Phil Race has posted a blog post over at the JavaFX Blog on the addition of LCD text support in the latest JavaFX 2.1 developer preview.

• JavaFX 2.0 for Windows, and JavaFX 2.0 developer preview for Mac OS shipped at JavaOne in early October.
• In mid-October we shipped JavaFX 2.0.1 for Windows. This was a security-only release.
• Earlier this month JavaFX 2.0.2 was released, which included a huge number of bug fixes, optimisations, some new API, and an improved redistribution license.

Today we are proud to announce that JavaFX 2.1 early access is available for Windows. It has been available for Mac OS for quite some time from the same page…

The reason why I say we’re proud: we’re hitting all the targets we’re talking about, and the releases just keep getting better and more featured. JavaFX 2.1 is going to be a more substantial release, and I’m so pleased we can get you early versions of it so soon.

Now, a word of warning: don’t use the early access releases in production – it is pre-beta code and will be more buggy than 2.0.2. We’re putting this out for public use so people may test the new features and provide feedback.

As with all other releases I’ve announced:

• Go to the forums to discuss JavaFX questions you have,
• Sign up to the openjfx-dev mailing list if you’re interested in our open source developments,
• File bug reports over at our Jira issue tracker.

Happy testing!

• Interoperability with the Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT).
• New scroll event that handles scrolling on two axes and replaces the MouseEvent.MOUSE_WHEEL_ROTATED event.
• Change of license, which enables third party developers to redistribute the JavaFX Runtime with their applications in accordance with the Oracle Binary Code License Agreement for the Java SE Platform Products and JavaFX.
• Updated doclet for the Javadoc tool that is used to generate JavaFX API documentation in HTML format.
• Updated NetBeans projects for the JavaFX samples for use with the NetBeans 7.1 release.

The JavaFX documentation team has also put out more documentation to explain a number of areas, including:

• Styling Charts with CSS describes how to alter the visual appearance of charts in your application. Using the various CSS classes and properties you can set an alternative color scheme, add images and graphical effects, modify the chart legend and plot, and even invent new chart symbols.
• The Menu chapter of the JavaFX UI Controls tutorial describes how to build a menu bar in your application, add menu items, assign specific actions to each item, and set a context menu for a node.
• Handling JavaFX Events describes how to create and use event handlers and event filters to process user interactions with your application.
• Using a Doclet with JavaFX describes how to use the Javadoc doclet that was created for use with JavaFX source code. Using the doclet with the Javadoc tool produces customized HTML documentation.
• Deploying JavaFX Applications describes a new JavaFX Ant helper parameter, <fx:argument>. Also new is a mechanism for passing images to the <fx:deploy> task. Use <fx:icon> to pass icons for various purposes or <fx:splash> to pass a splash screen image for Web Start applications.

Relevant links:

• Download
• Release notes
• JavaFX frequently asked questions

Sometime soon the source code for UI Controls will appear in the mercurial repo. UI Controls are the first part of JavaFX to be open sourced, followed by the rest of the toolkit over the coming months. All development being done on UI controls will appear in this repo, as it happens. The source code that will appear shortly is based on the 2.1 release of JavaFX. This means that soon you will be able to build development snapshots of OpenJFX as it progresses towards each official release. This is exciting for me as it gives you early access to our APIs, allowing you to give us feedback (via our Jira tracker), which in turn allows for us to improve the API before it is released (and set in stone).

It is exciting times – I hope you all get involved! We have much more to discuss, but that can wait for another day.

FXML is a scriptable, XML-based markup language for constructing JavaFX user interfaces. It is an alternative option for building your user interfaces, in addition to using Java, or any other JVM-based language (or a wrapper like GroovyFX). To quote the JavaOne session abstract on FXML: “The hierarchical structure of an XML document closely parallels the structure of the JavaFX scene graph, making it easy to visualize the resulting output. Event handlers can be written with any JVM-compatible scripting language, such as JavaScript, Groovy, or Clojure. Additional features include on-the-fly localization, dynamic data binding, and code modularization.”

Whilst we rolled out b37 as soon as we could to get you access to FXML, we are still working on a sample of how to use it – and this will be in the next public beta build. Additionally, we are busily working on plenty of documentation on how to use FXML which will become available in our documentation area as soon as it is ready. Who knows, if there is enough pleading in the comments on this blog post, maybe I can try to get someone to write a blog post here about the wonders of FXML

Of course, along with b37 including FXML, it also contains a weeks worth of bug fixes, performance tweaks and necessary API changes (based in no small part on your feedback to our Jira tracker). As always, I look forward to hearing your feedback on this latest release. The best place to discuss JavaFX 2.0 is at the OTN forum, where many of the JavaFX team lurk. However, file your bug reports / request for enhancements directly to our Jira tracker if you want to maximise your chances of being heard!

• The worker threading API that Richard has discussed previously.
• Support for rich text editing (via the new HTMLEditor control)
• A FileChooser dialog.
• FXML, which is a scriptable, XML-based markup language for constructing JavaFX user interfaces. Turns out I was wrong on this – we didn’t get this into this build. It will definitely be in the next one however!

In addition, I believe that both the online API docs, as well as the developer documentation, have been updated, and additional tutorials added. These changes may take a short while to be reflected online however are now online.

I recommend that everyone that is working with JavaFX 2.0 beta builds update to the latest build as soon as possible, as that helps to uncover new issues and also reflects the very latest features and functionality. From my understanding the download rate for these beta builds has been huge, so thanks to everyone for testing the beta releases and giving such valuable feedback. I look forward to hearing your feedback on this latest release. The best place to discuss JavaFX 2.0 is at the OTN forum.

Also, thanks to everyone filing bugs and feature requests into our Jira issue tracker. It’s your feedback that we’re using to polish the beta releases. I hope that you’ll keep providing your useful feedback throughout the beta release train.

I recommend that everyone that is playing with JavaFX 2.0 beta builds (and from my understanding there has been a huge amount of downloading going on) to update to the latest build as soon as possible, as that helps to uncover new issues and also reflects the very latest features and functionality.