Hardly anyone knows more about JavaFX than Java Champion and Oracle’s JavaFX Evangelist, Jim Weaver, who will be leading two Hands on Labs on aspects of JavaFX at this year’s JavaOne:

• HOL11265 – “Playing to the Strengths of JavaFX and HTML5” (With Jeff Klamer - App Designer, Jeff Klamer Design) Wednesday, Oct 3, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM - Hilton San Francisco - Franciscan A/B/C/D
• HOL3058 – “Custom JavaFX Controls” (With Gerrit Grunwald, Senior Software Engineer, Canoo Engineering AG; Bob Larsen, Consultant, Larsen Consulting; and Peter Vašenda, Software Engineer, Oracle) Tuesday, Oct 2, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM - Hilton San Francisco - Franciscan A/B/C/D

I caught up with Jim at JavaOne to ask him for a current snapshot of JavaFX.

“In my opinion,” observed Weaver, “the most important thing happening with JavaFX is the ongoing improvement to rich-client Java application deployment. For example, JavaFX packaging tools now provide built-in support for self-contained application packages. A package may optionally contain the Java Runtime, and be distributed with a native installer (e.g., a DMG or EXE). This makes it easy for users to install JavaFX apps on their client machines, perhaps obtaining the apps from the Mac App Store, for example. Igor Nekrestyanov and Nancy Hildebrandt have written a comprehensive guide to JavaFX application deployment, the following section of which covers Self-Contained Application Packaging: http://docs.oracle.com/javafx/2/deployment/self-contained-packaging.htm#BCGIBBCI.

“Igor also wrote a blog post titled, "7u10: JavaFX Packaging Tools Update," that covers improvements introduced so far in Java SE 7 update 10. Here's the URL to the blog post:
https://blogs.oracle.com/talkingjavadeployment/entry/packaging_improvements_in_jdk_7”

I asked about how the strengths of JavaFX and HTML5 interact and reinforce each other. “They interact and reinforce each other very well. I was about to be amazed at your insight in asking that question, but then recalled that one of my JavaOne sessions is a Hands-on Lab titled ‘Playing to the Strengths of JavaFX and HTML5.’ In that session, we'll cover the JavaFX and HTML5 WebView control, the strengths of each technology, and the various ways that Java and contents of the WebView can interact.”

And what is he looking forward to at JavaOne? “I'm personally looking forward to some excellent sessions, and connecting with colleagues and friends that I haven't seen in a while!”

Jim Weaver is another good reason to feel good about JavaOne.