[JAVA][Beginning Java 8 Games Development]

Chapter 4
An Introduction to JavaFX 8: Exploring
the Capabilities of the Java 8
Multimedia Engine
Let’s build on the knowledge of the Java programming language that you gained in the previous chapter here in
Chapter 4, by learning about the capabilities, components, and classes that make up the JavaFX 8 multimedia engine.
This amazing JavaFX 8 API was added to Java 8 using the javafx package that you saw in Chapters 2 and 3, which was
released with Java 8. The JavaFX 8 package is significant to game programming because it contains advanced forms
of classes that you will want to harness for game programming, including classes for organizing game components,
using a scene graph; classes for user interface layout and design; classes for 2D digital illustration (also called vector
graphics); and classes for digital imaging (also called raster graphics); 2D animation; digital video; digital audio; 3D;
a web engine (WebKit); and much more, all of which I will be covering in this chapter, so that you know exactly what
you have available to you, now that these JavaFX 8 libraries have been added into the Java 8 programming language.
The rationale for going into such detail is not only so that you know what JavaFX 8.0 can do for your Java 8 game
development, but also so that you have an overview of how the various components of this JavaFX multimedia engine
are put together. You will learn about the JavaFX Quantum Toolkit, the Prism rendering technology, the WebKit web
engine, the Glass Windowing Toolkit, the audio and video Media engine, and the Scene Graph API.
The reason you will need this high-level overview of how JavaFX works before you actually start to use it in your
games is because it is a fairly complex set of APIs (I like to call it an engine). This is due to the power that it brings to
implementing user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) “wins” in your Java 8 applications (in this case, games).
So, bear with me in these foundational chapters detailing how to master your IDE (NetBeans 8.0), your programming
language (Java 8), and this new media engine (JavaFX 8) that is now a part of the Java 8 programming platform that is
rapidly growing in power and popularity internationally.
Once you have examined how JavaFX 8.0 comes together at the highest level (just like you did in Chapter 3), you will
consider some of those key classes that you might be using to construct Java 8 games, such as the Node class as well as
the Stage, Scene, Group, StackPane, Animation, Layout, Shape, Geometry, Control, Media, Image, Camera, Effect,
Canvas, and Paint classes. You have already studied the JavaFX Application class (see Chapters 2 and 3), so now you
will focus on the classes that can be used to build complex multimedia projects, such as Java 8 games.
Finally, you will take an in-depth look at the bootstrap JavaFX application that you generated in Chapter 2, and at
how the Java .main() method and the JavaFX .start() method create the primaryStage Stage object, using the Stage()
constructor method, and, inside of that, create your Scene object named scene, using the Scene() constructor
method. You will explore how to use methods from the Stage class to set the scene and title and show the Stage as
well as how to create and use the StackPane and Button class (objects), and add an EventHandler to a Button.
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