CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javajavafx
danmaze
danmaze

Reputation: 369

Is JavaFX part of the public API?

I am working with code that involves using the JavaFX platform and I encountered the following error from Eclipse while trying to import the Application class from the javafx.application package:

Access restriction: The type 'Application' is not API (restriction on 
required library rt.jar)

I encountered the above error when trying to import classes from the javafx.application, javafx.scene, and javafx.stage packages.

Thanks to this answer, I know so far that the problem arises from access restrictions placed by Eclipse by default to prevent the accidental use of classes which it thinks are not part of the public API. Is this the case for JavaFX? Also, I'm also not sure I'm completely clear on what it means for a package or class to be in the public API.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 754

Answers (2)

danmaze
danmaze

Reputation: 369

Thank to responses from @Slaw and @Benjamin to @Florian's answer, I think I can now provide an answer to my question:

JavaFX 2.2 and later releases are fully integrated with the Java SE 7 Runtime Environment (JRE) and the Java Development Kit (JDK). However, JavaFX is no longer a part of the standard JDK, as of Java SE 11. This is probably why Eclipse is worried and requires explicit access rules for the library.

Also, the comments have helped to clarify that this does not mean that the stability and future reliability of JavaFX is completely uncertain. JavaFX, as of now, is stable and is being developed as OpenJFX which is part of the OpenJDK project (a free, open-source implementation of the Java SE). The latest release is JavaFX 13.

In summary, JavaFX has a "public" API such as the javafx.* packages and a "private" API such as the com.sun.javafx.* packages. However, the implication of the current state of JavaFX is that as a library, it will have to be pulled in like any other external dependency since it is not bundled with the standard JDK/JRE.

Upvotes: 4

Florian Hergenhahn
Florian Hergenhahn

Reputation: 66

To make it short, JavaFX is not in the "public" Java API.

The Java API contains the most common tools a developer needs, for example collections, network, different parsers, etc... Therefor JavaFX is not in the public Java API.

If you want to see which tools are included you can check out this link https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/ .

Upvotes: 1

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