Move jfxrt to lib/ext for OSGI purposes

Question

It has been suggested that part of the solution of the problem with javafx classloading and osgi is to move jfxrt to the Java installation lib/ext directory so that it is loaded when the JVM starts.

If this is done in a private install of Java the javafx classes are available at design time but are not found at run time when a javafx bundle is installed.

Is it possible that this can be made to work?

I am using felix and bndtools in eclipse as dev environment on Ubuntu 12.04.

Answer 1

First, the bundles that are using javafx packages must import them with Import-Package.

Next you need to get the system bundle to export the packages. By default the system bundle only exports the standard JRE packages plus the OSGi framework packages; you can extend this by setting the property org.osgi.framework.system.packages.extra. Since you are using Bndtools (good!) you can set the property as follows:

-runsystempackages: javafx.foo,javafx.bar...

Answer 2

I have recently released a first Early Access version of Drombler FX, a modular Rich Client Platform for JavaFX based on OSGi and Maven (POM-first).

You can read more about it here: http://puces-blog.blogspot.ch/2012/12/drombler-fx-building-modular-javafx.html

Getting Startet: http://wiki.drombler.org/GettingStarted

The generated output is explained here: http://wiki.drombler.org/GettingStarted#drombler-fx-sample-application-the-binaries-explained

(I didn't have to move any JavaFX JARs.)