CODEWITHSUNDEEP
client-serverjavafx-2
Alvaro
Alvaro

Reputation: 12037

Can JavaFX be used as a thin web client?

The question is quite simple: Can we use JavaFX as a thin client running on a browser while a java server does most of the work? IE: cretate the UI and it's controllers with JavaFX and have the bussiness/database connection/etc part run on a server? Even if possible, would it be a complicated turnaround?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1804

Answers (2)

kpenrose
kpenrose

Reputation: 186

If it's an enterprise app, and you already know that your users will have java installed on their clients, javafx is a good solution. If not, the downloading of the javafx jar can be quite a buzz kill the first time an app is run, as it's quite (understandably) large. I'm using it for enterprise apps, and the web start functionality works well. And don't forget, if you're using jdk 7, there is a javafx packager which will create a single file installer/run-time for your app. I can't provide a lot of detail for that as I haven't bothered with it yet.

Upvotes: 1

sarcan
sarcan

Reputation: 3165

Based on the information you've provided, I wouldn't necessarily say that JavaFX is a good fit, but on the other hand I would not worry about the load times. My rationale is: The bad thing about JavaFX is that you have an additional tech requirement for your clients (JVM) and require some form of installation (even if it is just an applet). Those won't be a factor for HTML5. JavaFX has benefits over HTML5 if one of these cases is true:

1) You have complex controls and/or a lot of user interaction with the UI

2) You need your application to be really flashy, e.g. by incorporating animations

3) You have a complex business logic that you would like to execute on the client (e.g. because you had a previous implementation as a rich client)

'Some tables and simple controls' don't really fit here.

The reason why I wouldn't worry too much about the download time is that most users of an enterprise application will be using your app a lot from few different machines, thus caching should deal with that problem (plus an FX app is not going to be that large).

There is an interesting article on the topic to be found here: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/java/casa-1919152.html . Since it is coming directly from Oracle, you should of course take it with a pinch of salt, but I for one do agree with the general notion. The article also outlines some (subjective) experiences when switching to JavaFX.

Upvotes: 3

Related Questions