CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javafx-2fxmlscenebuilder
Damian
Damian

Reputation: 461

Menu Button that does not dismiss options onclick in JavaFX 2

I am quite new in JavaFX and I have a question about the design. I am creating my main menu in FXML using Scene Builder. I have various menu buttons and each of these have a sub-menu. These sub-menu options will open new windows. Is it possible to declare these submenu choices so they do not dissapear after I click on them? If so, can I declare it in my fxml or I have to do it programatically?

Also, is it possible to detach it from the menu button? I would like to have my menu choices around 1 cm away from the menu button itself. Thank you

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1973

Answers (1)

jewelsea
jewelsea

Reputation: 159341

Suggested Alternate Solution

If you want more flexibility in positioning a popup menu after a button click as well as fine control over when the menu shows and hides, try using a Button + a ContextMenu rather than a MenuButton.

The relevant methods are:

There is sample code for triggering a context menu on a button press button in the ContextMenu javadoc.

You might also need to monitor the context menu's showingProperty and in a listener show the menu again if the JavaFX system has decided to try and hide it after some user action and you still want the menu visible.

Answers to additional unrelated comments

OK It sounds logical, yet since Im not really good in JavaFX yet, your Idea is quite challenging.

It's not that hard to implement, but from your subsequent comments it sounds like it's probably not the user interface you want for your users anyway (which makes sense to me because the interface you describe in your question seems a little strange).

I thought If it would be easier to have a static xml that have various menu choices, lets say aligned to the right and then whenever I click one of the choices, a new FXML would be loaded in the middle of the screen holding buttons for a submenu?

That seems logical. Sounds like a JavaFX version of a traditional web page layout with a navigation menu on the side controlling a content pane in the center.

A Java only version of that is: How to have menus in java desktop application. You could adapt that to a FXML based version without too much difficulty.

You might also be interested in Managing Multiple Screens in JavaFX.

Also, any tutorial for beginners would be greatly appreciated. These Oracle ones dont make too much sense for me

If you are beginning JavaFX, I recommend using just the Java API portions of JavaFX until you become familiar with them, and then use FXML only after you are comfortable with the Java API.

Personally, I think the Oracle JavaFX Tutorials are excellent. The difficulty for beginners is that the tutorials are also part reference material, which complicates portions of them (especially the deployment related pieces).

If you prefer a different tutorial style see:

  1. Makery JavaFX tutorial (good for beginners)
  2. zenjava tutorials (more advanced)

Upvotes: 2

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