[java] Swing vs JavaFx for desktop applications

I have a very big program that is currently using SWT. The program can be run on both Windows, Mac and Linux, and it is a big desktop application with many elements. Now SWT being somewhat old I would like to switch to either Swing or JavaFX. And I would like to hear your thoughts on three things.

My main concern is what will be better for a desktop GUI application? (I looked online and a lot of people suggest that JavaFX is just as good as Swing, but I didn't see many valid arguments except simple opinion flame wars). It has to work on both Windows, Mac and some popular Linux distributions.

• What will be cleaner and easier to maintain?

• and what will be faster to build from scratch?

I am using MVC methology in my application, if that is of any help.

I'd look around to find some (3rd party?) components that do what you want. I've had to create custom Swing components for an agenda view where you can book multiple resources, as well as an Excel-like grid that works well with keyboard navigation and so on. I had a terrible time getting them to work nicely because I needed to delve into many of Swing's many intricacies whenever I came upon a problem. Mouse and focus behaviour and a lot of other things can be very difficult to get right, especially for a casual Swing user. I would hope that JavaFX is a bit more future-orientated and smooth out of the box.

On older notebooks with integrated video Swing app starts and works much faster than JavaFX app. As for development, I'd recommend switch to Scala - comparable Scala Swing app contains 2..3 times less code than Java. As for Swing vs SWT: Netbeans GUI considerably faster than Eclipse...

As stated by Oracle, JavaFX is the next step in their Java based rich client strategy. Accordingly, this is what I recommend for your situation:

What would be easier and cleaner to maintain

• JavaFX has introduced several improvements over Swing, such as, possibility to markup UIs with FXML, and theming with CSS. It has great potential to write a modular, clean & maintainable code.

What would be faster to build from scratch

• This is highly dependent on your skills and the tools you use.
  • For swing, various IDEs offer tools for rapid development. The best I personally found is the GUI builder in NetBeans.
  • JavaFX has support from various IDEs as well, though not as mature as the support Swing has at the moment. However, its support for markup in FXML & CSS make GUI development on JavaFX intuitive.

MVC Pattern Support

• JavaFX is very friendly with MVC pattern, and you can cleanly separate your work as: presentation (FXML, CSS), models(Java, domain objects) and logic(Java).
• IMHO, the MVC support in Swing isn't very appealing. The flow you'll see across various components lacks consistency.

For more info, please take a look these FAQ post by Oracle regarding JavaFX here.

• JavaFX Frequently Asked Questions

I don't think there's any one right answer to this question, but my advice would be to stick with SWT unless you are encountering severe limitations that require such a massive overhaul.

Also, SWT is actually newer and more actively maintained than Swing. (It was originally developed as a replacement for Swing using native components).

No one has mentioned it, but JavaFX does not compile or run on certain architectures deemed "servers" by Oracle (e.g. Solaris), because of the missing "jfxrt.jar" support. Stick with SWT, until further notice.