[JAVA][Beginning Java 8 Games Development]

Chapter 4 ■ An Introduction to JavaFX 8: Exploring the Capabilities of the Java 8 Multimedia Engine
Using a JavaFX Primary Stage Object: Creating a Floating Windowless Application
Let’s make the primary Stage for your InvinciBagel application transparent so that the Button UI control floats right
on top of the OS desktop. This is something that JavaFX can do that you do not see very often, and it allows you to
create 3D applications that float on top of the OS desktop (for 3D virtual objects, this is called a windowless
ActiveX control).
This is accomplished by using the StageStyle.TRANSPARENT constant, in conjunction with the .initStyle()
method, from the Stage class. As Figure 4-4 demonstrates, I also used the technique I told you about in Chapter 3
(a technique that does not follow the proper Java coding convention regarding declaring an import statement for
classes you are planning to use). In line 35 of the code, I reference the constant by using the fully qualified class
name (package.subpackage.class.constant), javafx.stage.StageStyle.TRANSPARENT, inside the primaryStage.
initStyle(StageStyle style) method call. This is done via the following line of Java code:
primaryStage.initStyle(javafx.stage.StageStyle.TRANSPARENT);
Figure 4-4. Call an .initStyle() method with the StageStyle.TRANSPARENT constant, off the primaryStage Stage object
As you can, I clicked the primaryStage Stage object in NetBeans IDE 8.0, in the code editing area, and it shows
(tracks) the usage of that object in the code. The Stage object is set up (displaying title, style, and scene), using the
.setTitle(), .initStyle(), .setScene(), and .show() method calls.
I am going to leave the .setTitle() method call in the code, but make a mental note that once you get this
windowless application treatment working, the title bar is part of the window’s “chrome,” or UI elements, and when
these are gone (including the title bar), this setting of the title will amount to a moot point.
If you have been worrying about memory optimization, at this point in the application development work
process, you would remove the .setTitle() method call, because the title would not be shown using a StageStyle.
TRANSPARENT constant for the StageStyle attribute.
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