RxJavaFX: JavaFX bindings for RxJava

Read the free eBook Learning RxJava with JavaFX to get started.

RxJavaFX is a lightweight library to convert JavaFX events into RxJava Observables/Flowables and vice versa. It also has a Scheduler to safely move emissions to the JavaFX Event Dispatch Thread.

NOTE: To use with Kotlin, check out RxKotlinFX to leverage this library with extension functions and additional operators.

Master Build Status

Documentation

Learning RxJava with JavaFX - Free eBook that covers RxJava from a JavaFX perspective.

Learning RxJava - Packt book covering RxJava 2.0 in depth, with a few RxJavaFX examples.

1.x Binaries

Binaries and dependency information for Maven, Ivy, Gradle and others can be found at http://search.maven.org.

Example for Maven:

<dependency>
    <groupId>io.reactivex</groupId>
    <artifactId>rxjavafx</artifactId>
    <version>1.x.y</version>
</dependency>

Gradle:

dependencies {
	compile 'io.reactivex:rxjavafx:1.x.y'
}

2.x Binaries

RxJavaFX 2.x versions uses a different group ID io.reactivex.rxjava2 to prevent clashing with 1.x dependencies. Binaries and dependency information for Maven, Ivy, Gradle and others can be found at http://search.maven.org.

Example for Maven:

<dependency>
    <groupId>io.reactivex.rxjava2</groupId>
    <artifactId>rxjavafx</artifactId>
    <version>2.x.y</version>
</dependency>

Gradle:

dependencies {
	compile 'io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxjavafx:2.x.y'
}

Features

RxJavaFX has a comprehensive set of features to interop RxJava with JavaFX:

• Factories to turn Node, ObservableValue, ObservableList, and other component events into an RxJava Observable
• Factories to turn an RxJava Observable or Flowable into a JavaFX Binding.
• A scheduler for the JavaFX dispatch thread

Node Events

You can get event emissions by calling JavaFxObservable.eventsOf() and pass the JavaFX Node and the EventType you are interested in. This will return an RxJava Observable.

Button incrementBttn = new Button("Increment");

Observable<ActionEvent> bttnEvents =
        JavaFxObservable.eventsOf(incrementBttn, ActionEvent.ACTION);

Action Events

Action events are common and do not only apply to Node types. They also emit from MenuItem and ContextMenu instances, as well as a few other types.

Therefore, a few overloaded factories are provided to emit ActionEvent items from these controls

Button ActionEvents

Button incrementBttn = new Button("Increment");

Observable<ActionEvent> bttnEvents =
        JavaFxObservable.actionEventsOf(incrementBttn);

MenuItem ActionEvents

MenuItem menuItem = new MenuItem("Select me");

Observable<ActionEvent> menuItemEvents = 
        JavaFxObservable.actionEventsOf(menuItem);

Other Event Factories

There are also factories provided to convert events from a Dialog, Window or Scene into an Observable. If you would like to see factories for other components and event types, please let us know or put in a PR.

Dialogs and Alerts

Alert alert = new Alert(AlertType.CONFIRMATION);
alert.setTitle("Confirmation");
alert.setHeaderText("Please confirm your action");
alert.setContentText("Are you ok with this?");

JavaFxObservable.fromDialog(alert)
    .filter(response -> response.equals(ButtonType.OK))
    .subscribe(System.out::println,Throwable::printStackTrace);

Emitting Scene Events

Observable<MouseEvent> sceneMouseMovements =
     JavaFxObservable.eventsOf(scene, MouseEvent.MOUSE_MOVED);

sceneMouseMovements.subscribe(v -> System.out.println(v.getSceneX() + "," + v.getSceneY()));

Emitting Window Hiding Events

 Observable<WindowEvent> windowHidingEvents =
    JavaFxObservable.eventsOf(primaryStage,WindowEvent.WINDOW_HIDING);

windowHidingEvents.subscribe(v -> System.out.println("Hiding!"));

ObservableValue

Not to be confused with the RxJava Observable, the JavaFX ObservableValue can be converted into an RxJava Observable that emits the initial value and all value changes.

TextField textInput = new TextField();

Observable<String> textInputs =
        JavaFxObservable.valuesOf(textInput.textProperty());

Note that many Nodes in JavaFX will have an initial value, which sometimes can be null, and you might consider using RxJava's skip() operator to ignore this initial value.

ObservableValue Changes

For every change to an ObservableValue, you can emit the old value and new value as a pair. The two values will be wrapped up in a Change class and you can access them via getOldVal() and getNewVal(). Just call the JavaFxObservable.changesOf() factory.

SpinnerValueFactory<Integer> svf = new SpinnerValueFactory.IntegerSpinnerValueFactory(0, 100);
Spinner spinner = new Spinner<>();
spinner.setValueFactory(svf);
spinner.setEditable(true);

Label spinnerChangesLabel = new Label();
Subscription subscription = JavaFxObservable.changesOf(spinner.valueProperty())
        .map(change -> "OLD: " + change.getOldVal() + " NEW: " + change.getNewVal())
        .subscribe(spinnerChangesLabel::setText);

ObservableList, ObservableMap, and ObservableSet

There are several factories to emit many useful ObservableList, ObservableMap, and ObservableSet events as Observables. These all can be found as static factory methods in the JavaFxObservable static class.

Binding

You can convert an RxJava Observable into a JavaFX Binding by calling the JavaFxObserver.toBinding() factory. Calling the dispose() method on the Binding will handle the unsubscription from the Observable. You can then take this Binding to bind other control properties to it.

Button incrementBttn = new Button("Increment");
Label incrementLabel =  new Label("");

Observable<ActionEvent> bttnEvents =
        JavaFxObservable.eventsOf(incrementBttn, ActionEvent.ACTION);
        
Observable<String> accumulations = bttnEvents.map(e -> 1)
        .scan(0,(x, y) -> x + y)
        .map(Object::toString);
        
Binding<String> binding = JavaFxObserver.toBinding(accumulations);

incrementLabel.textProperty().bind(binding);

//do stuff, then dispose Binding
binding.dispose();

It is usually good practice to specify an onError to the Binding, just like a normal Observer so you can handle any errors that are communicated up the chain.

incrementLabel.textProperty().bind(binding, e -> e.printStackTrace());

Lazy Binding

The toBinding() factory above will eagerly subscribe the Observable to the Binding implementation. But if you want to delay the subscription to the Observable until the Binding is actually used (specifically when its getValue() is called), use toLazyBinding() instead.

Binding<String> lazyBinding = JavaFxObserver.toLazyBinding(myObservable);

This can be handy for data controls like TableView, which will only request values for records that are visible. Using the toLazyBinding() to feed column values will cause subscriptions to only happen with visible records.

CompositeBinding

You also have the option to use a CompositeBinding to group multiple Bindings together, and dispose() them all at once. It is the JavaFX equivalent to CompositeSubscription.

Binding<Long> binding1 = ...
bindings.add(binding1);

Binding<Long> binding2 = ... 
bindings.add(binding2);

//do stuff on UI, and dispose() both bindings
bindings.dispose();

JavaFX Scheduler

When you update any JavaFX control, it must be done on the JavaFX Event Dispatch Thread. Fortunately, the JavaFxScheduler makes it trivial to take work off the JavaFX thread and put it back when the results are ready. Below we can use the observeOn() to pass text value emissions to a computation thread where the text will be flipped. Then we can pass JavaFxScheduler.platform() to another observeOn() afterwards to put it back on the JavaFX thread. From there it will update the flippedTextLabel.

TextField textInput = new TextField();
Label fippedTextLabel = new Label();

Observable<String> textInputs =
        JavaFxObservable.valuesOf(textInput.textProperty());

sub2 = textInputs.observeOn(Schedulers.computation())
        .map(s -> new StringBuilder(s).reverse().toString())
        .observeOn(JavaFxScheduler.platform())
        .subscribe(fippedTextLabel::setText);

JavaFX Interval

There is a JavaFX equivalent to Observable.interval() that will emit on the JavaFX thread instead. Calling JavaFxObservable.interval() will push consecutive Long values at the specified Duration.

Observable<Long> everySecond = JavaFxObservable.interval(Duration.millis(1000));

Differences from ReactFX

ReactFX is a popular API to implement reactive patterns with JavaFX using the EventStream. However, RxJava uses an Observable and the two are not (directly) compatible with each other.

Although ReactFX has some asynchronous operators like threadBridge, ReactFX emphasizes synchronous behavior. This means it encourages keeping events on the JavaFX thread. RxJavaFX, which fully embraces RxJava and asynchronous design, can switch between threads and schedulers with ease. As long as subscriptions affecting the UI are observed on the JavaFX thread, you can leverage the powerful operators and libraries of RxJava safely.

If you are heavily dependent on RxJava, asynchronous processing, or do not want your entire reactive codebase to be UI-focused, you will probably want to use RxJavaFX.

Notes for Kotlin

If you are building your JavaFX application with Kotlin, check out RxKotlinFX to leverage this library through Kotlin extension functions.

Bugs and Feedback

For bugs, questions and discussions please use the Github Issues.

LICENSE

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.