Course JavaFX - Centro Universitário da FEI
Deployment RIA with JavaFX
The JavaFX Script is a language developed for implementation of RIA (Rich Internet Application) for rich Internet applications.
More Informations about JavaFX
Course Objetive:
The objective of course is to promove the JavaFX technology for students and encourage the use of technology in academic projects and companies.The Course:
The course was from 2 to 6 February 2009 in the University Center of FEI, for the students. The mean age was 20 to 28 years. The classes had duration of 3 hours. Had 30 students in the course. The course was given by SDN Manager of Latin America Maurício Leal.
Thank you Maurício Leal
Structure:
We use Virtual Box (virtual-box.org) to mount the virtualised environment of each day, this environment was configured specifically for that class. The environment had the software, the presentation and projects used. This was very well evaluated by students. They took the home environments and were being continued. Neither had a problem with the settings of the machines, because the environments were configured and uploaded, hours before the lesson. Students had to open the Virtual Box and to start the virtual machine.
About Content:
First Day On the first day of course was the introduction of RIA (Rich Internet Applications) and JavaFX technology. It said the steps needed to start using JavaFX, showing the official site, links to downloads and some examples.- Procedure for Classroom: Teaching the concept of RIA, talk about the evolution of technology, access the Internet in different peripherals, the difficulty of standardization of sites and lack of rich applications for all access devices. Also show the site Javafx.com and examples. One question that always appears. How JavaFX works? Explaining the operation in the JVM. We installed the JDK, SDK (JavaFX) and NetBeans 6.5 with JavaFX. We install all this virtualised environment.
Second Day: On the second day, the lesson was about the basic concepts of language, learning great features and ease of programming with JavaFX. Examples of codes with scripts, operators, expressions, data types, sequences, packages and classes. Also had classroom practice, using the concepts learned.
- Procedure for Classroom: Using the presentation, teach the basic concepts of language, definition of variables, creation of objects, input and output values. Using NetBeans as IDE for development. In the "Java Passion," many examples are available.
Download: Exercises
Download: Presentation
Third Day: Students learn advanced concepts and codes unique to JavaFX. How Triggers and Bindings. In this lesson the students also learned to create and modify objects.
- Procedure for Classroom: The presentation shows several concepts that have only JavaFX as the triggers and bindings. We use the examples provided in the "Java Passion".
Download: Exercises
Download: Presentation
Quarto Dia: The fourth day was dedicated to the creation of interfaces. Project Nile, Designers and Developers unite. This practice is possible using the package available in Javafx.com called Production Suite. This package contains plugins for Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and a converter from SVG to the FX format. With this package, the designer can export its interface and passes it to the programmer developing the logic of the interface. In this lesson, students have tools for vector drawings. We use the Inkscape, an OpenSource program. In this lesson the students made animations with objects created in the tools and exported.
- Procedure for Classroom: As procedure class, the students first install the plugins of Production Suite and was a demonstration of each tool with its plugin and exporting SVG drawings for the FX format. The package for Production Suite also has a file viewer FX. After that, it was after a little exercise for the students create some objects in Inkscape and animations make the objects created.
Quinto Dia: Last day of the course was offered to the students a project where they would use all the concepts learned during the week of the course. The project was to create the best JavaFX Clock. And the best clock, won a gift.
- Procedure for Classroom: To encourage the development of projects, we had gifts for the best projects. The project was on 2 people. Was given to students in class before the resources, examples and virtualised environment with NetBeans, Inkscape and Production Suite. Also we are in support, if the students had any questions.
Course Evaluation:
At the end of the course, students completed an evaluation form with views of the course. This assessment serves as a basis for future courses. Many of the students did the course with OBJETIVE to learn new technologies. And like much of the course, giving high notes in the teacher evaluations, equipment and use of virtualised environments (Virtual Box). Many students said they will use JavaFX in academic projects and business, it is easy to implement and the union of designers with developers. But called the period of the course, which was a short time. Most students began the course with no knowledge of JavaFX and is evaluated at the end of the course with basic knowledge. These evaluations were positive for the replication of the course later.
Positive aspects of the Course:
One positive aspect was the interest of students in learning JavaFX. The course was considered so serious, we had a few failures during the week. Other aspect that was very supported, was the use of Virtual Box to virtualize the environment, because students could take the environment for home and continue to do projects and learn a new tool. We deliver gifts to all students of the Sun, like pen, stickers and CDs of OpenSolaris.Negative aspects of the Course:
One negative aspect was about the time of course, many thought it was little time for exercises. Also lacked a repository to store the materials used, it would facilitate the download. The class designer to be more comprehensive because it is an important lesson.Ideas for Future Courses:
- Create the environment in OpenSolaris
- Include the course on the topic JavaFX Mobile
- Talking about the use of JavaFX and projects that can be done with JavaFX
- Demonstrate JavaFX projects in progress with integration with other technologies. For example MySQL Database
- Do before the current one contact with students to pass links and articles to read before the course
- If pre-requisite to learn Java, provide the links of the SAI and JEDI for students to learn
- The class designer must be more comprehensive, because there is a strong interest of students.
- The challenge could be done in parts during the days of the course, the end to be unified and have a large project
Important Links:
Site JavaFx: http://javafx.com/Download JavaFX: http://javafx.com/downloads/all.jsp
Course Java Passion: http://www.javapassion.com/javafx/
Social Networking OSUM: http://osum.sun.com/group/javafx
Sun Developers Network Brazil: http://br.sun.com/developers/
Virtual Box: http://www.virtualbox.org/
InkScape: http://www.inkscape.org/
Hi, my name is Tom Mix, I study Computer Science at the University Center of FEI - Brazil. I work for Sun Microsystems as Sun Campus Ambassador. Welcome to my blog !!!