JavaFX is here …

I thought it was going to be a bit later, but JavaFX is ready for download. The site has also been redesigned, and to the relief of many (I’m sure) it actually uses the technology it’s advertising (at least for the video).

I’m downloading the Netbeans bundle as I write this, so we’ll see what this package brings but from the JavaFX blog here are a list of features available in this release;

Here are just a few of the features in JavaFX 1.0:

• KeyFrame animation
• XML & JSON web services
• Fast and easy to use 2D graphics
• PerspectiveTransform for 3D effects
• Pixel-filters and visual effects with GPU hardware acceleration
• Video and Audio support using both native and cross-platform codecs
• Swing Integration
• CSS styling (more on that later)
• Windows XP+ and Mac 10.4+ support with Linux & Solaris in the works (more on that later too)
• The new JavaFX Script language with binding and animation built in, running 10->20x faster than Javascript
• Visually rich applets that you can drag to your desktop and save for later
• Integration with Photoshop and Illustrator
• Access to the world’s huge library of Java code and APIs
• A new website with docs, tutorials, and tons of BSD licensed sample code
• A sneak-peek beta of JavaFX on mobile devices

Also, I’m interested to hear if anybody else is having some problems with the JFX enabled video. I’m seeing some weird errors in my Java console, and I don’t think it’s starting fast enough for me as intended. I see this error (but the video still plays at the end).

network: Wrote URL http://dl.javafx.com/emptyJarFile-1228403636122__V1.0.0.jar to File D:\somepath\javaws\temp\6.0\47\a6b8bef-751ceabc-temp
java.util.zip.ZipException: ZIP file must have at least one entry
at java.util.zip.ZipOutputStream.finish(Unknown Source)

Well the file is called “empty jar file”, I wonder what it’s trying to do.

BTW congrats to the JFX team, the release surely took a lot of hard work and sleepless nights.