JavaFX seem to be gaining ground on the RIA space. With the right tools and development support, it wil definitely have its toll on the next best technology “thing!”. I’m not writing any JavaFX review here since there is a lot of Technology critiques out there that probably reviewed it extensively, but instead, I will write a simple tutorial on how can you develop JavaFX application in your MacOSX lion. 
First some pre-requisites:
- JavaFX Runtime Environment
- Java Runtime Environment
- JavaFX SDK
- JavaFX Scene Builder
- JavaFX IDE – I had chosen NetBeans 7 as it already has support for JavaFX.
This can all be downloaded on the Oracle Website. You may google it.
Requirement: Create a simple application that accepts (you guess it) person details (simple registration), a custom web browser and some analytics.
Technology: JavaFX and JPA
Step 1: Create the Database and Tables
Simple Database and Table, download the SQL file: here
Step 2: Create the User Interface and specify the controller
Using the JavaFX Scene Builder, create the user interface.
Step 3: Development
Code the App!
NetBeans has its support for JPA – so I used it to interact with the database.
Download the source: here
Its basically a very simple application, but I think this sample will give you a brief introduction or a head start on how to actually develop an application using the platform.
Not a bad alternative if you want to create Desktop Applications, which of course, .net offers much better solution. Though the main take away here is that JavaFX redefines Java Desktop Application Development – flexible enough to support the best of both worlds (Desktop and Web) and if thats not enough, it also supports mobile phones.
