Listing 6-7. The Source Code for Person.java
package projavafx.starterapp.model;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleStringProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.StringProperty;
public final class Person {
private StringProperty firstName;
public void setFirstName(String value) { firstNameProperty().set(value); }
public String getFirstName() { return firstNameProperty().get(); }
public StringProperty firstNameProperty() {
if (firstName == null) firstName = new SimpleStringProperty(this, "firstName");
return firstName;
}
private StringProperty lastName;
public void setLastName(String value) { lastNameProperty().set(value); }
public String getLastName() { return lastNameProperty().get(); }
public StringProperty lastNameProperty() {
if (lastName == null) lastName = new SimpleStringProperty(this, "lastName");
return lastName;
}
private StringProperty phone;
public void setPhone(String value) { phoneProperty().set(value); }
public String getPhone() { return phoneProperty().get(); }
public StringProperty phoneProperty() {
if (phone == null) phone = new SimpleStringProperty(this, "phone");
return phone;
}