How portable is JavaFx 2.0 on the client side of a web application (and is it efficient)?

Question

If I am getting it right from what I am reading, JavaFX 2.0 allows you to code all your logic using Java and design screens with FXML. Then, web apps run as an applet on the client side.

But:

1. Are all browsers and mobiles devices capable of running applets?
2. Is it efficient (i.e., nice user experience)?

In other words, how portable are JavaFx 2.0 web applications on the client side? Anyone has experience to share?

Answer 1

JavaFX applications can be packaged in a numerous amount of ways. They can run as applets in a web page, they can be launched through java web start, they can even be distributed as os native applications. So yes, JavaFX is as portable as portable can be. Other people in this thread has already talked about JavaFX applets, which is what governs your question. So I shall not elaborate on that. However, I feel you might have missed the fact that JavaFX clients must not only be distributed as an applet in a browser in order to talk to the back end. Indeed I would not even consider that as an alternative, judging by my own past experience of applets and how ugly they look in the context of a web page.

As an alternative to applets, you can write a JavaFX stand alone application who talks to the back end using a SOAP- or REST based web service. Internet is full of these examples. Moreover, you can have the application be launched through Java Web Start and do dependency injection to get hold of proxy objects to resources on the server. This last part is not talked about by blog posters and Oracle articles. Indeed I haven't found a standardized way of doing that. But if you package a regular Java SE application in a EAR package you can inject resources in this application's Main class and let the thread startup a new JavaFX application and forward those resources. Here is a tutorial I wrote that takes you through the entire process:

http://blog.martinandersson.com/the-enterprise-side-of-javafx-the-missing-part/

Answer 2

JavaFX produces Java applets. So what I say here applies for Java applets.

1. Most browsers for desktop machines are Java compatible: IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera on Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris. For smartphones, it seems a lot more complicated. I think it must be a definitive no for iOS, Blackberry and Android. For Windows Phone, it might be possible, but probably too complicated for the mainstream user.

2. Efficient is a broad idea. It has advantages (performance once started, openess to the rich Java ecosystem) and drawbacks (time to startup, size, all applets running in the same JVM instance). Java 7 improves the experience, as you can read here: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/java/javaclient-484666.html

Answer 3

From How to run Applets on Android?, it seems like android is not capable of running applets.

So, it seems like JavaFX 2.0 is ok on most browsers, but not for portable devices such as smartphones.