Typically speaking, it is much better if a build can be reproduced without requiring the use of a specific IDE or some other proprietary tool. Fortunately, NetBeans offers the ability to create a Maven-based JavaFX project. Click on File | New Project and select Maven, then JavaFX Application:

Next, perform the following steps:

1. Click on Next.
2. Enter Project Name as ProcessManager.
3. Enter Group ID as com.steeplesoft.
4. Enter Package as com.steeplesoft.processmanager.
5. Select Project Location.
6. Click on Finish.

Consider the following screenshot as an example:

Once the new project has been created, we need to update the Maven pom to use Java 9:

    <build> 
      <plugins> 
        <plugin> 
          <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> 
          <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId> 
          <version...

As noted in the introduction, this will be a JavaFX-based application, so we'll start by creating the skeleton for the application. This is a Java 9 application, and we intend to make use of the Java Module System. To do that, we need to create the module definition file, module-info.java, which resides in the root of our source tree. This being a Maven-based project, that would be src/main/java:

    module procman.app { 
      requires javafx.controls; 
      requires javafx.fxml; 
    } 

This small file does a couple of different things. First, it defines a new procman.app module. Next, it tells the system that this module requires two JDK modules: javafx.controls and javafx.fxml. If we did not specify these two modules, then our system, which we'll see below, would not compile, as the JDK would not make the required classes and packages...

When building the user interface for a JavaFX application, you can do it in one of two ways: code or markup. To keep our code smaller and more readable, we'll build the user interface using FXML--the XML-based language created specifically for JavaFX to express user interfaces. This presents us with another binary choice--do we write the XML by hand, or do we use a graphical tool? Again, the choice is a simple one--we'll use a tool, Scene Builder, which is a WYSIWYG tool originally developed by Oracle and now maintained and supported by Gluon. We will, however, also be looking at the XML source so that we can understand what's being done, so if you don't like using a GUI tool, you won't be left out.

Installing and using Scene Builder is, as you would expect, pretty straightforward. It can be downloaded from http://gluonhq.com...

While the FXML defines the structure of the user interface, we do need some Java code to initialize various elements, respond to actions, and so forth. This class, referred to as the controller, is simply a class that extends javafx.fxml.Initializable:

    public class Controller implements Initializable { 
      @FXML 
      private TableView<ProcessHandle> processList; 
      @Override 
      public void initialize(URL url, ResourceBundle rb) { 
      } 
    } 

The initialize() method comes from the interface, and is used by the JavaFX runtime to initialize the controller when it is created in the call to FXMLLoader.load() from the preceding Application class. Note the @FXML annotation on the instance variable processList. When JavaFX initializes the controller, before the initialize() method is called, the system looks for FXML elements...

Menus in JavaFX start with a component called MenuBar. We want this menu to be at the top of the window, of course, so we add the component to the top section of our BorderPane. If you use Scene Builder, you will end up with something like this in your FXML file:

    <MenuBar BorderPane.alignment="CENTER"> 
      <menus> 
        <Menu mnemonicParsing="false" text="File"> 
          <items> 
            <MenuItem mnemonicParsing="false" text="Close" /> 
          </items> 
        </Menu> 
        <Menu mnemonicParsing="false" text="Edit"> 
          <items> 
            <MenuItem mnemonicParsing="false" text="Delete" /> 
          </items> 
        </Menu> 
        <Menu mnemonicParsing="false&quot...