What is a JavaFX app?

It depends on who you ask. For the programmer is code. For the designer is media (images, video, layout, fonts). For the art director is the way you combine all things. For the user, an app is 'cool' or does not exist.

In any case, a JavaFX app is a combination of multiple ingredients. If one ingredient of the recipe lacks, there is no app.

Tools like the Google CC media search engine are great because represent an easy way to locate media for our apps.

Related resources:

Yahoo CC search

Google CC search

CC search

How to embed fonts in JavaFX

Let's supose you want to use a font not present in the system. For example you want to use a 'grunge' font:

The font used here is Viper Vera. It turns out that you can 'embed' the font with your application. How?

At the Java FX forum you can read:

You embed the font along with your application. You load the font by name. Simply place the ttf font file in a package in your application. Then you need to include a fonts.mf file in the META-INF of the jar so that we can discover the embedded fonts at runtime. The fonts.mf file is simply a properties file that lists the name of the font and the location of the font.

fonts.mf:

Arindam\ Neo\ Bold = /com/mycompany/fonts/arind.ttf

for example. Then in code you just load a font by name, using the name that you entered into your fonts.mf:

Font {
name: "Arindam Neo Bold"
size: 27
}

IDEOLOGIA

Imagine an authentication scheme without textual passwords. Welcome to IDEOLOGIA, a system that allows the user to log on different websites with spatial based gestures.

Based on the previous works KAOS and ILLITERATE.

User instructions:

In order to be directed to the NSA website (www.nsa.gov) the user needs to invoke the following sequence of gestures:

1. NORTH

2. NORTH

3. NORTHEAST

After the sequence is "typed" IDEOLOGIA will open a browser with the URL www.nsa.gov. No button or any usual user interface has to be pressed, just drag&drop gestures.

See a demo on youtube:

Illiterate

Imagine a computer environment without buttons o textboxes. Welcome to ILLITERATE.

Based on the previous work Kaos, ILLITERATE is a learning tool for disabled people.

Every word is presented to the user with a twist: a visual representation of the 'kaos level' of the word presented.

While the user advances on the typing work, the initial order is restored.

You can watch a ILLITERATE demo (you tube video) here:

Kaos, the roadmap

My name is Joan and I am a lawyer [*].

mmm.. so, how can a lawyer write JavaFX applications?

Well, thats a wrong question, man. Who invented XML? A lawyer. Who was the best number theorist mathematician? Fermat, a french lawyer. Who.... well, that's enough for today.

Let's talk about Kaos, a Java FX application. Java FX is an interesting beast, a DSL with very interisting skills. One is closures. If you know Smalltalk o Newspeak you know waht I mean.

Kaos is a litte prototype or proof of concept. Also is a engine that will be used in posterior applications: Illiterate andIDEOLOGIA.

Playing Kaos is very easy. Your goal is to restore the initial order. In order to do so, you can drag&drop the scrambled pieces of the initial image.

Playing Kaos you will feel like Sisyphus a greek king punished in Tartarus by being cursed to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this throughout eternity.

You can watch a demo of a KAOS session here:

[*] Well, a studend lawyer is more accurate.

Playing with licenses - Exercises

Now let's present some practical license exercises.

Don't forget to review prior related posts:

Playing with Licenses and

Playing with licenses -II

Also you can execute the JavaFX app here.

Exercise 1.

Let's supose you have found the following image:

This image has a CC license: BY-SA

Can I use the following derived work in my web blog?

Response: Yes. You are allowed to copy and modify the image. But don't forget to tag the derived image with a BY-SA license.

How to clear the JavaFX caché

Just go to the Control Panel and click on the Java icon:

Then go to the Delete Files... button and voilà, that's all!

JavaFX App Store dictionary

30 % comission. Official stores collect a 30% commision from the sellers on its stores.

Android Market (Google) Available in some countries.

App Store. Note that the term App Store is not entirely correct because some stores sell also content (ringtones, movies, music), games,... Anyway, the term has stuck and is any good as any other.

App World (RIM Blackberry)

Bulk applications. Also Known as the dirty little secret of Apple Store. iTunes has 65.000 apps on sale, but most of they are little variations of the same application written by the same publisher. Template-based apps makes you wonder how real the 65.000 number is.

Ecosystem. Many journalist see App Stores not like an integration of some hardware, developers plus consumers. For them, an App store is just a manifestation of a complete ecosystem and a thriving developer platform.

Ericsson App Store. By August its customers will be able to personalize their phones with a range of downloadable utilities, tools, and games over multiple platforms. Dont expect to find Sony (a partner of Ericcson) here.

iTunes App Store. Dubbed the last greatest capitalism experiment. Has been a terrific success. More than 500m applications, from games to interactive travel guides, have been downloaded in just a year.

Java Store. From Sun-Oracle.

mStore From Movistar. Just one of the worst user interface of the whole cyberspace.

Orange Application Store. It is already available for selected handsets in France, official release will happen before the year is over in France first, followed by the UK.

Ovi Store. From Nokia.

Oracle Store. Custormers can purchase Oracle VM Support, Oracle VM media packs, and Oracle Enterprise Linux support services media packs.

Plaza Retail Store. This is the Qualcom store.

Race to the bottom. Apps in the Stores have to compete with lower prices in order to try to boost their exposure on the rankings. Critics of this system have argued that this encorauges a "$0.99" economy which will prevent companies from investing in higher quality titles.

Rogue App Store. Online App Store not authorized by the official store. The most famous rogue App Store is Cydia Store that sells hundreds of iPhone applications not available at the Apple official store. Cydia was created by Jay Freeman (a.k.a. Saurik), a 27-year-old computer science doctoral student in Santa Barbara, California. Cydia Store users pay through Amazon Payments.

Vodafone App Store. Just announced.

Windows MarketPlace. (Microsoft)

Who killed Swing?

Figure 1. Marcus Aurelius emperor

Good question. Who killed Swing? It seems no one knows the answer. In theory Swing was not a bad boy, and it does not deserve this slow passing away. So, what happened?

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor, he ruled the western world from 161 to his death in 180 A.D. People describe him as a 'perfect emperator', except for one detail: he named succesor his son Commodus, not a balanced boy, so to speak.

He is also known for his book Meditations writen in campaign. Meditations is still revered as a literary monument of service and duty. One fragment:

"To be kind is invincible"

Well, Swing was not kind at all. It was complex and bloated. Writing a simple layout with Swing was difficult. The same layout in JavaFX is a piece of cake.

How easy is to be kind with JavaFX!

Marcus Aurelius "the wise" faced many challenges. In Asia, the Parthian empire invaded Armenia and Syria. From the north germanic tribes launched raids againts the border. He deal successfully with the attacks. Key to their success was a prior decission:

Marcus accepted the emperor throne with one condition: that he and Verus (military chief) were made joint emperors. This way, Verus had little incentive to overthrow Marcus. Verus remained loyal until his dead in 169.

Today, this would be an example of 'strategic partnership'. Really it was just common sense. Java FX has a very good foundation, but you need more than a nice language to thrive. Strategic alliances are needed to leverage the JavaFX potential.

Playing with licenses - II

In the last post Playing with licenses we have outlined the main points for two kind of licenses:

- All right reserved: Author (the person who created the media work) has all the rights.

- Creative Commons (CC) license: Author leaves some rights. This license can take six forms:

Attribution (BY)

Figure 1. License BY

This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered, in terms of what others can do with your works licensed under Attribution.

Attribution - Share Alike (BY-SA)

Figure 2. License BY-SA

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use.

Atribution - No Derivatives (BY-ND)

Figure 3. BY-ND license

This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed

along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.

Attribution - Non commercial (BY-NC)

Figure 4. Attribution - Non commercial

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Attribution Non Commercial Share-Alike (BY-NC-SA)

Figure 5. BY-NC-SA

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. Others can download and redistribute your work just like the by-nc-nd license, but they can also translate, make remixes, and produce new stories based on your work. All new work based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature.

Attribution Non commercial Non derivatives (BY-NC-ND)

Figure 6. BY-NC-ND

This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, allowing redistribution. This license is often called the “free advertising” license because it allows others to download your works and share them with others as long as they mention you and link back to you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

Playing with licenses

Image Licenses are not necessarily a complex subject. You can even play with the concept. Let's take a very practical approach:

Consider the portal Picasa. Picasa (www.picasa.com) is a google online portal where photo aficionados can upload their captures. Users can take pictures and backup them online. You can easily tag, order, share and even manipulate every item of your great picture collection.

Picasa allows the user to decide the license of their creations, you can do it in Settings -> Privacy and Permissions .

Here you can choose an appropiate license for yout photos. Here is a screenshot:

Figure1. Choosing a license in Picasa

In short, you have two options: All rights reserved or a CreativeCommons license:

• All right reserved

Wiht this license you retain all rights of your creation. It is a fair decission, for one thing you are the autor of the picture!

In this case, you can add the legend: ©All rights reserved.

What does that mean? If someone want to use your creation(for example, allocating your photo in their personal blog) needs to ask you for permission.

Every person o company that uses your photo without your permission can be sued.

May be you are asking, what is the point of this? Would not it be better to allow everybody to use all images? Well, it is your entire decission. If you want to allow

everybody to use your creation you can use other license (we will review theses licenses later), on the other hand if you want to retain all rights on your

creation you can do it. In theory (some authors disagree here )licenses provide authors with a greater incentive to create. This economic incentive fosters creation and innovation.

• Creative Commons licenses

Leave some rights of your images. Of course, there are some rights you can not renounce,

for example attribution: You are the author of this great picture, and no license can change this fact. But you can renounce to some other rights, for example, you can allow everybody to use your picture without asking permission. In this case you can tag the image with this legend. CreativeCommons(CC)

OK, after this introduction let's present a JavaFX app equivalent to the Picasa license page:

Figure 2. Click for full size

In order to execute the application click the following link

More on the next blog post!

Shop till U drop!

Apple iTunes App Store (dubbed the last greatest capitalism experiment) has been a terrific success. More than 500m applications, from games to interactive travel guides, have been downloaded.

Without surprise more companies are roolling out their App Store:

• Ericsson App Store. (Ericsson without Sony)

By August its customers will be able to personalize their phones with a range of downloadable utilities, tools, and games over multiple platforms

• Vodafone App Store. Just announced.
• Orange Application Store which is already available for selected handsets in France, official release will happen before the year is over in France first, followed by the UK.
• Plaza Retail Store (Qualcomm)

• Java Store (Oracle)

• Oracle Store (Oracle) Custormers can purchase Oracle VM Support, Oracle VM media packs, and Oracle Enterprise Linux support services media packs.

• Ovi Store (Nokia-O2-Orange)

At a glance: users from 152 countries around the world. Support for more than 75 Nokia devices. Integrated mobile billing with 27 operators globally. Localized in 5 different languages. Opened two weeks ago

• Windows Marketplace (Microsoft)

• App World (RIM's BlackBerry)

• Android Market (Google) Available in some countries

Only a few shops will thrive. Without doubt Java Store will be one of these. You need more than a closed platform (you know? Ericsson phone chargers are not comppatible with their own previous models!) in order to be successful.

Update 1. Tony Cripps, principal analyst at mobile phone consultancy Ovum, said: "Every man and his dog wants an apps store. Apple's has been such a phenomenal success that all the other players are desperately trying to play catch-up as traditional revenues fall."

Update 2. "Two months ago Nokia launched a revamped app store called Ovi that featured games, applications, podcasts and videos. But the store got off to a rocky start, as users faced problems accessing it and downloading the programs. Nokia blamed the “extraordinarily high spikes of traffic” for the performance issues. "

Source: wired.com