Building a JavaFX application using Gradle

Question

I'm trying to build a relatively simple JavaFX application using Gradle. However, I have no idea how to do it.

I'm relatively new to Gradle, and for simple (non-javafx) project I've successfully used the plugins java and application to build and package libraries and command-line applications.

However, I'm completely stuck when it comes to JavaFX. I've read this article, which suggests using the JavaFX plugin, however I could only find the source code for this plugin, but no documentation on how to actually obtain it an use it (in the article they simply apply it from a remote URL, but that fails on my machine, says I'm not authorized...)

Any clues on how to do this properly?

Answer 1

Here's an example Gradle JavaFX build on GitHub. Note that according to Bintray, the latest version of the plugin is 8.1.1, so replace the '0.3.0' in the plugin URL with '8.1.1' if you want the latest.

Just to be clear, this is a very unusual way to distribute a Gradle plugin. Most are much easier to incorporate in a build!

Edit: up-to-date fork that works using "apply plugin" https://github.com/FibreFoX/javafx-gradle-plugin

Answer 2

Here is my example project with OpenJDK 12, JavaFX 12 and Gradle 5.4. It uses the JavaFX Gradle plugin.

• Opens a JavaFX window with the title "Hello World!"
• Able to build a working runnable distribution zip file (Windows to be tested)
• Able to open and run in IntelliJ without additional configuration
• Able to run from the command line

I hope somebody finds the Github project useful. Feel free to clone it. It is licensed with the Unlicense.

Answer 3

The official gradle plugin for javafx is at https://github.com/openjfx/javafx-gradle-plugin.

I have successfully used this plugin from INtelliJ IDEA CE with following to illustrate my build.gradle file:

plugins {
    id 'java'
    id 'application'
    id 'maven'
    id 'maven-publish'
    id 'org.openjfx.javafxplugin' version '0.0.8'
}

javafx {
    // Points to JDK and its JavaFX libraries, also declares target runtime JDK
//    javaRuntime = '/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_40.jdk'

    version = '13' // Specify javafx sdk version
    modules = [ 'javafx.controls', 'javafx.fxml', 'javafx.swing', 'javafx.media', 'javafx.graphics']
    sdk = System.getenv('JAVAFX_HOME')
    if (sdk == null || sdk.isBlank()) {
        throw new InvalidUserDataException("JAVAFX_HOME environment variable is not set. It must be set to root folder where JAVAFX SDK is located")
    }
    application {
        def javafxHome = System.getenv('JAVAFX_HOME')
        mainClassName = 'com.foo.FooApp'
        applicationName = 'foo-app'
        applicationDefaultJvmArgs = [
            "--module-path=${javafxHome}" + File.separator + 'lib',
            '--add-modules=javafx.controls,javafx.swing,javafx.media,javafx.graphics']
        println("applicationDefaultJvmArgs:" + applicationDefaultJvmArgs)
    }
}

dependencies {
  ... ommitted ...
}

Answer 4

Peter Ledbrook's solution works, but just in case someone wants a solution that doesn't rely on external bintray links, I found one while waiting for an answer:

1) Built the JavaFX plugin from source
2) Put it in the project's libs directory
3) Applied it like this:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        flatDir dirs: "../libs"
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath "org.bitbucket.shemnon.javafxplugin:gradle-javafx-plugin:0.5.0-SNAPSHOT"
        classpath files("${System.properties['java.home']}/../lib/ant-javafx.jar")
    }
}

if (!project.plugins.findPlugin(org.bitbucket.shemnon.javafxplugin.JavaFXPlugin)) {
    project.apply(plugin: org.bitbucket.shemnon.javafxplugin.JavaFXPlugin)
}

Note that including ant-javafx in the classpath is needed due to a bug in the plugin itself (if I understand correctly)

Answer 5

I would use the gradle init command as:

thufir@dur:~/NetBeansProjects$ 
thufir@dur:~/NetBeansProjects$ git clone git@github.com:THUFIR/javaFX.git
Cloning into 'javaFX'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 4, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (4/4), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
remote: Total 4 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0
Receiving objects: 100% (4/4), 12.48 KiB | 2.08 MiB/s, done.
thufir@dur:~/NetBeansProjects$ 
thufir@dur:~/NetBeansProjects$ cd javaFX/
thufir@dur:~/NetBeansProjects/javaFX$ 
thufir@dur:~/NetBeansProjects/javaFX$ tree
.
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

0 directories, 2 files
thufir@dur:~/NetBeansProjects/javaFX$ 
thufir@dur:~/NetBeansProjects/javaFX$ gradle init --type java-application --test-framework testng --dsl kotlin

Project name (default: javaFX): 

Source package (default: javaFX): net.bounceme.dur.javafx

BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 17s
2 actionable tasks: 2 executed
thufir@dur:~/NetBeansProjects/javaFX$ 
thufir@dur:~/NetBeansProjects/javaFX$ tree
.
├── build.gradle.kts
├── gradle
│   └── wrapper
│       ├── gradle-wrapper.jar
│       └── gradle-wrapper.properties
├── gradlew
├── gradlew.bat
├── LICENSE
├── README.md
├── settings.gradle.kts
└── src
    ├── main
    │   ├── java
    │   │   └── net
    │   │       └── bounceme
    │   │           └── dur
    │   │               └── javafx
    │   │                   └── App.java
    │   └── resources
    └── test
        ├── java
        │   └── net
        │       └── bounceme
        │           └── dur
        │               └── javafx
        │                   └── AppTest.java
        └── resources

17 directories, 10 files
thufir@dur:~/NetBeansProjects/javaFX$ 

here I've first cloned an empty repository (except for the license and readme) from github first, then initialized with gradle. Note that it's of type java-application and is using kotlin for the dsl; those can be omittied or changed to, for example, --type java-library.