javafx.application

Class Preloader

java.lang.Object

javafx.application.Application

javafx.application.Preloader

public abstract class Preloader
extends Application

Class that is extended to define an optional preloader for a JavaFX Application. An application may contain a preloader that is used to improve the application loading experience, especially for applications that are embedded in a browser or launched in webstart execution mode.

A preloader is a small application that is started before the main application to customize the startup experience. The preloader:

• gets notification of progress of loading application resources
• gets notification of errors
• gets notification of application initialization and startup
• decides when application should become visible

The default preloader is shown on top of the application Stage, which is not visible until the preloader is visible. The preloader need to hide itself to make the application visible. Good practice is to do this no earlier than right before application.start() is called, as otherwise application itself is not visible.

The preloader may also cooperate with the application to achieve advanced visual effects or share data (e.g. to implement login screen). The preloader gets a reference to the application and may pull data it needs for cooperation from the application if the application implements an interface that the preloader knows about and relies upon. Generally it is not recommended to design preloaders in such a way that an application would call them directly, as this will result in bad user experience if the application is signed and the preloader is not.

If the application does not specify a preloader, then the default preloader is used. Default preloader appearance can be customized (set of parameters is TBD).

Custom preloader implementations should follow these rules:

1. there should be class extending Preloader
2. classes needed for preloader need to be packaged in the separate jar. We recommend this jar to be unsigned.
3. JNLP deployment descriptor should have preloader-class attribute with full name of the class as value in the javafx-desc element and jars needed for progress need to have download="progress" type

Applications may also send custom notification to the preloader using the notifyCurrentPreloader() method. This way a preloader may also show application initialization progress.

Note that preloaders are subject to the same rules as other JavaFX applications including FX threading rules. In particular, the class constructor and init() method will be called on a non-FX thread and start() will be executed on the FX application thread. This also means that the application constructor/init() will run concurrently with preloader start().

Callbacks on preloader notification will be delivered on the FX application thread.

Shutdown (including when stop() is called) is TBD.

Nested Class Summary

Nested Classes

Modifier and Type	Class and Description
static class	Preloader.ErrorNotification Preloader notification that reports an error.
static interface	Preloader.PreloaderNotification Marker interface for all Preloader notification.
static class	Preloader.ProgressNotification Preloader notification that reports progress.
static class	Preloader.StateChangeNotification A notification that signals a change in the application state.

Nested classes/interfaces inherited from class javafx.application.Application

Application.Parameters

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
Preloader()

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
void	handleApplicationNotification(Preloader.PreloaderNotification info) Indicates an application-generated notification.
boolean	handleErrorNotification(Preloader.ErrorNotification info) Called when an error occurs.
void	handleProgressNotification(Preloader.ProgressNotification info) Indicates progress.
void	handleStateChangeNotification(Preloader.StateChangeNotification info) Indicates a change in application state.

Methods inherited from class javafx.application.Application

getHostServices, getParameters, init, launch, launch, notifyPreloader, start, stop

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

Preloader

public Preloader()

Method Detail

handleProgressNotification

public void handleProgressNotification(Preloader.ProgressNotification info)

Indicates progress.

The implementation of this method provided by the Preloader class does nothing.

Parameters:

info - the progress notification

handleStateChangeNotification

public void handleStateChangeNotification(Preloader.StateChangeNotification info)

Indicates a change in application state.

The implementation of this method provided by the Preloader class does nothing.

Parameters:

info - the state change notification

handleApplicationNotification

public void handleApplicationNotification(Preloader.PreloaderNotification info)

Indicates an application-generated notification. Application should not call this method directly, but should use notifyCurrentPreloader() instead to avoid mixed code dialog issues.

The implementation of this method provided by the Preloader class does nothing.

Parameters:

info - the application-generated notification

handleErrorNotification

public boolean handleErrorNotification(Preloader.ErrorNotification info)

Called when an error occurs.

The implementation of this method provided by the Preloader class returns false, indicating that the default error handler should show the message to the user.

Parameters:

info - the error notification describing the cause of this error

Returns:

true if error was shown to the user by preloader and no additional visualization is needed; otherwise, false.