Author: Frank Delporte

Creating a Snake Game with JavaFX FXGL in Three Pair-Programming Sessions

In this article, Almas and Frank show you how to start with an idea for a game and bring it to life in a prototype application. We will then modify the application to run on a Raspberry Pi and on a mobile device.

To give some background, some time ago my 10y old son challenged me to create a Snake-like game with emojis. He selected the emoji images and I “only” needed to do the programming bit, the easy part… Luckily Almas asked me if I had a topic for some pair-programming for his YouTube channel, and his question turned into a three-part series. My son is delighted because his idea is now a real game!

JavaFX Running in Kiosk Mode on the Raspberry Pi

Combined with an inexpensive touch screen, the Raspberry Pi makes for a perfect controller for a machine or game console.

Let’s see how we can use Java and JavaFX to build a test application that also communicates with the pins of the Raspberry Pi to control a LED.

Java Development with VS Code on the Raspberry Pi

Recently we published a full getting started guide for Java with VS Code together with a list of tips and plugins for Java development with Visual Studio Code.

But… did you know you can also use it on the ARM-processor-powered Raspberry Pi?

Until recently this was not available in an official version for the Raspberry Pi, but luckily Microsoft decided to release new versions with installers for both 32-bit and 64-bit Raspberry Pis.

Let’s install and test them!

Device Monitoring with JavaFX and FXGL

In a previous post, Getting Started with FXGL Game Development, we already have taken a look at the FXGL game development framework developed by Almas Baimagambetov.

But, this game engine can also be used for other use cases. In this post, we will be building a system monitoring dashboard, which can run on a Raspberry Pi.

The dashboard can be used to keep an eye on any device that can report its state to a queue. And, for me personally, it finally solves the problem of finding the IP addresses of all my Raspberry Pi’s when my router decided to shuffle them.

Java Predictions for 2021: Raspberry Pi

To celebrate the world of Java and predict some highlights for 2021, several key Foojay participants share their thoughts, starting with Frank Delporte, Foojay Community Manager for Raspberry Pi.

“Looking back to my Java adventures in 2020, I can only conclude it has been a wonderful journey.

By writing my book “Getting Started with Java on the Raspberry Pi” and blogging for Foojay, I discovered Java in the embedded world has a very bright future. With the 6-month release cycle of both Java and JavaFX, a lot of improvements and new features that impact the use of Java on Raspberry Pi, are introduced with every new version.”

Light Up your Christmas Tree with Java and Raspberry Pi

Are you a serious Java-developer looking for a fun project?

Or want to learn something completely new and use your Java-knowledge to control electronic components?

Here we go with this small project to get you introduced to the world of electronics programming!

Native Applications for Multiple Devices from a Single JavaFX Project with Gluon Mobile and GitHub Actions

The power of JavaFX combined with the Gluon tools and GitHub actions is amazing. Building and distributing a truly cross-platform application has never been easier!

Really not a single code change is needed to run on different platforms. As you can see from the build processed, the exact same code is used to create native applications for both Windows, Linux, MacOS, iOS, and Android!

Starting a JavaFX Project with Gluon Tools

Here on foojay.io you can already find two posts by Carl Dea to get you started with JavaFX.

In this post, I want to show you yet another approach that uses the tools provided by Gluon, who are the maintainers, and the driving force behind OpenJFX.

The Gluon start website and the plugin allow you to get started with a new JavaFX project in a few clicks.

Thanks to the amazing work done by the Gluon team this also gives you a quick-start for the creation of a mobile application which can be built for both Android and iOS.

Getting Started with FXGL Game Development

FXGL is a JavaFX Game Library Engine for Java and Kotlin, created by Almas Baimagambetov.

In this article, you’ll read what FXGL is, what it is good for, what its dependencies are, as well as a complete scenario with a video and code snippets to set up your first FXGL scenario from scratch.

OpenJDK vs. OpenJFX Release Cycles

Confused about the release cycles of OpenJDK and OpenJFX and the relationship between them? Read on to have all your questions answered.

At this moment, there are no planned features or changes in OpenJFX which require new JDK features (text blocks, records, etc), so the next releases of OpenJFX will most probably still be compatible with JDK 11.

JavaFX 3D: A Look Back Through History & Some Experiments

After my virtual conference talk “Java and JavaFX on the Raspberry Pi” at the “Oracle Groundbreakers APAC Virtual Tour 2020”, I got in touch with some people who were working on JavaFX 3D in the past, and were curious how that would behave on the Raspberry Pi.

JavaFX 3D really is a hidden gem! I’ve been using JavaFX already for a long time now but wasn’t aware of these 3D features… And the demos presented here really impressed me.