How to Setup JavaFX Project with Gradle

apply plugin: "java"
apply plugin: "eclipse"

version = "0.1.0"

sourceCompatibility = 1.7
targetCompatibility = 1.7

defaultTasks = ["clean", "jar"]

def javafxLib = "jfxrt.jar"

def getJavaFXPath(def javafxLib) {
    def javaHome = System.env["JAVA_HOME"]
    if (javaHome == null) {
        throw new RuntimeException("JAVA_HOME environment variable must be set")
    }
    def javafxrt = "jre" + File.separator + "lib" + File.separator + javafxLib
    return new File(javaHome, javafxrt).absolutePath
}

dependencies {
    compile files(getJavaFXPath(javafxLib))
}

jar {
    // When creating a fat JAR, make sure we exclude javafx runtime
    // from the fat JAR
    dependsOn configurations.runtime
    from {
        configurations.runtime.findAll { !it.name.contains(javafxLib) }.collect { 
            it.isDirectory() ? it : zipTree(it)
        }
    }
    from sourceSets.main.allJava

    // There's no need to explicitly specify the -classpath or -cp
    // since the classpath information is already stored in the MANIFEST.MF
    manifest {
        attributes "Main-Class": "javafxapp.JavaFXApp"
        attributes "Class-Path": getJavaFXPath(javafxLib)
    }
}

Now we can easily execute the generated JAR by calling

java -jar <jar_file.jar>

How to Create Fully-Occupied-Space Controls in JavaFX

A simple example to create fully-occupied-space buttons in JavaFX.

package javafxapp;

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.scene.Node;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.ButtonBuilder;
import javafx.scene.layout.AnchorPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.AnchorPaneBuilder;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.Priority;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBoxBuilder;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

public class JavaFXApp extends Application {
    @Override
    public void start(Stage primaryStage) throws Exception {
        primaryStage.setTitle("JavaFX App");
        
        BorderPane root = new BorderPane();
        
        root.setLeft(createNode("Left"));
        root.setRight(createNode("Right"));
        root.setCenter(createNode("Center"));
        root.setTop(createNode("Top"));
        root.setBottom(createNode("Bottom"));
        
        Scene scene = new Scene(root);
        
        primaryStage.setScene(scene);
        primaryStage.show();
    }
    
    private Node createNode(String text) {
        VBox vbox = VBoxBuilder.create()
            .spacing(5)
            .padding(new Insets(10, 10, 10, 10))
            .build();

        Button btn = ButtonBuilder.create()
            .text(text)
            .build();
        
        AnchorPane anchoredPane = AnchorPaneBuilder.create()
            .children(btn)
            .style("-fx-border-style: solid;"
                + "-fx-border-width: 1;"
                + "-fx-border-color: black")
                .build();
        
        AnchorPane.setBottomAnchor(btn, 5.0);
        AnchorPane.setRightAnchor(btn, 5.0);
        AnchorPane.setTopAnchor(btn, 5.0);
        AnchorPane.setLeftAnchor(btn, 5.0);
        
        VBox.setVgrow(anchoredPane, Priority.ALWAYS);
        vbox.getChildren().addAll(anchoredPane);
        
        return vbox;
    }
    
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        launch(args);
    }
}