Hello World!

I would like to share my learning journey with JavaFX by demonstrating a small project in the form of a 'dock'. The goal of this project is to create a bar at the bottom of the screen where program icons can be placed and launched directly.

Project idea

I came across this project as part of the Udemy course 'JavaFX - Creating Java programs with interfaces / GUIs'.

I developed my own interpretation and expanded and improved the project according to my ideas.

Before starting

Java Version: openjdk 22
IDE: IntelliJ Community Edition
Build Tool: Maven

Create Project

Creating a JavaFX project in IntelliJ is easy.

Project Structure

I'm following the MVC architecture, with separate packages for the model, view, and controller.

public class App extends Application {
    public void start(Stage stage) throws IOException {
        //MVC
        MyView view = new MyView();
        MyController controller = new MyController(view);

        //JavaFX
        Scene scene = new Scene(view.getRoot(), 520, 240);
        stage.setTitle("Hello World!");
        stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();
    }
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        launch();
    }
}

View

public class MyView {
    private Group root = new Group();
    private ImageView imageViewDock;

    private final String[] icons = {"Browser.png", "IDE.png", "Mail.png", "Text.png" };
    private ArrayList<IconImageView> iconsList = new ArrayList<>();

    public MyView() {
        Image image = new Image(getClass().getResourceAsStream("/images/Dock.png"));
        //Dock
        imageViewDock = new ImageView(image);
        imageViewDock.setTranslateX(12);
        imageViewDock.setTranslateY(100);

        root.getChildren().add(imageViewDock);

        for(int i = 0; i < icons.length; i++){
            IconImageView icon = new IconImageView(icons[i]);
            icon.setTranslateX(90+80 * i);
            icon.setTranslateY(100);
            icon.setEffect(new Reflection());
            root.getChildren().add(icon);
            iconsList.add(icon);
        }
    }

I use the Group layout as the root element for my scene. Then I create an ImageView that contains my image for the dock.
Using a for loop, I created the icons and added them to the dock.

Icons

public class IconImageView extends ImageView {

    String path = "";

    public IconImageView(String path) {
        this.path = path;
        Image image = new Image(getClass().getResourceAsStream("/images/" + this.path +""));
        this.setImage(image);
        this.setScaleY(0.8);
        this.setScaleX(0.8);

For the icons, I created a custom IconImageView class where I defined default values and zoom in/out effects.

Controller

public class MyController {
    private  MyView view;

    public MyController(MyView view) {
        this.view = view;
        DockHandler dockHandler = new DockHandler();

        //Add Event Handler, exit by 2 clicks
        this.view.getImageViewDock().setOnMouseClicked(dockHandler.getMouseEventEventHandler());

        //Add Event Handler Icons
        ArrayList<IconImageView> iconsList = view.getIconsList();
        for ( int i = 0; i < iconsList.size(); i++){
            iconsList.get(i).setOnMouseClicked(new IconHandler(iconsList.get(i).getPath()).getEventHandler());
        }
    }
}

The controller connects my view with the model classes. The dockHandler terminates the program when you double-click on the dock.

IconHandler

public IconHandler(String path) {

        eventHandler = new EventHandler<MouseEvent>() {
            @Override
            public void handle(MouseEvent mouseEvent) {
                //Query operating system
                String os = System.getProperty("os.name").toLowerCase();


                if (path.equals("Browser.png")){
                    System.out.println("Browser");
                    if(os.contains("win")){
                        String path = "C:\\Program Files\\Mozilla Firefox\\firefox.exe" ;
                        startProgramm(path);
                    }else if (os.contains("mac")) {
                        String path = "open /Applications/Firefox.app" ;
                        startProgramm(path);
                    }else {
                        System.out.println("Unsupported operating system");
                    }

                } else if

In IconHandler, check which operating system is used and then open the application for Mac or Windows.

App

        //Transparent
        scene.setFill(Color.TRANSPARENT);
        stage.initStyle(StageStyle.TRANSPARENT);

        stage.show();

        //Position
        //Screen Size
        Rectangle2D screenSize = Screen.getPrimary().getVisualBounds();
        double x = (screenSize.getWidth() - stage.getWidth()) / 2;
        double y = screenSize.getHeight() - stage.getHeight() - 40;
        stage.setX(x);
        stage.setY(y);
    }

Finally, I implemented transparency and positioned the dock correctly on the screen.

Future

Currently, some elements, such as paths and images, are still hard-coded. I plan to improve these areas to allow new icons to be added dynamically.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this far! I'm still new to writing articles and have a lot to learn. I appreciate any feedback you may have. May the Force be with you. 😊

JavaFX Dock project