JavaFX8 list bindings similar to xaml

Question

I am unable to bind in fxml a collection to a customized template. Here the code how I would do it in xaml:

<ListView ItemsSource="{Binding PersonCollection}">
    <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
        <Label Content="{Binding FirstName}"></Label>
        <ListView ItemsSource="{Binding MiddleNames}">
            <Label Content="{Binding}"></Label>
        </ListView>
        <Label Content="{Binding LastName}"></Label>
    </StackPanel>
</ListView>

Here the Model:

class Person
{
    String FirstName, LastName;
    String[] MiddleNames;
}

And the Layout would look similar to this:

John Ivy
Robert Downey Junior
Max more middlenames in fact even thousands are possible lastname

Is the binding of an oberservable collection to a customized template possible? I tried the cellfactory but couldnt get my head wrapped around it, as everybody used only strings.

Answer 1

I am not 100% sure this is the answer to your question as I am totally unfamiliar with xaml, but hopefully it is...

Sample Implementation

The sample works by setting the model object (the Person) into the namespace of the FXML loader, which allows you to use a binding expression in FXML to bind to properties of the object.

In the sample, there are a few names initially in the model and you can modify the bound list in the model using the add and remove buttons to add or remove a few more canned names in the list.

All code goes in a package named sample.names.

name-display.fxml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<?import javafx.scene.control.Label?>
<?import javafx.scene.control.ListView?>
<?import javafx.scene.layout.HBox?>

<?import javafx.geometry.Insets?>

<?import javafx.scene.layout.VBox?>
<?import javafx.scene.control.Button?>
<VBox xmlns="http://javafx.com/javafx/8" xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml/1" fx:controller="sample.names.NameDisplayController">
  <HBox prefHeight="150.0" prefWidth="220.0" spacing="5.0"  >
    <children>
      <Label fx:id="firstNameLabel" text="${person.firstName}" />
      <ListView fx:id="middleNameList" prefWidth="100.0" items = "${person.middleNames}" />
      <Label fx:id="lastNameLabel" text="${person.lastName}" />
    </children>
    <padding>
      <Insets bottom="10.0" left="10.0" right="10.0" top="10.0" />
    </padding>
  </HBox>
  <HBox alignment="CENTER" spacing="30.0">
    <children>
      <Button mnemonicParsing="false" onAction="#addName" text="Add" />
      <Button mnemonicParsing="false" onAction="#removeName" text="Remove" />
    </children>
    <padding>
      <Insets bottom="10.0" left="10.0" right="10.0" top="10.0" />
    </padding>
  </HBox>
</VBox>

NameDisplayApp.java

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.layout.Pane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

import java.io.IOException;

public class NameDisplayApp extends Application {

    @Override
    public void start(Stage stage) throws IOException {
        Person person = new Person(
                "Bruce",
                new String[] { "Simon", "Larry" },
                "Banner"
        );

        FXMLLoader loader = new FXMLLoader(
                getClass().getResource(
                        "name-display.fxml"
                )
        );
        loader.getNamespace().put(
                "person",
                person
        );
        Pane pane = loader.load();

        NameDisplayController controller = loader.getController();
        controller.setPerson(person);

        stage.setScene(new Scene(pane));
        stage.show();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        launch(args);
    }
}

NameDisplayController.java

import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import javafx.event.ActionEvent;

public class NameDisplayController {
    private Person person;

    private ObservableList<String> sampleNames = FXCollections.observableArrayList(
            "George", "Henry", "Wallace"
    );

    public void setPerson(Person person) {
        this.person = person;
    }

    public void addName(ActionEvent actionEvent) {
        if (!sampleNames.isEmpty()) {
            person.getMiddleNames().add(
                sampleNames.remove(0)
            );
        }
    }

    public void removeName(ActionEvent actionEvent) {
        if (!person.getMiddleNames().isEmpty()) {
            sampleNames.add(
                    person.getMiddleNames().remove(0)
            );
        }
    }
}

Person.java

import javafx.beans.property.SimpleStringProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.StringProperty;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;

public class Person {
    public StringProperty firstName;
    public StringProperty lastName;

    private ObservableList<String> middleNames;

    public Person(String firstName, String[] middleNames, String lastName) {
        this.firstName   = new SimpleStringProperty(firstName);
        this.middleNames = FXCollections.observableArrayList(middleNames);
        this.lastName    = new SimpleStringProperty(lastName);
    }

    public String getFirstName() {
        return firstName.get();
    }

    public StringProperty firstNameProperty() {
        return firstName;
    }

    public void setFirstName(String firstName) {
        this.firstName.set(firstName);
    }

    public ObservableList<String> getMiddleNames() {
        return middleNames;
    }

    public String getLastName() {
        return lastName.get();
    }

    public StringProperty lastNameProperty() {
        return lastName;
    }

    public void setLastName(String lastName) {
        this.lastName.set(lastName);
    }
}

Alternate Implementations

There may be other (perhaps more preferred ways) of doing this - e.g. by associating bindings of items in code rather than FXML (which is what I usually do) or injecting the model using a dependency injection system. See afterburner.fx for an example of the injection approach - though I don't know if afterburner also places model objects into the FXML namespace or just injects into the controller (if it doesn't do the injection into the FXML namespace that might be a cool addition you could request for it).