Javafx, how do I create a GUI that fits everyone in full screen mode?

[maximilian manduva]

I have a problem since 3 days, I am supposed to create a window in fullscreen mode, where a self-made GUI is running in the background.

The problem I have is that no matter how I create the GUI or resize it to fit my screen in full screen mode, if someone else opens full screen mode and they have a much larger screen, the GUI is not on the full window.

Does anyone have any idea how to solve this?

I currently use Scenebuilder to create the layout, but can do without it if it can be done with Javacode.

(Sorry I can't include any code here myself, my problem is that I don't know what to include here at all, as I mentioned I don't have an approach.)

[Campbell Ritchie]

Welcome to the Ranch

I have forgotten almost all the FX I ever knew, but surely there is a method to get the size of the display. Then can you use those sizes for the size of the display?

[Lou Hamers]

I'm not sure how to answer this question, without something to work with. This is the kind of thing that doesn't have a single answer, "how" depends on the specifics of what components you're working with and especially how you want to design and structure your interface (possibilities are endless...)

I guess you're talking about Responsive Design? Yep you can do this. But there is a little learning curve to get the hang of it.

You can get most (if not all) of this accomplished using Scene Builder. Below is an example I just tossed together quickly which demonstrates a few "tricks". One of my favorite techniques involves VBox/HBox combinations with hgrow and vgrow values on their child containers (I used a basic Pane in the below example to achieve a "spacer" effect).

For the most part though, most JFX components will already attempt to size themselves appropriately. And you usually want to stay as close to that as possible (only override and hardcode stuff when you need to). You don't need to use an AnchorPane as the root, that's just what SceneBuilder defaults to (I rarely use AnchorPane really, often a BorderPane or even a simple HBox/VBox are better.)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<?import javafx.geometry.Insets?>
<?import javafx.scene.control.Button?>
<?import javafx.scene.control.Label?>
<?import javafx.scene.layout.AnchorPane?>
<?import javafx.scene.layout.HBox?>
<?import javafx.scene.layout.Pane?>
<?import javafx.scene.layout.VBox?>


<AnchorPane maxHeight="1.7976931348623157E308" maxWidth="1.7976931348623157E308" prefHeight="400.0" prefWidth="600.0" xmlns="http://javafx.com/javafx/17" xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml/1" fx:controller="com.test.jfxtests.FullScreen">
   <children>
      <HBox prefHeight="40.0" spacing="10.0" style="-fx-background-color: #222222;" AnchorPane.leftAnchor="0.0" AnchorPane.rightAnchor="0.0" AnchorPane.topAnchor="0.0">
         <children>
            <Button mnemonicParsing="false" text="Button" />
            <Button mnemonicParsing="false" text="Button" />
            <Button mnemonicParsing="false" text="Button" />
            <Button mnemonicParsing="false" text="Button" />
         </children>
         <padding>
            <Insets bottom="8.0" left="8.0" right="8.0" top="8.0" />
         </padding>
      </HBox>
      <VBox prefHeight="200.0" prefWidth="100.0" spacing="10.0" style="-fx-background-color: #CCCCCC;" AnchorPane.bottomAnchor="0.0" AnchorPane.leftAnchor="0.0" AnchorPane.rightAnchor="0.0" AnchorPane.topAnchor="40.0">
         <children>
            <Label text="Label" />
            <HBox alignment="CENTER" spacing="8.0">
               <children>
                  <Button mnemonicParsing="false" text="Button" />
                  <Pane HBox.hgrow="SOMETIMES" />
                  <Label text="Label" />
                  <Pane HBox.hgrow="SOMETIMES" />
                  <Label text="Label" />
                  <Pane HBox.hgrow="SOMETIMES" />
                  <Button mnemonicParsing="false" text="Button" />
               </children>
            </HBox>
            <VBox VBox.vgrow="SOMETIMES" />
            <HBox>
               <children>
                  <Button mnemonicParsing="false" text="Button" />
                  <Pane minWidth="50.0" />
                  <Button mnemonicParsing="false" text="Button" />
                  <Pane HBox.hgrow="SOMETIMES" />
                  <Button mnemonicParsing="false" text="Button" />
               </children>
            </HBox>
         </children>
         <padding>
            <Insets bottom="8.0" left="8.0" right="8.0" top="8.0" />
         </padding>
      </VBox>
   </children>
   <padding>
      <Insets bottom="8.0" left="8.0" right="8.0" top="8.0" />
   </padding>
</AnchorPane>

If that's not what you meant, there's also this boolean setting on Stage that you might be interested in:

public class FullScreen extends Application {
    
    @Override
    public void start(Stage primaryStage)   {
        primaryStage.setFullScreen(true);
    }
}

This is just a preview, I actually resized it smaller than the default, but the principle is the same and the components change their spacing for larger window sizes too.



Once you have something more concrete (especially some kind of design or layout at least in mind), you can ask for some more specific (and probably more helpful) suggestions.

[Lou Hamers]

Campbell Ritchie wrote:Welcome to the Ranch

I have forgotten almost all the FX I ever knew, but surely there is a method to get the size of the display. Then can you use those sizes for the size of the display?

Yeah there's a class called Screen where you can discover that stuff, although I'd definitely advise trying to design such that you don't need to know how large a user's resolution is, if possible. If you need to support multi-monitors it could be pretty useful though...



I'm sure you could also use whatever the Swing guys use too, but I've also forgotten about that. lol

[Lou Hamers]

maximilian manduva wrote:
I currently use Scenebuilder to create the layout, but can do without it if it can be done with Javacode.

Ok last one, I just noticed this... the complexity and dynamicity of your design impacts whether you should* use Scene Builder/FXML. IMO it definitely helps when you're trying to do Responsive Design, especially when learning.

*It's really up to personal preference...

But ultimately you don't need FXML. FXML is just another way to do lots of component creation and to add children to components. i.e. it's a whole bunch of "new Whatever()" and "getChildren.add(whatever)" statements expressed in a hierarchical format which is easy for an application like Scene Builder to parse and edit. (Also a bunch of set(whatever) calls too.)

Personally I usually use Scene Builder heavily, unless I'm doing something very dynamic where the UI is being constructed on the fly.

[Stephan van Hulst]

Outside of personal preference, there's no reason not to use FXML though. It really cleans up your code, and for the parts you can't configure in FXML, you can still use a procedural approach after the components have been injected.

Anyway, I'm getting the feeling that Maximilian's question is not about responsive design, but rather that they can't get full screen mode working consistently.

Maximilian, you need to show us the code you're using to go into fullscreen mode. I have the feeling you're just trying to resize the window, without going fullscreen properly.