DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports
Events Video Library
Refcards
Trend Reports

Events

View Events Video Library

Zones

Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks

Related

  • How to Build Your First Generative AI App With Langflow: A Step-by-Step Guide
  • Building an AI-Powered Text Analysis App With React: A Step-by-Step Guide
  • How to Identify the Underlying Causes of Connection Timeout Errors for MongoDB With Java
  • Building a Simple Todo App With Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Trending

  • Stop Building Monolithic AI Brains, Build a Specialist Team Instead
  • AI Coding Assistants: Capabilities, Tools, Trends, and Comparisons
  • Real-Time Market Data Processing: Designing Systems for Low Latency and High Throughput
  • CORS Misconfigurations: The Simple API Header That Took Down Our Frontend
  1. DZone
  2. Coding
  3. Java
  4. Native JavaFX Apps With Automatic Updates: FXLauncher

Native JavaFX Apps With Automatic Updates: FXLauncher

JavaFX is an awesome UI framework, but there can definitely be deployment issues. The Javapackager tool improves ease of native installer creation. Here's a quick overview of JavaFX applications with auto updates.

By 
Edvin Syse user avatar
Edvin Syse
·
Feb. 15, 16 · Analysis
Likes (7)
Comment
Save
Tweet
Share
24.3K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

JavaFX has become one of the greatest UI frameworks for modern desktops, but there are definitely issues when it comes to deployment. The Javapackager tool makes it easy to create native installers, but there is no support yet for auto updates. Java Web Start, on the other hand, can handle updates, but there is no native packaging.

FXLauncher combines native installers from Javapackager with an update mechanism similar to that of Java Web Start. You can use FXLauncher without native packaging as well, by distributing your application as a 14kb launcher jar that will download artifacts and keep them up to date as you deploy new versions.

Watch a small screencast here.

The launcher looks up a manifest (example here) that is used to synchronize local artifacts at startup. The user will see a spinner while the manifest is retrieved and a progress bar while any updates are downloading. The preloader then hands control over to your application, in-process. Launcher look and feel is configurable with CSS.

Spinner while Manifest is loadingApplication update in progress





The native installers do not contain any code, so you don't need to rebuild them when you release a new version of your application. Simply copy the app artifacts to the predefined location, and FXLauncher handles the rest.

FXLauncher will also handle polyglot apps. It works great with TornadoFX - the Kotlin JavaFX Framework.

Check out the GitHub Repo for more information and examples. There is also a demo application available. Although the examples are Maven based, there is nothing Maven specific about it - any build system can be used.

app JavaFX

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Related

  • How to Build Your First Generative AI App With Langflow: A Step-by-Step Guide
  • Building an AI-Powered Text Analysis App With React: A Step-by-Step Guide
  • How to Identify the Underlying Causes of Connection Timeout Errors for MongoDB With Java
  • Building a Simple Todo App With Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Partner Resources

×

Comments

The likes didn't load as expected. Please refresh the page and try again.

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Support and feedback
  • Community research
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Core Program
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 3343 Perimeter Hill Drive
  • Suite 100
  • Nashville, TN 37211
  • [email protected]

Let's be friends: