jdk1.7's javac can't find javafx jar without -cp option

Question

I\'ve read several questions on this site and elsewhere that indicate that when Oracle JDK7 is installed, it should not be necessary to specify the classpath to jfxrt.jar

Answer 1

when Oracle JDK7 is installed, it should not be necessary to specify the classpath to jfxrt.jar when the JDK is installed correctly.

That is not true.

If you want to compile and run a JavaFX application in Java 7 (u21) and you are not using the JavaFX packaging tools, you need to add jfxrt.jar to your classpath.

See Compile code using JavaFX 2.0 (using command line) for samples of setting the JavaFX classpath for compiling (with javac) and running (with java) a JavaFX 2 application from the command line.

Some IDEs or IDE extensions are aware of this and will automatically add jfxrt.jar to your classpath (e.g. the e(fx)clipse plugin or the NetBeans JavaFX project type).

Some 3rd party tools such as the JavaFX Maven Plugin or the JavaFX Gradle Plugin also package JavaFX applications so that you don't need to add jfxrt.jar to your classpath.

For Eclipse development, use of the e(fx)clipse plugin is recommended, as it takes care of classpath issues (as well as providing other useful capabilities for JavaFX developers).

For Java 8, jfxrt.jar is on the default classpath, so you don't need to explicitly set your classpath to use JavaFX with tools like javac.exe or java.exe for that Java version.

Answer 2

OpenJdk7 does not include jfxrt.jar. Use Oracle Jdk7 instead will help.