I am trying to build a dummy webshop with JavaFX. I deliberately do not use fxml, scenebuilder, maven or any other build tool. Just plain JavaFX, in order to really get to understand the basics. However, I ran into a problem creating and navigating different 'pages'.
I have tried various creative solutions, like this one (is posting links allowed?), but none fully work for me, as I want every 'page', 'view' or scene in a seperate java class file, in order to keep everything structured and orderly.
I figured I'd make a Borderpane as a parent layout for every page
abstract class WindowBase extends BorderPane {
public abstract BorderPane render(App app);
public WindowBase() {
Label labelTop = new Label("Top box");
HBox topBox = new HBox();
topBox.setStyle("-fx-background-color: red;");
topBox.getChildren().addAll(labelTop);
Label labelLeft = new Label("Left box");
VBox leftBox = new VBox();
leftBox.setStyle("-fx-background-color: green;");
leftBox.getChildren().addAll(labelLeft);
Label labelRight = new Label("Right box");
VBox rightBox = new VBox();
rightBox.setStyle("-fx-background-color: blue;");
rightBox.getChildren().addAll(labelRight);
Label labelBottom = new Label("Bottom box");
HBox bottomBox = new HBox();
bottomBox.setStyle("-fx-background-color: yellow;");
bottomBox.getChildren().addAll(labelBottom);
this.setTop(topBox);
this.setLeft(leftBox);
this.setRight(rightBox);
this.setBottom(bottomBox);
}
}
and a child, the home page
public class Homepage extends WindowBase {
public BorderPane render(App app) {
Button button = new Button("Go to shopping cart");
button.setOnAction((event) -> app.toShoppingCart());
StackPane centerPane = new StackPane();
centerPane.getChildren().add(button);
this.setCenter(centerPane);
return this;
}
}
and lastly my App.java that runs everything
public class App extends Application{
private WindowBase view;
public void start(Stage stage) throws Exception {
view = new Homepage();
stage.setScene(new Scene(view.render(this)));
stage.setFullScreen(true);
stage.show();
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
launch(args);
}
public void toHomepage() {
this.view = new Homepage();
}
public void toShoppingCart() {
this.view = new ShoppingCart();
}
}
I understand that I can't pass this (App) as an argument to view.render(), use the parameter within the method render and expect to be able to manipulate it, because it only creates a new instance of App as soon as it gets there. However, I see no other way either.
I tried placing the navigation buttons in the App class, in order to be able to manipulate view, but then I cannot call on the buttons from the subsequent views.
There must be a way to achieve what I want without writing the complete GUI in one file, right? Should I make my view static in stead, is that it?
Instead of BorderPanes I am of course also okay with using Scenes, whatever works.
I have figured out exactly the solution that I wanted. Posting it here for whoever encounters the same situation.
Class WindowBase
public class WindowBase {
public BorderPane getMainPane() {
Label labelTop = new Label("Top box");
HBox topBox = new HBox();
topBox.setStyle("-fx-background-color: red;");
topBox.getChildren().addAll(labelTop);
Label labelLeft = new Label("Left box");
VBox leftBox = new VBox();
leftBox.setStyle("-fx-background-color: green;");
leftBox.getChildren().addAll(labelLeft);
Label labelRight = new Label("Right box");
VBox rightBox = new VBox();
rightBox.setStyle("-fx-background-color: blue;");
rightBox.getChildren().addAll(labelRight);
Label labelBottom = new Label("Bottom box");
HBox bottomBox = new HBox();
bottomBox.setStyle("-fx-background-color: yellow;");
bottomBox.getChildren().addAll(labelBottom);
BorderPane borderPane = new BorderPane();
borderPane.setTop(topBox);
borderPane.setLeft(leftBox);
borderPane.setRight(rightBox);
borderPane.setBottom(bottomBox);
return borderPane;
}
}
Class Homepage
public class Homepage extends WindowBase {
public BorderPane render(Button toShoppingCart) {
Label label = new Label("This is the homepage.");
label.setStyle(
"-fx-font: normal bold 30px 'elephant'; -fx-text-fill: black; -fx-background-color: red;");
StackPane stackPane = new StackPane();
stackPane.getChildren().addAll(label);
BorderPane mainPane = getMainPane();
VBox leftBox = (VBox) mainPane.getLeft();
leftBox.getChildren().add(toShoppingCart);
//I do not understand why this works. I abstracted leftBox from mainPane, then added shoppingCart, but never added the abstracted
// leftBox back to the mainPane before returning it. This should not work, but it does. leftBox.getChildren().add(toShoppingCart)
// should have no effect.
//However, mainPane.getChildren().add(leftBox) throws an IllegalArgumentException about duplicate components, which is to be
// expected if the leftBox is already automatically added back to the mainPane.
mainPane.setCenter(stackPane);
return mainPane;
}
}
Class ShoppingCart
public class ShoppingCart extends WindowBase {
public ShoppingCart() {
super();
}
public BorderPane render(Button toHomepage) {
Label label = new Label("This is the shopping cart.");
label.setStyle(
"-fx-font: normal bold 30px 'elephant'; -fx-text-fill: black; -fx-background-color: red;");
StackPane centerPane = new StackPane();
centerPane.getChildren().add(label);
BorderPane mainPane = getMainPane();
VBox leftBox = (VBox) mainPane.getLeft();
leftBox.getChildren().add(toHomepage);
mainPane.setCenter(centerPane);
return mainPane;
}
}
Class App
public class App extends Application{
Scene scene;
@Override
public void start(Stage stage) throws Exception {
Homepage homePane = new Homepage();
Button toHomepage = new Button("Back to home page");
ShoppingCart shoppingPane = new ShoppingCart();
Button toShoppingCart = new Button("To shopping cart");
toHomepage.setOnAction(e -> scene.setRoot(homePane.render(toShoppingCart)));
toShoppingCart.setOnAction(e -> scene.setRoot(shoppingPane.render(toHomepage)));
scene = new Scene(homePane.render(toShoppingCart), 600, 400);
stage.setScene(scene);
stage.setFullScreen(true);
stage.show();
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
launch(args);
}
}