JavaFX - Button Bar

A ButtonBar is a type of container that arranges buttons in a horizontal layout. The arrangement or positions of these buttons depend on the type of operating system we are working on. Generally, all the buttons placed inside a ButtonBar are uniformly sized. However, it also allows us to customize the size as well as positions of the buttons. A typical button bar looks like the below figure. It contains two buttons namely "Yes" and "No".

Button Bar

ButtonBar in JavaFX

In JavaFX, the class named ButtonBar represents a button bar. This class belongs to the package javafx.scene.control. We can create a button bar node in JavaFX by instantiating the ButtonBar class.

There are two constructors available for this class, and they are as follows −

  • ButtonBar() − It is used for creating a button bar with default properties that will be specific to the operating system.

  • ButtonBar(String buttonOrder) − It will create a button bar with the specified button order.

Steps to create a Button Bar in JavaFX

To create a Button Bar in JavaFX, follow the steps given below.

Step 1: Create two or more Buttons

In JavaFX, the buttons are created by instantiating the class named Button which belongs to a package javafx.scene.control. Instantiate this class as shown below −

//Creating required buttons
Button buttonOne = new Button("Back");
Button buttonTwo = new Button("Accept");
Button buttonThree = new Button("Cancel");

Similarly, create the required number of buttons for the project.

Step 2: Instantiate ButtonBar class

Instantiate the ButtonBar class of package javafx.scene.control without passing any parameter value to its constructor and add all the buttons using the getButtons() method.

//Creating a ButtonBar
ButtonBar newButtonbar = new ButtonBar();
// Adding buttons to the ButtonBar
newButtonbar.getButtons().addAll(buttonOne, buttonTwo, buttonThree);

Step 3: Launching Application

After creating the button bar, follow the given steps below to launch the application properly −

  • Firstly, instantiate the class named HBox and add the button bar using getChildren() method.

  • Then, instantiate the class named Scene by passing the HBox object as a parameter value to its constructor. We can also pass dimensions of the application screen as optional parameters to this constructor.

  • Then, set the title to the stage using the setTitle() method of the Stage class.

  • Now, a Scene object is added to the stage using the setScene() method of the class named Stage.

  • Display the contents of the scene using the method named show().

  • Lastly, the application is launched with the help of the launch() method.

Example

Following is the program which will create a button bar in JavaFX. Save this code in a file with the name JavafxButtonBar.java.

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.ButtonBar;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class JavafxButtonBar extends Application {
   @Override
   public void start(Stage stage) {
      //Creating required buttons
      Button buttonOne = new Button("Back");
      Button buttonTwo = new Button("Accept");
      Button buttonThree = new Button("Cancel");
      //Creating a ButtonBar
      ButtonBar newButtonbar = new ButtonBar();
      // Adding buttons to the ButtonBar
      newButtonbar.getButtons().addAll(buttonOne, buttonTwo, buttonThree);
      newButtonbar.setPadding(new Insets(10));
      HBox box = new HBox();
      box.getChildren().addAll(newButtonbar);
      //Setting the stage
      Scene scene = new Scene(box, 500, 250);
      stage.setTitle("ButtonBar in JavaFX");
      stage.setScene(scene);
      stage.show();
   }
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      launch(args);
   }
}

Compile and execute the above Java file using the command prompt with the help of following commands.

javac --module-path %PATH_TO_FX% --add-modules javafx.controls JavafxButtonBar.java
java --module-path %PATH_TO_FX% --add-modules javafx.controls JavafxButtonBar

Output

On executing, the above program generates a JavaFX window displaying a ButtonBar as shown below.

ButtonBar Output

Creating a ButtonBar with customized Button orders

In most cases, the order of the Buttons is determined by the operating system. But, if a custom layout is required, then, the setButtonOrder() method of the ButtonBar class can be used. It takes button order property as a parameter and arranges the buttons accordingly. The button order properties of different OS are BUTTON_ORDER_WINDOWS, BUTTON_ORDER_MAC_OS, and BUTTON_ORDER_LINUX.

Example

In the following JavaFX program, we will create a ButtonBar by setting the button order property of MAC. Save this code in a file with the name JavafxButtonBar.java.

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.ButtonBar;
import javafx.scene.control.ButtonBar.ButtonData;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class JavafxButtonBar extends Application {
   @Override
   public void start(Stage stage) {
      //Creating required buttons
      Button buttonTwo = new Button("Yes");
      Button buttonOne = new Button("No");
      //Creating a ButtonBar
      ButtonBar newButtonbar = new ButtonBar();
      // Setting the order of Buttons
      newButtonbar.setButtonOrder("BUTTON_ORDER_MAC_OS");
      // Adding buttons to the ButtonBar
      newButtonbar.getButtons().addAll(buttonOne, buttonTwo);
      newButtonbar.setPadding(new Insets(10));
      HBox box = new HBox();
      box.getChildren().addAll(newButtonbar);
      //Setting the stage
      Scene scene = new Scene(box, 500, 250);
      stage.setTitle("ButtonBar in JavaFX");
      stage.setScene(scene);
      stage.show();
   }
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      launch(args);
   }
}

Compile and execute the saved Java file from the command prompt using the following commands.

javac --module-path %PATH_TO_FX% --add-modules javafx.controls JavafxButtonBar.java
java --module-path %PATH_TO_FX% --add-modules javafx.controls JavafxButtonBar

Output

When we execute the above code, it will generate the following output.

ButtonBar Output2
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