Rich client platforms versus JavaFX 2 versus Swing

Question

Pretty soon now, we\'re gonna need to develop a GUI for creating configurations (more like scripts, to be honest) for our EAI solution at work. Think of a typical workflow edito

Answer 1

Here some points and (personal) opinions for helping you determining a proper solution for your current situation:

Eclipse vs. Netbeans

Personally, I dont't like big discussions about pros/cons of IDEs. Just use the one you feel most comfortable with. If you work in a team, make a voting. Considering Swing both IDEs are fine (IMHO Netbeans has the better GUI builder). Considering JavaFX 2.0 both IDEs are also fine but both share the absence of a GUI builder. I wouldn't recommend a mixture of IDEs.

JavaFX 2.0 vs. Swing vs. SWT vs. Eclipse RCP

Well, I don't - I even can't - want to tell you which of the above listed UI technologies is best since I don't know enough about your project's environment - experience, human resources, budget, timeline etc. Having a lean timeline and a team(?) of experienced Swing developers should lead the decision to Swing. Same for SWT and Eclipse RCP. Cutting edge developers might tend to try JavaFX. I agree, JavaFX gets a lot attention and you get great looking demonstrations, but keep in mind, that using JavaFX requires - additionally to the JRE - the JavaFX runtime on each client.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

We switched to javaFx due to FXML usage,you can use MVC pattern ,you can add javascript and css init,but it seems slow when changing page

Answer 3

My opinion in few lines,

JavaFX2 can be integrated into Swing and SWT applications into a panel/container.

Swing doesn't provide a structured architecture to deal with multi components applications, Eclipse RCP does but it's heavier and sometimes too complex (WindowWorkbench etc..) and hard to customize.

If you have a good UI Designer in your team (Developer or Graphic Designer) you should begin to work on an application Full JavaFX2 with a simple but powerful framework (like JRebirth or a custom one you can build on your own way).

JavaFX will be the Java UI Standard for years to come, It could'nt be a bad choice, thus its architecure is pretty good and powerful Moreover javaFX2 could be used into a browser and/or deployed online with help of JNLP. Don't bother you to learn complex undocumented framework (like EclipseRCP), create Yours !! and be free to make the application your client need :D

I worked 3 years on Swing Appz, 2 years on Eclipse RCP, and 2 years on Flex/Silverlight/JavafX apps