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I've followed the instructions to install e(fx)clipse in Mars. I see that Java jdk1.7.0_55 contains the jfx...jar files. I would think that Java7 should be sufficient to run javafx support. Why does Mars startup report a problem with JavaFX because the eclipse instance is not running Java8? Is this a bug?

John Hunsberger
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  • To recap, your JDK is Java 8, and Eclipse is Java 7? Or is it the other way around? Or is it something different? – Jonathan Lam Nov 03 '15 at 19:29
  • Why don't you just go with Java 8 to avoid problems? Java7 may be sufficient, but are there any downsides with going with Java 8? – Jonathan Lam Nov 03 '15 at 19:31
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    JDK 8 is listed as a prerequisite on the install page http://www.eclipse.org/efxclipse/install.html – greg-449 Nov 03 '15 at 19:46
  • I missed that prerequisite. Still... it is available for Java7 (which is the version that I have installed Jonathan) so I pondered whether Eclipse's requirement for Java8 was actually a requirement or just a mistake. What is unique to Java8's implementation of JavaFX over Java7? Anyone know? I'm just curious. – John Hunsberger Nov 03 '15 at 22:14
  • Yes, the obvious next step for me is to use Java8 and avoid this. Everyone realizes, I'm sure, that the user community within the business may not have a Java8 installed on their three year old computer. So, does this change to Java8 create potential compatibility issues? I've generally tried to avoid using features that might do that. Thanks for the responses. – John Hunsberger Nov 03 '15 at 22:14
  • FWIW I wouldn't really recommend building anything intended for production in JavaFX with any release prior to JavaFX 8: this is a far more mature release than previous versions. If you are concerned that users may not have the updated JRE, consider [self-contained packaging](http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/guides/deploy/self-contained-packaging.html#BCGIBBCI) for your application. – James_D Nov 04 '15 at 01:10

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Looking at the comment at the release blog post for version 1.2.0, the e(fx)clipse tooling requires Java 8, but the runtime components work with Java 7.

However, Java 7 and 8 stores the javafx jars in a different location, meaning the development environment has to be careful to work in both cases.

Update: Eclipse Mars has released efxclipse 2.0, that explicitly states that it requires Java 8. In other words, this does not seem like a mistaken step. I guess this either has to do with the developer of the project not having enough resources do support Java 7.

Community
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Zoltán Ujhelyi
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  • Zoltán Ujhelyi, That is an interesting observation. In your response you seem to suggest that the Eclipse application should be able to work with Java7. Why this is interesting is that the Eclipse development team made the Mars release specific to only Java8 for JavaFX support. The Eclipse application shuts down the JavaFX support on startup if it does not see Java8. My understanding is that there isn't any option to make it work with Java7. – John Hunsberger Nov 04 '15 at 13:29
  • The post at the 'release blog post' is informative. Tom Schindl states that the IDE can run using Java8 and still develop Java7 applications. Thanks for pointing me to that. – John Hunsberger Nov 04 '15 at 13:41
  • I have updated my answer, because the blog post features an earlier version of e(fx)clipse, and for Mars the result seemingly changed. – Zoltán Ujhelyi Nov 04 '15 at 16:36
  • Thank you for taking time to respond. – John Hunsberger Nov 04 '15 at 16:51