JavaFX platform components

JavaFX 2.x platform includes the following components.

1. The JavaFX SDK: runtime tools. Graphics, media web services, and rich text libraries. Java FX 1.x also included JavaFX compiler, which is now obsolete as JavaFX user code is written in Java.

2. NetBeans IDE for JavaFX: NetBeans with drag-and-drop palette to add objects with transformations, effects and animations plus a set of samples and best practices. For JavaFX 2 support you need at least NetBeans 7.1.1. For Eclipse users there is a community-supported plugin hosted on e(fx)clipse.

3. JavaFX scene builder: This was introduced for Java FX 2.1 and later. A user interface (UI) is created by dragging and dropping controls from a palette. This information is saved as an FXML file, a special XML format.

4. Tools and plugins for creative tools (a.k.a. Production Suite): Plugins for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator that can export graphics assets to JavaFX Script code, tools to convert SVG graphics into JavaFX Script code and preview assets converted to JavaFX from other tools (currently not supported in JavaFX 2.x versions)