JavaFX Essentials

A hands-on JavaFX learning and reference project — practical samples of FXML views, controllers, UI controls, and JDBC data access, built around a small desktop application (FreeNAC).

Overview

This repository collects working JavaFX samples that demonstrate the essential building blocks of a desktop Java application: the FXML-based MVC pattern, controllers wired to the scene graph, a range of JavaFX UI controls, custom table cells, scene navigation, and database-backed CRUD via JDBC.

The samples are organized around FreeNAC, a small JavaFX desktop app used as the running example (a network-access management UI with login, user/profile management, and a complaints/"reclamations" module). The point of the repo is educational — to show how the pieces of a JavaFX app fit together — rather than to ship a finished product. Expect example-quality code, a few half-finished branches, and learning-in-progress patterns.

Note: this is a learning project. It is not hardened for production — for example, several database queries are built by string concatenation, which is shown here as-is for reference rather than as recommended practice.

What's Inside

Concepts and JavaFX features actually demonstrated in the code:

Application & scene setup

• Application lifecycle — start(Stage), launch(args), building a Scene and Stage (sample/Main.java)
• Loading views from FXML with FXMLLoader and getClass().getResource(...)
• Scene navigation — swapping scenes, opening new Stage windows, closing the current window

FXML & MVC

• FXML view files paired with controllers implementing Initializable
• @FXML-injected fields and event handlers (onAction, onMouseClicked, onDragDetected)
• Separation of concerns: Gui/ (FXML) · Controller/ · Entity/ · Service/ · Helpers/

UI controls

• TextField, PasswordField, TextArea, Label, Button, ComboBox, Separator, Tooltip, Alert (confirmation dialogs), Image / ImageView
• TableView with TableColumn and PropertyValueFactory for property binding
• Custom TableCell / cellFactory rendering: image thumbnails in cells, a ProgressBarTableCell, and per-row action buttons (edit / delete)
• Live table filtering and sorting with FilteredList + SortedList driven by a search field
• Drag-and-drop file handling onto an ImageView (DragEvent, Dragboard, TransferMode)
• FileChooser for picking and copying image files
• Toast-style notifications via ControlsFX (org.controlsfx.control.Notifications)
• WebView / WebEngine references for embedded web content

Data access (JDBC)

• Singleton MySQL Connection helper using DriverManager (Helpers/database.java)
• Service layer implementing generic CRUD interfaces (intService/) over entities
• Statement and PreparedStatement usage; ResultSet mapping to entity objects
• CRUD operations: add / read / update / delete, find-by-id, find-by-email

Supporting patterns

• POJO entities with getters/setters and toString() (Entity/)
• A simple singleton user-session holder (Helpers/UserSession.java)
• Sending email via the JavaMail API over SMTP (Helpers/javaMail.java)
• External CSS styling for the scene graph (Css/)

Tech Stack

• Language: Java 8 (JDK 1.8 / Amazon Corretto 8)
• UI framework: JavaFX 8 (FXML, Scene Builder–style views, CSS)
• Database: MySQL via MySQL Connector/J 8.0.23 (JDBC)
• UI libraries: ControlsFX 8.40.11, JFoenix 8.0.10 (Material-style controls)
• Email: JavaMail (javax.mail) 1.6.2
• IDE: IntelliJ IDEA (project files included)

Getting Started

JavaFX 8 ships bundled with the Java 8 JDK, so no separate JavaFX SDK is required when using JDK 8.

Prerequisites

• JDK 8 (the project is configured for JDK 1.8 / Corretto 8)
• A running MySQL server
• The third-party JARs listed above (ControlsFX, JFoenix, MySQL Connector/J, JavaMail) on the classpath

1. Clone

git clone https://github.com/MuhamedHabib/JavaFX-Essentials.git
cd JavaFX-Essentials

2. Database

• Create a MySQL database (the helper connects to a schema named freenac on localhost:3306).
• Adjust the connection URL / credentials in src/Helpers/database.java to match your local MySQL setup.
• Create the tables the services reference (e.g. responsable, reclamation, serialport) based on the entity fields in src/Entity/.

3. Open & run

• Open the project in IntelliJ IDEA (an .iml module and .idea/ config are included).
• Ensure the libraries above are attached to the module.
• Run sample/Main.java (the Application entry point).

Configuration values such as the database URL/credentials and the SMTP sender used by the email helper are placeholders — replace them with your own before running. Do not commit real credentials.

Notes

• Learning repository. Code is sample-grade and meant for study and reference. Some modules are partial or experimental (for example a serial-port service and a couple of test/ controllers), and a few values are hardcoded for demonstration.
• Original language. Parts of the source (UI text, comments, identifiers) are in French, reflecting the project's origin; this README presents the concepts in English.
• Build. There is no Maven/Gradle build script — the project is wired through IntelliJ module/library settings, so dependencies are added in the IDE rather than via a dependency manager.
• Security. Treat any credentials found in the source as placeholders to be replaced; never store real secrets in the repository.

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Built by Mohamed Habib Khattat — GitHub (@MuhamedHabib) · LinkedIn