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Add an external CSS file to a JavaFX Application

Add an external CSS file to a JavaFX Application

Are you having trouble attaching an external CSS file to a JavaFX application or linking an externally designed styling sheet to your program? In this article, we will be looking at how to solve these issues. <!--more--> Challenges come when one decides to style the JavaFX application. It is a cumbersome procedure since each element requires its style. Issues of the designer remembering previously used styles on different elements arises again and again.

In the FXML file, it's also hard to follow up with the styling in the code since it's not continuous. You may also have noticed that the keywords used during styling are different from those of an HTML file.

Table of contents

Key takeaways

At the end of the article, the reader should know:

  • Saving a repetitive style for easier use on other elements using variables.
  • Adding an external stylesheet to the application.
  • Referencing elements in the stylesheet by adding JavaFX classes.
  • Linking the stylesheet to many scenes.

Prerequisites

To follow this article, you will need:

  • Java Development Kit installed on your machine. The recommendation is the latest JDK in the market. JDK 17 was used for the article.
  • A good Java IDE. The recommendation is the latest version of the IntelliJ ultimate edition. This is because it has the support of JavaFX. For the article, IntelliJ version 2021.2.2 was used.
  • A good internet connection. This is used to fetch indexes for quick development. It will also be used in the generation of the project.

The prerequisites can change as time changes from the day the article is published. Make sure to follow up on the latest versions of the technologies mentioned. The appearance of the applications used may also vary based on the dates of release.

Ways of styling a JavaFX application

A JavaFX application can be customized using different styles. These styles include the following:

  • Using an internal styling: This is provided by default by the SceneBuilder
  • Using pre-saved variables: These variables can be re-used hence reducing code duplication in the FXML file.
  • Using an external CSS file: This file customizes according to the requirements of the project. It reduces code duplication and errors.

In this article, all the above will be demonstrated in a JavaFX application. To do this, we will follow the steps below:

  • Design a sample JavaFX login application.
  • Style the JavaFX application using the normal internal styling.
  • Style the application using pre-saved styling variables.
  • Apply the styling using an external CSS file.

Create a new JavaFX file

  • Head over to the IDE. Open it and click on the create new project button. Check this out in the image below:

new Javafx application

  • Select BootstrapFX, ControlsFX, and FormsFX as the project's dependencies. These are shown in the image below:

App dependencies

Folder structure

The application folder structure is as shown below:

.
├── src
│   └── main
│       ├── java
│          └── com.login
│            ├── javafxstyle
│                  ├── HelloApplication.java
│                  └── HelloController.java
|            └── module-info.java
│       └── resources
│          └── com.login.javafxstyle
│               └── hello-view.fxml
├── target
├── javafx-style.iml
└── pom.xml

Add code inside the FXML application

Delete the following code inside the HelloController.java file shown in the folder structure above:

@FXML
private Label welcomeText;

@FXML
protected void onHelloButtonClick() {
    welcomeText.setText("Welcome to JavaFX Application!");
}

This will remove the functionality of the 'Hello button' in the application.

Delete the V-Box that contains the Hello button and the Label in the hello-view.fxml file using the SceneBuilder as shown below:

Delete the VBox

If SceneBuilder isn't installed, check out how to install it and configure it in IntelliJ here.

The article also shows how to set up JavaFX on IntelliJ ultimate edition. In case of any errors, make sure to restart the IDE.

The above step deletes this code in the file:


<VBox alignment="CENTER" spacing="20.0" xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml"
      fx:controller="com.example.demo.HelloController">
  <padding>
    <Insets bottom="20.0" left="20.0" right="20.0" top="20.0"/>
  </padding>

  <Label fx:id="welcomeText"/>
  <Button text="Hello!" onAction="#onHelloButtonClick"/>
</VBox>

Download the login.png image found in this link. Copy-paste the image into the location where the hello-view.fxml file is. Copy the code below and paste it into the hello-view.fxml file where the deleted code was.


<AnchorPane maxHeight="-Infinity" maxWidth="-Infinity" minHeight="-Infinity" minWidth="-Infinity"
            prefHeight="400.0" prefWidth="600.0" xmlns="http://javafx.com/javafx/11.0.2"
            xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml/1"
            fx:controller="com.login.javafxstyle.HelloController">
  <children>
    <Label fx:id="loginTitleLabel" layoutX="430.0" layoutY="35.0" text="Login"/>
    <ImageView fitHeight="400.0" fitWidth="325.0" pickOnBounds="true" preserveRatio="true">
      <image>
        <Image url="@login.png"/>
      </image>
    </ImageView>
    <Label fx:id="enterDetailsLabel" layoutX="330.0" layoutY="120.0" text="Enter the login details below:"/>
    <Label fx:id="usernameLabel" layoutX="333.0" layoutY="160.0" text="Username:"/>
    <TextField fx:id="usernameTextField" layoutX="415.0" layoutY="157.0" promptText="john.doe@email.com"/>
    <Label fx:id="passwordLabel" layoutX="333.0" layoutY="198.0" text="Password:"/>
    <PasswordField fx:id="passwordPasswordField" layoutX="415.0" layoutY="195.0" promptText="********"/>
    <CheckBox fx:id="rememberMeCheckBox" layoutX="375.0" layoutY="245.0" mnemonicParsing="false"
              text="Remember me?"/>
    <Label fx:id="errorLabel" layoutX="387.0" layoutY="280.0" prefHeight="16.0" prefWidth="171.0"
           text="Sign in error!"/>
    <Button fx:id="cancelButton" layoutX="370.0" layoutY="310.0" mnemonicParsing="false" text="Cancel"/>
    <Button fx:id="signInButton" layoutX="490.0" layoutY="310.0" mnemonicParsing="false" text="Sign in"/>
    <Button fx:id="forgotPasswordButton" layoutX="400.0" layoutY="350.0" mnemonicParsing="false"
            text="Forgot password?"/>
  </children>
</AnchorPane>

The step produces the following output when viewed using the SceneBuilder:

Login page output

Head over to the HelloApplication.java file and make sure to set the Scene dimensions to 600 by 400:

Scene scene=new Scene(fxmlLoader.load(),600,400);

Add styling to the application

As mentioned before, there are three ways to customize the appearance of the application.

1. Adding an internal styling

It can be achieved in two ways:

  • By hardcoding it into the application.
  • By using the SceneBuilder.
Hardcode it

Open the FXML file. Click on the Text option, at the bottom left part near the status bar, to view the window in a text format. In the file, under the label with the fx:id of loginTitleLabel, add the following styling:


<Label fx:id="loginTitleLabel" layoutX="430.0" layoutY="35.0"
       style="-fx-font-size: 40; -fx-text-fill: linear-gradient(from 0% 0% to 100% 200%, repeat, aqua 0%, red 50%); -fx-font-weight: BOLD;"
       text="Login" textFill="#31ebfc"/>

The styling makes it huge and bold with some linear gradient filling in it.

In the label with the fx:id of enterDetailsLabel, add the following styling to it:


<Label fx:id="enterDetailsLabel" layoutX="330.0" layoutY="120.0"
       style="-fx-text-fill: #727272; -fx-font-size: 15; -fx-font-weight: BOLD;"
       text="Enter the login details below:"/>

In the labels with the fx:id of usernameLabel and passwordLabel, add the following respectively:


<Label fx:id="usernameLabel" layoutX="333.0" layoutY="160.0"
       style="-fx-text-fill: #727272; -fx-font-size: 15;"
       text="Username:"/>

and


<Label fx:id="passwordLabel" layoutX="333.0" layoutY="198.0"
       style="-fx-text-fill: #727272; -fx-font-size: 15;"
       text="Password:"/>
  • Add the styling below to the checkbox:

<CheckBox fx:id="rememberMeCheckBox" layoutX="375.0" layoutY="245.0" mnemonicParsing="false"
          style="-fx-text-fill: #727272;" text="Remember me?"/>

Add the following styling to the label with the fx:id of errorLabel:


<Label fx:id="errorLabel" layoutX="387.0" layoutY="280.0" prefHeight="16.0" prefWidth="171.0"
       style="-fx-text-fill: red;" text="Sign in error!"/>

As for the remaining buttons, the following will be their style:


<Button fx:id="cancelButton" layoutX="370.0" layoutY="310.0" mnemonicParsing="false"
        onAction="#onCancelButtonClick"
        style="-fx-background-color: #4385F4; -fx-text-fill: white; -fx-font-size: 13;" text="Cancel"/>
<Button fx:id="signInButton" layoutX="490.0" layoutY="310.0" mnemonicParsing="false"
        onAction="#onSignInButtonClick"
        style="-fx-background-color: #4385F4; -fx-text-fill: white; -fx-font-size: 13;" text="Sign in"/>
<Button fx:id="forgotPasswordButton" layoutX="400.0" layoutY="350.0" mnemonicParsing="false"
        style="-fx-background-color: transparent; -fx-text-fill: #727272;" text="Forgot password?"
        underline="true"/>

The onAction property links the button to a function found in the controller. On a trigger event such as a button click, the function gets executed.

Open the HelloController class and paste the code below. Make sure to add the required imports:

/*Import JavaFX controls*/
@FXML
Button cancelButton, signInButton;

@FXML
Label errorLabel, loginTitleLabel;

@FXML
TextField usernameTextField;

@FXML
PasswordField passwordPasswordField;

/*Close the scene once the cancel button is clicked*/
@FXML
protected void onCancelButtonClick() {
    Stage stage = (Stage) cancelButton.getScene().getWindow();
    stage.close();
}

/* Make the label with the fx:id of 'errorLabel' change its text and color on Sign in Button click */
@FXML
protected void onSignInButtonClick() {
    errorLabel.setText("Sign In Success!");
    errorLabel.setStyle("-fx-text-fill: GREEN;");
}

Run the application via the HelloApplication.java file as shown in the image below:

Run the application

The output looks as shown below:

Final output

As we have seen, the application runs as expected.

Using the SceneBuilder

Open the FXML file using the SceneBuilder option found at the bottom left side of the window near the status bar.

To add the styling for the controls used in the application, click on the control in mind. In this case, start with the label of fx:id of loginTitleLabel.

On the tab on the right-hand side, under the properties section, notice that the SceneBuilder automatically recognizes the available formats set to the element.

Check the Underline checkbox. In the styles section add the following properties by clicking on the + sign.

  • -fx-background-color: #f3f3f3
  • -fx-border-radius: 5
  • -fx-border-color: linear-gradient(from 0% 0% to 100% 200%, repeat, aqua 0%, red 50%)

The SceneBuilder styling section in the properties tab will look as follows:

loginTitle SceneBuilder styling

Click on the Remember me checkbox and select the Selected option. Run the application.

It produces the following output:

Second Output

As seen, there are more options provided by the SceneBuilder in the Properties, Layout, and Code tabs. Adding styling using this method is very simple since there is the provision of GUI.

2. Using pre-saved variables

To do this, the styling will be stored in variables. These variables will be reusable pieces of code. They reduce code errors especially when the styling is long and hard to remember.

Open up the Controller in the application. Above the controls imports, add variables that hold styling for the application:

String successStyle = String.format("-fx-border-color: #4fd800; -fx-border-width: 2; -fx-border-radius: 5;");
String successStyleGradient = String.format("-fx-text-fill: #4fd800;");

Now use the variables to style different components of the page. An example is both the TextField and the PasswordField.

Paste the code below in the onSignInButtonClick function below the others.

usernameTextField.setStyle(successStyle);
passwordPasswordField.setStyle(successStyle);
signInButton.setStyle(successStyleGradient);

Run the application. The output is as shown below when the Sign-In button is clicked:

Third output

As seen from the above steps, the styling can be quickly re-used in the project for efficient code. It makes development easy for the developer especially in large projects with many styling presets for different elements.

3. Using an external CSS file

When it comes to advanced styling, it is better to use this kind of styling. Not only is it easy to manage, but it also supports code readability.

There are two methods of adding an external stylesheet to the program. These are:

  • Adding it via the HelloApplication.java file.
  • Adding it via the SceneBuilder or hardcoding it.

Let us quickly look at both:

1. Adding via the main class file

To add it, create a new CSS file in the location of the FXML file. In the HelloApplication.java file, add the following line of code below.

scene.getStylesheets().add(getClass().getResource("styles.css").toExternalForm());

This applies the styling in the styles.css file to the scene created.

2. Adding it via the SceneBuilder or Hardcoding it

The SceneBuilder adds a particular stylesheet styling to a specific control in the application. This addition is different from using the scene styling mentioned above that adds styling to the whole scene.

Hence, one will be required to repeat the steps over and over again.

  1. In the SceneBuilder view, click on the AnchorPane that was added first.
  2. In the Properties tab, under the 'JavaFX CSS' section, click on the 'Stylesheets' option.
  3. Select the CSS file, and that's it.

One can also apply the styling of a particular class to control the application by just linking them.

This linking can be achieved by adding the CSS class to the control in the SceneBuilder at the 'Styles Class' option in the 'JavaFX CSS' section. The class can be different from the ones which are known by the application. It can be defined in the Stylesheet added to the control or the Scene. This is shown later on in the code found in this article.

When the AnchorPane CSS class is set to 'unique', it produces the code shown below as seen in the Text View:

<AnchorPane maxHeight="-Infinity" maxWidth="-Infinity" minHeight="-Infinity" minWidth="-Infinity" prefHeight="400.0" prefWidth="600.0"
            styleClass="unique" xmlns="http://javafx.com/javafx/11.0.2" xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml/1"
            fx:controller="com.login.javafxstyle.HelloController">

Before adding any styling, first, let us look how the styling format looks like:

External styling format

For the external CSS styling, if one wants to refer to the name (fx:id) of the component, they use a # symbol before the styles. The format is shown below:

#titleLabel {
  /* Styling for the Control with the fx:id of titleLabel */
}

The controls provided, are referenced by the CSS file as a form of classes. Hence, to refer to a set of a whole class, start with a . (period) symbol. Follow it up with the name of the control in small letters before the styles.

Examples of such control and their class names are:

  • Button: button
  • CheckBox: checkbox
  • Label: label
  • RadioButton: radiobutton
  • TextField: textfield
  • TextArea: textarea

A sample of the CSS format is as shown below:

.root {
  /*This applies styling for the root node*/
}

.label {
  /* Styling for all Control with the class of 'label' */
}

For any styling for the JavaFX application, start with the -fx- text then followed by the styling supported by the controls or JavaFX item.

Not all styles are supported by all controls. Make sure to find out the styling that can be applied to each and how it does before applying it. Check them out in the JavaFX documentation provided by Oracle.

Now, in the StyleSheet created, paste the code below to it:

.root {
  /*This applies styling for the root node*/
  -fx-background-color: linear-gradient(
    from 0% 0% to 100% 200%,
    repeat,
    #fbeee6 0%,
    #cde0c9 50%
  );
  -fx-font-family: "Lucida Console";
}

.label {
  /* Styling for all Control with the class of 'label' */
  -fx-padding: -2px;
  -fx-start-margin: 2px;
  -fx-end-margin: 2px;
}

.guide-link {
  /*Unique class customized by user*/
}

#loginTitleLabel,
#errorLabel {
  -fx-font-family: "Chilanka";
}

It applies the styling for all root contents, label controls, and both the loginTitleLabel and errorLabel controls.

Also, more styling can be applied. These include the after-effects on checkbox checking. To achieve the following, copy and paste the code below to it:

/* Checkbox formatting */
.check-box .mark {
  -fx-shape: "M2,0L5,4L8,0L10,0L10,2L6,5L10,8L10,10L8,10L5,6L2,10L0,10L0,8L4,5L0,2L0,0Z";
}

.check-box:selected .mark {
  -fx-background-color: #0181e2ff;
}

/*Once the button is clicked, it will display the following effect when one hovers over it*/
.button:hover {
  -fx-background-color: linear-gradient(#2a5058, #61a2b1);
}

This produces the output below:

External CSS

External CSS for multiple scenes instances

Add a line of code to first point to the location of the Stylesheet then refer to it per the many scenes created.

Open the HelloApplication.java file and paste the code below:

/*Multiple scenes created*/
Scene scene = new Scene(fxmlLoader.load(), 600, 400);
Scene scene1 = new Scene(fxmlLoader.load(), 800, 400);
Scene scene2 = new Scene(fxmlLoader.load(), 1000, 400);
Scene scene3 = new Scene(fxmlLoader.load(), 1200, 400);
Scene scene4 = new Scene(fxmlLoader.load(), 1200, 600);
Scene scene5 = new Scene(fxmlLoader.load(), 1200, 1000);

/*Show the location of the CSS resource file*/
String css = this.getClass().getResource("styles.css").toExternalForm();

/*Add the stylesheet quickly to the many scenes*/
scene.getStylesheets().add(css);
scene1.getStylesheets().add(css);
scene2.getStylesheets().add(css);
scene3.getStylesheets().add(css);
scene4.getStylesheets().add(css);
scene5.getStylesheets().add(css);

Conclusion

In conclusion, the application's appearance is as important to the end-users as the functionality. The more appealing it is, the more users get to accept it. Advanced styling helps in the creation of modern UI designs. As the world evolves, designers have to be on a constant lookout for improvements and new UI designs in the market.

JavaFX is a very compatible UI framework for any Java program. It can be used both for simple and advanced projects involving complex designs. Understanding how the designs and styling work in a JavaFX program is of key importance. It allows one to go beyond imagination when building modern designs for desktop applications.

We have gone through adding styles in your JavaFX programs. Go ahead and try out different styles in your applications.

Happy coding!

References

Peer Review Contributions by: Dawe Daniel

Published on: Nov 12, 2021
Updated on: Jul 15, 2024
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