CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascalajavafxopenjfx
Hannes
Hannes

Reputation: 5282

Scala + OpenJFX + OpenJDK

I am about to start a new GUI project utilizing Scala and JavaFX/OpenJFX.

Last time I was involved Java 8 was state-of-the-art, JavaFX was integrated with both JDK and JRE and Scala used JDK 8 for building, Jigsaw was not there and Oracle provided (free) (bug) fixes almost forever.

Now, a few years later, things have changed rather dramatically: Java 11+ is what we are supposed to use, JavaFX has been unbundled and its development is continued as OpenJFX (more or less) independently to Java, Jigsaw is there and Oracle forces the users to upgrade their environment every 6 months.

That changes would not be too bad if it wasn't for the fact that Scala still seems to operate on JDK 8, OpenJDK builds do not include JavaFX, and AFAIR, OpenJFX is not available to Java version prior to Java 11.

All that leads me to the question: What tool stack would one use to implement a Scala application using JavaFX/OpenJFX as GUI toolkit?

Is it safe to use Scala with JDK (not JRE!) 11+?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 862

Answers (1)

user1803551
user1803551

Reputation: 13427

Oracle forces the users to upgrade their environment every 6 months.

As noted in the comments, this is not true. You can still use JDK 8 even. If you want Oracle LTS, use Java 11. There are other companies that give LTS to other OpenJDK versions (RedHat JDK, Azure JDK...). Mark Reinhold (Chief Java Architect) explained this many times in his talks (1, 2 or any of his talks that he has repeated 3 times a year for the last 2 years).

What tool stack would one use to implement a Scala application using JavaFX/OpenJFX as GUI toolkit?

I'm not a Scala developer, but use whatever latest OpenJDK build Scala allows you to, and depending on if and what support you need, whichever OpenJDK version is supported. I'm willing to bet OpenJDK 11 will answer all your needs.

JavaFX has been removed from the Oracle JDK, but was never bundled in OpenJDK JDK1. You can easily bundle OpenJFX2 as a dependency when using OpenJDK, either as external JARs or through a dependency manager (Gradle, Maven...). The JavaFX/OpenJFX website is https://openjfx.io and contains instructions on how to do it.

JavaFX/OpenJFX versions are released in parallel (more or less) to the JDKs and supports 1 versions back of OpenJDK (OpenJFX N supports JDK N-1 and JDK N, and maybe JDK N-2...). So, if you use OpenJDK 11, you can use OpenJFX 11 or 12. OpenJFX 13+ could work, but it is not guaranteed.

Is it safe to use Scala with JDK (not JRE!) 11+?

If your Scala version supports it, OpenJDK 11+ and OpenJFX 11+ are safe. Note that the JRE has been removed from the JDK, so it's irrelevant.

1 OpenJDK JDK is the right way to refer to it, like Oracle JDK, but most people just use OpenJDK.

2 OpenJFX is to JavaFX what OpenJDK JDK is to Oracle JDK, but OpenJFX and JavaFX are used interchangeably since there's no real difference.

Upvotes: 1

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