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JavaFX - Sequential Transition - playing back and forth (step by step)

I'm struggling with making an animation showing the searchin in Binary Search Tree in JavaFX.
The goal is to make a visualization of comparing the value of tree node with possibility to:
pause and play it any time
being able to play the animation backwards (to go at least one step back),
give a user an ability to play the animation step-by-step or whole at once.
The preview of visualization
My vision was to make a series of TranslateTransitions(TT) added in one SequentialTransition(ST). If the animation is marked as "step-by-step" the each TT pauses the whole ST in their OnFinished handler. However this kinda works only for going one-way.
My question is. What is the best approach to maintain going fluent and step-by-step animation in reverse direction ?
I was thinking about:
maybe making another sequence of inverse transitions (but how to tell
it from which step to continue ?)
somehow work with rate property ? is it possible to change it while the ST is running ?
Thank you very much for your answers.

In general, you can change the rate property of an Animation while it is in progress. The idea of using a SequentialTransition is appealing, but it doesn't work as easily as you might think. The problem arises when the sequential transition is paused at the boundary between two individual transitions: you don't have any way to tell which of the individual transitions is considered the current one (i.e. the next one or the previous one). So when you try to reverse the rate and play, the sequential transition can get confused and immediately think it's at the end of the one it's trying to play.
You might be able to hack this a little by using Animation.getCurrentTime() and Animation.jumpTo(...) to "nudge" the sequential transition a tiny amount in the correct direction before starting to play any step, but I think it's probably easier just to manage the individual transitions on their own instead of using a SequentialTransition.
Here's a simple example of using this technique to move a rectangle around:
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;
import javafx.animation.Animation;
import javafx.animation.Animation.Status;
import javafx.animation.TranslateTransition;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.beans.binding.Bindings;
import javafx.beans.binding.BooleanBinding;
import javafx.beans.property.IntegerProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleIntegerProperty;
import javafx.beans.value.ObservableValue;
import javafx.geometry.Pos;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.scene.layout.Pane;
import javafx.scene.paint.Color;
import javafx.scene.shape.Rectangle;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.util.Duration;
public class ReverseSequentialTransitionTest extends Application {
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
Pane pane = new Pane();
Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(50, 50, 250, 150);
rect.setFill(Color.color(.5, .5, .1));
pane.getChildren().add(rect);
TranslateTransition ttForward = new TranslateTransition(Duration.seconds(1), rect);
ttForward.setFromX(0);
ttForward.setToX(400);
TranslateTransition ttDown = new TranslateTransition(Duration.seconds(1), rect);
ttDown.setFromY(0);
ttDown.setToY(100);
TranslateTransition ttBackward = new TranslateTransition(Duration.seconds(1), rect);
ttBackward.setFromX(400);
ttBackward.setToX(0);
TranslateTransition ttUp = new TranslateTransition(Duration.seconds(1), rect);
ttUp.setFromY(100);
ttUp.setToY(0);
List<Animation> transitions = Arrays.asList(ttForward, ttDown, ttBackward, ttUp);
IntegerProperty nextTransitionIndex = new SimpleIntegerProperty();
Button playButton = new Button("Play Forward");
playButton.setOnAction(event -> {
int index = nextTransitionIndex.get();
Animation anim = transitions.get(index);
anim.setOnFinished(evt -> nextTransitionIndex.set(index+1));
anim.setRate(1);
anim.play();
});
Button reverseButton = new Button("Play backward");
reverseButton.setOnAction(event -> {
int index = nextTransitionIndex.get()-1;
Animation anim = transitions.get(index);
anim.setOnFinished(evt -> nextTransitionIndex.set(index));
anim.setRate(-1);
anim.play();
});
// This is not really part of the answer to the current question, but the
// next three statements just disable the buttons when appropriate.
// This is a binding which is true if and only if any of the transitions are
// currently running:
BooleanBinding anyPlaying = createAnyPlayingBinding(transitions);
// Disable playButton if we are at the end of the last transition, or if
// any transitions are playing:
playButton.disableProperty().bind(
nextTransitionIndex.greaterThanOrEqualTo(transitions.size())
.or(anyPlaying)
);
// Disable reverseButton if we are at the beginning of the first transition,
// or if any transitions are currently playing:
reverseButton.disableProperty().bind(
nextTransitionIndex.lessThanOrEqualTo(0)
.or(anyPlaying));
HBox controls = new HBox(5);
controls.setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);
controls.getChildren().addAll(playButton, reverseButton);
BorderPane root = new BorderPane();
root.setCenter(pane);
root.setBottom(controls);
primaryStage.setScene(new Scene(root, 800, 400));
primaryStage.show();
}
private BooleanBinding createAnyPlayingBinding(List<Animation> transitions) {
return new BooleanBinding() {
{ // Anonymous constructor
// bind to the status properties of all the transitions
// (i.e. mark this binding as invalid if any of the status properties change)
transitions.stream()
.map(Animation::statusProperty)
.forEach(this::bind);
}
#Override
protected boolean computeValue() {
// return true if any of the transitions statuses are equal to RUNNING:
return transitions.stream()
.anyMatch(anim -> anim.getStatus()==Status.RUNNING);
}
};
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
}
In JDK 7, the event handler for the playButton looks like this:
playButton.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
#Override
public void handle(ActionEvent event) {
final int index = nextTransitionIndex.get();
Animation anim = transitions.get(index);
anim.setOnFinished(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
#Override
public void handle(ActionEvent evt) {
nextTransitionIndex.set(index + 1) ;
}
});
anim.setRate(1);
anim.play();
}
});
and similarly for reverseButton. You will need to declare a couple of things as final as well. The createAnyPlayingBinding method is something like
private BooleanBinding createAnyPlayingBinding(final List<Animation> transitions) {
return new BooleanBinding() {
{
for (Animation transition : transitions) {
this.bind(transition.statusProperty();
}
}
#Override
protected boolean computeValue() {
// return true if any of the transitions statuses are equal to RUNNING:
for (Animation anim : transitions) {
if (anim.getStatus() == Status.RUNNING) {
return true ;
}
}
return false ;
}
};
}

Updating UI from different threads in JavaFX

I am developing an application with several TextField objects that need to be updated to reflect changes in associated back-end properties. The TextFields are not editable, only the back-end may change their content.
As I understand, the correct way about this is to run the heavy computation on a separate thread so as not to block the UI. I did this using javafx.concurrent.Task and communicated a single value back to the JavaFX thread using updateMessage(), which worked well. However, I need more than one value to be updated as the back-end does its crunching.
Since the back-end values are stored as JavaFX properties, I tried simply binding them to the textProperty of each GUI element and let the bindings do the work. This doesn't work, however; after running for a few moments, the TextFields stop updating even though the back-end task is still running. No exceptions are raised.
I also tried using Platform.runLater() to actively update the TextFields rather than binding. The issue here is that the runLater() tasks are scheduled faster than the platform can run them, and so the GUI becomes sluggish and needs to time to "catch up" even after the back-end task is finished.
I found a few questions on here:
Logger entries translated to the UI stops being updated with time
Multithreading in JavaFX hangs the UI
but my issue persists.
In summary: I have a back-end making changes to properties, and I want those changes to appear on the GUI. The back-end is a genetic algorithm, so its operation is broken down into discrete generations. What I would like is for the TextFields to refresh at least once in between generations, even if this delays the next generation. It is more important that the GUI responds well than that the GA runs fast.
I can post a few code examples if I haven't made the issue clear.
UPDATE
I managed to do it following James_D's suggestion. To solve the issue of the back-end having to wait for the console to print, I implemented a buffered console of sorts. It stores the strings to print in a StringBuffer and actually appends them to the TextArea when a flush() method is called. I used an AtomicBoolean to prevent the next generation from happening until the flush is complete, as it is done by a Platform.runLater() runnable. Also note that this solution is incredibly slow.

Not sure if I completely understand, but I think this may help.
Using Platform.runLater(...) is an appropriate approach for this.
The trick to avoiding flooding the FX Application Thread is to use an Atomic variable to store the value you're interested in. In the Platform.runLater method, retrieve it and set it to a sentinel value. From your background thread, update the Atomic variable, but only issue a new Platform.runLater if it's been set back to its sentinel value.
I figured this out by looking at the source code for Task. Have a look at how the updateMessage method (line 1131 at the time of writing) is implemented.
Here's an example which uses the same technique. This just has a (busy) background thread which counts as fast as it can, updating an IntegerProperty. An observer watches that property and updates an AtomicInteger with the new value. If the current value of the AtomicInteger is -1, it schedules a Platform.runLater.
In the Platform.runLater, I retrieve the value of the AtomicInteger and use it to update a Label, setting the value back to -1 in the process. This signals that I am ready for another UI update.
import java.text.NumberFormat;
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.application.Platform;
import javafx.beans.property.IntegerProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleIntegerProperty;
import javafx.beans.value.ChangeListener;
import javafx.beans.value.ObservableValue;
import javafx.event.ActionEvent;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.layout.AnchorPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class ConcurrentModel extends Application {
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
final AtomicInteger count = new AtomicInteger(-1);
final AnchorPane root = new AnchorPane();
final Label label = new Label();
final Model model = new Model();
final NumberFormat formatter = NumberFormat.getIntegerInstance();
formatter.setGroupingUsed(true);
model.intProperty().addListener(new ChangeListener<Number>() {
#Override
public void changed(final ObservableValue<? extends Number> observable,
final Number oldValue, final Number newValue) {
if (count.getAndSet(newValue.intValue()) == -1) {
Platform.runLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
long value = count.getAndSet(-1);
label.setText(formatter.format(value));
}
});
}
}
});
final Button startButton = new Button("Start");
startButton.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
#Override
public void handle(ActionEvent event) {
model.start();
}
});
AnchorPane.setTopAnchor(label, 10.0);
AnchorPane.setLeftAnchor(label, 10.0);
AnchorPane.setBottomAnchor(startButton, 10.0);
AnchorPane.setLeftAnchor(startButton, 10.0);
root.getChildren().addAll(label, startButton);
Scene scene = new Scene(root, 100, 100);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
public class Model extends Thread {
private IntegerProperty intProperty;
public Model() {
intProperty = new SimpleIntegerProperty(this, "int", 0);
setDaemon(true);
}
public int getInt() {
return intProperty.get();
}
public IntegerProperty intProperty() {
return intProperty;
}
#Override
public void run() {
while (true) {
intProperty.set(intProperty.get() + 1);
}
}
}
}
If you really want to "drive" the back end from the UI: that is throttle the speed of the backend implementation so you see all updates, consider using an AnimationTimer. An AnimationTimer has a handle(...) which is called once per frame render. So you could block the back-end implementation (for example by using a blocking queue) and release it once per invocation of the handle method. The handle(...) method is invoked on the FX Application Thread.
The handle(...) method takes a parameter which is a timestamp (in nanoseconds), so you can use that to slow the updates further, if once per frame is too fast.
For example:
import java.util.concurrent.ArrayBlockingQueue;
import java.util.concurrent.BlockingQueue;
import javafx.animation.AnimationTimer;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.beans.property.LongProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleLongProperty;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.geometry.Pos;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.TextArea;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
public class Main extends Application {
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
final BlockingQueue<String> messageQueue = new ArrayBlockingQueue<>(1);
TextArea console = new TextArea();
Button startButton = new Button("Start");
startButton.setOnAction(event -> {
MessageProducer producer = new MessageProducer(messageQueue);
Thread t = new Thread(producer);
t.setDaemon(true);
t.start();
});
final LongProperty lastUpdate = new SimpleLongProperty();
final long minUpdateInterval = 0 ; // nanoseconds. Set to higher number to slow output.
AnimationTimer timer = new AnimationTimer() {
#Override
public void handle(long now) {
if (now - lastUpdate.get() > minUpdateInterval) {
final String message = messageQueue.poll();
if (message != null) {
console.appendText("\n" + message);
}
lastUpdate.set(now);
}
}
};
timer.start();
HBox controls = new HBox(5, startButton);
controls.setPadding(new Insets(10));
controls.setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);
BorderPane root = new BorderPane(console, null, null, controls, null);
Scene scene = new Scene(root,600,400);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
private static class MessageProducer implements Runnable {
private final BlockingQueue<String> messageQueue ;
public MessageProducer(BlockingQueue<String> messageQueue) {
this.messageQueue = messageQueue ;
}
#Override
public void run() {
long messageCount = 0 ;
try {
while (true) {
final String message = "Message " + (++messageCount);
messageQueue.put(message);
}
} catch (InterruptedException exc) {
System.out.println("Message producer interrupted: exiting.");
}
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
}

The best way to performing this is by usage of Task in JavaFx. This is be by far the best technique I've come across to update UI Controls in JavaFx.
Task task = new Task<Void>() {
#Override public Void call() {
static final int max = 1000000;
for (int i=1; i<=max; i++) {
updateProgress(i, max);
}
return null;
}
};
ProgressBar bar = new ProgressBar();
bar.progressProperty().bind(task.progressProperty());
new Thread(task).start();

JavaFX video not playing

I followed some tutorials about combining JavaFX with Swing (JFrame) to play a video, however all I get is a black screen where the video is supposed to be without any actual content playing, No errors are reported either.
What am I doing wrong here and why wont the video play?
I tried several .flv videos, none of them will start playing (they do play when I open them in my browser)
I'm running jre7 and jdk1.7.0_45 on windows 8.1 N Pro with the K-lite full codec pack installed
EDIT: updated my code after the comment of jewelsea, nothing has changed, the black box still appears without content playing, the console doesn't show any text coming up
package com.example.test;
import javafx.application.Platform;
import javafx.embed.swing.JFXPanel;
import javafx.event.Event;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.scene.Group;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.SceneBuilder;
import javafx.scene.media.Media;
import javafx.scene.media.MediaErrorEvent;
import javafx.scene.media.MediaPlayer;
import javafx.scene.media.MediaView;
import javafx.scene.paint.Color;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
initAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
private static void initAndShowGUI() {
// This method is invoked on the EDT thread
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Test");
final JFXPanel fxPanel = new JFXPanel();
frame.add(fxPanel);
frame.setSize(640, 480);
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
Platform.runLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
initFX(fxPanel);
}
});
}
private static void initFX(JFXPanel fxPanel) {
// This method is invoked on the JavaFX thread
Scene scene = createScene();
fxPanel.setScene(scene);
}
private static Scene createScene() {
String source;
Media media;
MediaPlayer mediaPlayer;
MediaView mediaView = null;
try {
media = new Media("http://download.oracle.com/otndocs/products/javafx/oow2010-2.flv");
if (media.getError() == null) {
media.setOnError(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
// Handle asynchronous error in Media object.
System.out.println("Handle asynchronous error in Media object");
}
});
try {
mediaPlayer = new MediaPlayer(media);
mediaPlayer.setAutoPlay(true);
if (mediaPlayer.getError() == null) {
mediaPlayer.setOnError(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
// Handle asynchronous error in MediaPlayer object.
System.out.println("Handle asynchronous error in MediaPlayer object");
}
});
mediaView = new MediaView(mediaPlayer);
mediaView.setOnError(new EventHandler() {
public void handle(MediaErrorEvent t) {
// Handle asynchronous error in MediaView.
System.out.println("Handle asynchronous error in MediaView: "+ t.getMediaError());
}
#Override
public void handle(Event arg0) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
System.out.println("Handle asynchronous error in MediaView arg0: "+arg0.toString());
}
});
} else {
// Handle synchronous error creating MediaPlayer.
System.out.println("Handle synchronous error creating MediaPlayer");
}
} catch (Exception mediaPlayerException) {
// Handle exception in MediaPlayer constructor.
System.out.println("Handle exception in MediaPlayer constructor: "+ mediaPlayerException.getMessage());
}
} else {
// Handle synchronous error creating Media.
System.out.println("Handle synchronous error creating Media");
}
} catch (Exception mediaException) {
// Handle exception in Media constructor.
System.out.println("Handle exception in Media constructor: "+mediaException.getMessage());
}
Group root = new Group();
Scene scene = SceneBuilder.create().width(640).height(480).root(root).fill(Color.WHITE).build();
if(mediaView != null) {
root.getChildren().add(mediaView);
}
return scene;
}
}

So I installed the windows media feature pack in order to get adobe premiere pro working (because it required a dll file from windows media player (which I didn't had installed because I run an N version of windows) and now the video does play for me.
I can't say with 100% confirmation the cause was not having WMP installed as the media feature pack might as well have installed something else that solved my problem, nonetheless, problem solved :)
I want to thank the other answers for trying, I really appreciate it.

Please do not mind if i am writing this answer. I know this is a very old question but this answer might help others. I am currently developing a JavaFX application which needs to execute a file depending upon its type.
My application played the video for the first time but when i clicked on another mp4 video file it didn't play.
Here is my initial code.
private void playVideo(String fileLocation) {
System.out.println("VideoProcesser Thread = " + Thread.currentThread().getName());
media = new Media(new File(fileLocation).toURI().toString());
mediaPlayer = new MediaPlayer(media);
mediaView = new MediaView(mediaPlayer);
runnable = () -> {
System.out.println("Inside runnable VideoProcesser Thread = " + Thread.currentThread().getName());
mediaPlayer.play();
};
mediaPlayer.setOnReady(runnable);
setVideoMediaStatus(PLAYING);
pane.getChildren().add(mediaView);
}
Then since the video player screen was dark, i thought the problem was with media view, so i added the following two line,
if(mediaView == null) {
mediaView = new MediaView(mediaPlayer);
}
mediaView.setMediaPlayer(mediaPlayer);
Now, when i click on different videos my application just plays fine.
Here is the complete code.
Media media;
MediaPlayer mediaPlayer;
MediaView mediaView;
private void playVideo(String fileLocation) {
System.out.println("VideoProcesser Thread = " + Thread.currentThread().getName());
media = new Media(new File(fileLocation).toURI().toString());
mediaPlayer = new MediaPlayer(media);
mediaPlayer.setAutoPlay(true);
if(mediaView == null) {
mediaView = new MediaView(mediaPlayer);
}
mediaView.setMediaPlayer(mediaPlayer);
mediaPlayer.play();
mediaPlayer.setOnError(() -> System.out.println("Current error: "+mediaPlayer.getError()));
setVideoMediaStatus(PLAYING);
pane.getChildren().add(mediaView);
}
Note that if you are using FXML to instantiate mediaView, then do not instantiate it again. Instantiating it again might make mediaView loose the reference of original node.
Refer to this post and answer by itachi,
javafx mediaview only the audio is playing

try this, it works for me:
package de.professional_webworkx.swing;
import javafx.application.Platform;
import javafx.embed.swing.JFXPanel;
import javafx.scene.Group;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.SceneBuilder;
import javafx.scene.media.Media;
import javafx.scene.media.MediaPlayer;
import javafx.scene.media.MediaView;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class MyFrame extends JFrame {
/**
*
*/
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
/**
* Create a new Frame, set title, ...
*/
public MyFrame() {
this.setTitle("Swing and JavaFX");
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
this.setSize(1024, 768);
// create a JFXPanel
final JFXPanel jfxPanel = new JFXPanel();
// add the jfxPanel to the contentPane of the JFrame
this.getContentPane().add(jfxPanel);
this.setVisible(true);
Platform.runLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
jfxPanel.setScene(initScene());
}
});
}
public static final void main (String[] args) {
new MyFrame();
}
/**
* init the JFX Scene and
* #return scene
*/
private Scene initScene() {
Group root = new Group();
SceneBuilder<?> sb = SceneBuilder.create().width(640).height(400).root(root);
Media video = new Media("http://download.oracle.com/otndocs/products/javafx/oow2010-2.flv");
MediaPlayer mediaPlayer = new MediaPlayer(video);
mediaPlayer.setAutoPlay(true);
mediaPlayer.play();
MediaView view = new MediaView(mediaPlayer);
root.getChildren().add(view);
Scene scene = sb.build();
return scene;
}
}
Patrick

I took your code and tried running it on my machine (Win7 JDK 1.7.0_25) and got the same results. Black box and no video.
I noticed you aren't setting mediaPlayer.setAutoPlay(true) so I added that call to the createScene() right before mediaPlayer is passed to MediaView. Now the playback seems to work for me.
// ... prior code omitted
// added this to OP's code
mediaPlayer.setAutoPlay(true);
mediaView = new MediaView(mediaPlayer);
mediaView.setOnError(new EventHandler() {
public void handle(MediaErrorEvent t) {
// Handle asynchronous error in MediaView.
System.out.println("Handle asynchronous error in MediaView: "+ t.getMediaError());
}
// ... additional code omitted
Edit: The autoPlay property defaults to false - you can call mediaPlayer.isAutoPlay() to check this. Without either calling mediaPlayer.setAutoPlay(true) or mediaPlayer.play() the video will never start playing.
Edit 2: I just noticed in the comments on another answer that you are having trouble playing the video outside of JavaFX. If you don't already have it installed, try downloading VLC to see if the video can play using that. I believe installing ffdshow tryouts will provide the necessary codecs to play FLV in Windows Media Player. (Although I thought all versions of K-lite codec pack included FLV support)

Opening a full web page

Is there a way of opening a full web page using Java, I have to check the time taken in opening full web page in a Java user end application, I have tried this code:
URL ur = new URL("http://www.google.com/");
HttpURLConnection yc =(HttpURLConnection) ur.openConnection();
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(yc.getInputStream()));
String inputLine;
while ((inputLine = in.readLine()) != null)
System.out.println(inputLine);
in.close();
but this gives me the source code of the url... that's useless for me!
as I need to record the time taken by a webpage to load on my desktop by making a Java application.
Everything is on client site!

Here is a JavaFX based sample:
import java.util.Date;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.beans.value.*;
import javafx.concurrent.Worker.State;
import javafx.event.*;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.*;
import javafx.scene.image.Image;
import javafx.scene.layout.*;
import javafx.scene.web.WebEngine;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
/** times the loading of a page in a WebEngine */
public class PageLoadTiming extends Application {
public static void main(String[] args) { launch(args); }
#Override public void start(Stage stage) {
final Label instructions = new Label(
"Loads a web page into a JavaFX WebEngine. " +
"The first page loaded will take a bit longer than subsequent page loads due to WebEngine intialization.\n" +
"Once a given url has been loaded, subsequent loads of the same url will be quick as url resources have been cached on the client."
);
instructions.setWrapText(true);
instructions.setStyle("-fx-font-size: 14px");
// configure some controls.
final WebEngine engine = new WebEngine();
final TextField location = new TextField("http://docs.oracle.com/javafx/2/get_started/jfxpub-get_started.htm");
final Button go = new Button("Go");
final Date start = new Date();
go.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
#Override public void handle(ActionEvent arg0) {
engine.load(location.getText());
start.setTime(new Date().getTime());
}
});
go.setDefaultButton(true);
final Label timeTaken = new Label();
// configure help tooltips.
go.setTooltip(new Tooltip("Start timing the load of a page at the entered location."));
location.setTooltip(new Tooltip("Enter the location whose page loading is to be timed."));
timeTaken.setTooltip(new Tooltip("Current loading state and time taken to load the last page."));
// monitor the page load status and update the time taken appropriately.
engine.getLoadWorker().stateProperty().addListener(new ChangeListener<State>() {
#Override public void changed(ObservableValue<? extends State> state, State oldState, State newState) {
switch (newState) {
case SUCCEEDED: timeTaken.setText(((new Date().getTime()) - start.getTime()) + "ms"); break;
default: timeTaken.setText(newState.toString());
}
}
});
// layout the controls.
HBox controls = HBoxBuilder.create().spacing(10).children(new Label("Location"), location, go, timeTaken).build();
HBox.setHgrow(location, Priority.ALWAYS);
timeTaken.setMinWidth(120);
// layout the scene.
VBox layout = new VBox(10);
layout.setStyle("-fx-padding: 10; -fx-background-color: cornsilk; -fx-font-size: 20px;");
layout.getChildren().addAll(controls, instructions);
stage.setTitle("Page load timing");
stage.getIcons().add(new Image("http://icons.iconarchive.com/icons/aha-soft/perfect-time/48/Hourglass-icon.png"));
stage.setScene(new Scene(layout, 1000, 110));
stage.show();
// trigger loading the default page.
go.fire();
}
}

Yeah home is right that should do the trick. But this way is much more simpler... Although a bit erroneous it should serve fine for benchmark purposes.
JEditorPane editorPane = new JEditorPane();
editorPane.setPage(new URL("http://www.google.com"));
The scripts are still rendered on the screen if you just use this snippet, although it can be worked around I don't think you will need to bother with that since you need to just benchmark loading time... However the results may be varying very slightly since it doesn't take time to run the JavaScript.

You can use Cobra
You can use plain Swing also
You can also use JavaFX to do it like this:
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.scene.web.WebView;
public class MyWebView extends Application {
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
#Override
public void start(final Stage primaryStage) {
final WebView wv = new WebView();
wv.getEngine().load("http://www.google.com");
primaryStage.setScene(new Scene(wv));
primaryStage.show();
}
}

To open a web page using java , try the following code :
import java.io.*;
public class b {
public static void main(String args[])throws IOException
{
String downloadURL="<url>";
java.awt.Desktop myNewBrowserDesktop = java.awt.Desktop.getDesktop();
try
{
java.net.URI myNewLocation = new java.net.URI(downloadURL);
myNewBrowserDesktop.browse(myNewLocation);
}
catch(Exception e)
{
}
}
}
This will open the web page in your default browser . As for the time taken to load part , have a look here . There are a lot of suggestions there .

Capturing image from webcam in java?

How can I continuously capture images from a webcam?
I want to experiment with object recognition (by maybe using java media framework).
I was thinking of creating two threads
one thread:
Node 1: capture live image
Node 2: save image as "1.jpg"
Node 3: wait 5 seconds
Node 4: repeat...
other thread:
Node 1: wait until image is captured
Node 2: using the "1.jpg" get colors
from every pixle
Node 3: save data in arrays
Node 4: repeat...

This JavaCV implementation works fine.
Code:
import org.bytedeco.javacv.*;
import org.bytedeco.opencv.opencv_core.IplImage;
import java.io.File;
import static org.bytedeco.opencv.global.opencv_core.cvFlip;
import static org.bytedeco.opencv.helper.opencv_imgcodecs.cvSaveImage;
public class Test implements Runnable {
final int INTERVAL = 100;///you may use interval
CanvasFrame canvas = new CanvasFrame("Web Cam");
public Test() {
canvas.setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
public void run() {
new File("images").mkdir();
FrameGrabber grabber = new OpenCVFrameGrabber(0); // 1 for next camera
OpenCVFrameConverter.ToIplImage converter = new OpenCVFrameConverter.ToIplImage();
IplImage img;
int i = 0;
try {
grabber.start();
while (true) {
Frame frame = grabber.grab();
img = converter.convert(frame);
//the grabbed frame will be flipped, re-flip to make it right
cvFlip(img, img, 1);// l-r = 90_degrees_steps_anti_clockwise
//save
cvSaveImage("images" + File.separator + (i++) + "-aa.jpg", img);
canvas.showImage(converter.convert(img));
Thread.sleep(INTERVAL);
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Test gs = new Test();
Thread th = new Thread(gs);
th.start();
}
}
There is also post on configuration for JavaCV
You can modify the code and be able to save the images in regular interval and do rest of the processing you want.

Some time ago I've created generic Java library which can be used to take pictures with a PC webcam. The API is very simple, not overfeatured, can work standalone, but also supports additional webcam drivers like OpenIMAJ, JMF, FMJ, LTI-CIVIL, etc, and some IP cameras.
Link to the project is https://github.com/sarxos/webcam-capture
Example code (take picture and save in test.jpg):
Webcam webcam = Webcam.getDefault();
webcam.open();
BufferedImage image = webcam.getImage();
ImageIO.write(image, "JPG", new File("test.jpg"));
It is also available in Maven Central Repository or as a separate ZIP which includes all required dependencies and 3rd party JARs.

JMyron is very simple for use.
http://webcamxtra.sourceforge.net/
myron = new JMyron();
myron.start(imgw, imgh);
myron.update();
int[] img = myron.image();

Here is a similar question with some - yet unaccepted - answers. One of them mentions FMJ as a java alternative to JMF.

This kind of goes off of gt_ebuddy's answer using JavaCV, but my video output is at a much higher quality then his answer. I've also added some other random improvements (such as closing down the program when ESC and CTRL+C are pressed, and making sure to close down the resources the program uses properly).
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.event.WindowAdapter;
import java.awt.event.WindowEvent;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import javax.swing.AbstractAction;
import javax.swing.ActionMap;
import javax.swing.InputMap;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.KeyStroke;
import com.googlecode.javacv.CanvasFrame;
import com.googlecode.javacv.OpenCVFrameGrabber;
import com.googlecode.javacv.cpp.opencv_core.IplImage;
public class HighRes extends JComponent implements Runnable {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
private static CanvasFrame frame = new CanvasFrame("Web Cam");
private static boolean running = false;
private static int frameWidth = 800;
private static int frameHeight = 600;
private static OpenCVFrameGrabber grabber = new OpenCVFrameGrabber(0);
private static BufferedImage bufImg;
public HighRes()
{
// setup key bindings
ActionMap actionMap = frame.getRootPane().getActionMap();
InputMap inputMap = frame.getRootPane().getInputMap(JComponent.WHEN_IN_FOCUSED_WINDOW);
for (Keys direction : Keys.values())
{
actionMap.put(direction.getText(), new KeyBinding(direction.getText()));
inputMap.put(direction.getKeyStroke(), direction.getText());
}
frame.getRootPane().setActionMap(actionMap);
frame.getRootPane().setInputMap(JComponent.WHEN_IN_FOCUSED_WINDOW, inputMap);
// setup window listener for close action
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter()
{
public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e)
{
stop();
}
});
}
public static void main(String... args)
{
HighRes webcam = new HighRes();
webcam.start();
}
#Override
public void run()
{
try
{
grabber.setImageWidth(frameWidth);
grabber.setImageHeight(frameHeight);
grabber.start();
while (running)
{
final IplImage cvimg = grabber.grab();
if (cvimg != null)
{
// cvFlip(cvimg, cvimg, 1); // mirror
// show image on window
bufImg = cvimg.getBufferedImage();
frame.showImage(bufImg);
}
}
grabber.stop();
grabber.release();
frame.dispose();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void start()
{
new Thread(this).start();
running = true;
}
public void stop()
{
running = false;
}
private class KeyBinding extends AbstractAction {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
public KeyBinding(String text)
{
super(text);
putValue(ACTION_COMMAND_KEY, text);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
String action = e.getActionCommand();
if (action.equals(Keys.ESCAPE.toString()) || action.equals(Keys.CTRLC.toString())) stop();
else System.out.println("Key Binding: " + action);
}
}
}
enum Keys
{
ESCAPE("Escape", KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_ESCAPE, 0)),
CTRLC("Control-C", KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_C, KeyEvent.CTRL_DOWN_MASK)),
UP("Up", KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_UP, 0)),
DOWN("Down", KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_DOWN, 0)),
LEFT("Left", KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_LEFT, 0)),
RIGHT("Right", KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT, 0));
private String text;
private KeyStroke keyStroke;
Keys(String text, KeyStroke keyStroke)
{
this.text = text;
this.keyStroke = keyStroke;
}
public String getText()
{
return text;
}
public KeyStroke getKeyStroke()
{
return keyStroke;
}
#Override
public String toString()
{
return text;
}
}

You can try Java Webcam SDK library also.
SDK demo applet is available at link.

I have used JMF on a videoconference application and it worked well on two laptops: one with integrated webcam and another with an old USB webcam. It requires JMF being installed and configured before-hand, but once you're done you can access the hardware via Java code fairly easily.

You can try Marvin Framework. It provides an interface to work with cameras. Moreover, it also provides a set of real-time video processing features, like object tracking and filtering.
Take a look!
Real-time Video Processing Demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5mBt0kRYvk
You can use the source below. Just save a frame using MarvinImageIO.saveImage() every 5 second.
Webcam video demo:
public class SimpleVideoTest extends JFrame implements Runnable{
private MarvinVideoInterface videoAdapter;
private MarvinImage image;
private MarvinImagePanel videoPanel;
public SimpleVideoTest(){
super("Simple Video Test");
videoAdapter = new MarvinJavaCVAdapter();
videoAdapter.connect(0);
videoPanel = new MarvinImagePanel();
add(videoPanel);
new Thread(this).start();
setSize(800,600);
setVisible(true);
}
#Override
public void run() {
while(true){
// Request a video frame and set into the VideoPanel
image = videoAdapter.getFrame();
videoPanel.setImage(image);
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SimpleVideoTest t = new SimpleVideoTest();
t.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
}
For those who just want to take a single picture:
WebcamPicture.java
public class WebcamPicture {
public static void main(String[] args) {
try{
MarvinVideoInterface videoAdapter = new MarvinJavaCVAdapter();
videoAdapter.connect(0);
MarvinImage image = videoAdapter.getFrame();
MarvinImageIO.saveImage(image, "./res/webcam_picture.jpg");
} catch(MarvinVideoInterfaceException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

I used Webcam Capture API. You can download it from here
webcam = Webcam.getDefault();
webcam.open();
if (webcam.isOpen()) { //if web cam open
BufferedImage image = webcam.getImage();
JLabel imageLbl = new JLabel();
imageLbl.setSize(640, 480); //show captured image
imageLbl.setIcon(new ImageIcon(image));
int showConfirmDialog = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(null, imageLbl, "Image Viewer", JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION, JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE, new ImageIcon(""));
if (showConfirmDialog == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION) {
JFileChooser chooser = new JFileChooser();
chooser.setDialogTitle("Save Image");
chooser.setFileFilter(new FileNameExtensionFilter("IMAGES ONLY", "png", "jpeg", "jpg")); //this file extentions are shown
int showSaveDialog = chooser.showSaveDialog(this);
if (showSaveDialog == 0) { //if pressed 'Save' button
String filePath = chooser.getCurrentDirectory().toString().replace("\\", "/");
String fileName = chooser.getSelectedFile().getName(); //get user entered file name to save
ImageIO.write(image, "PNG", new File(filePath + "/" + fileName + ".png"));
}
}
}

http://grack.com/downloads/school/enel619.10/report/java_media_framework.html
Using the Player with Swing
The Player can be easily used in a Swing application as well. The following code creates a Swing-based TV capture program with the video output displayed in the entire window:
import javax.media.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
public class JMFTest extends JFrame {
Player _player;
JMFTest() {
addWindowListener( new WindowAdapter() {
public void windowClosing( WindowEvent e ) {
_player.stop();
_player.deallocate();
_player.close();
System.exit( 0 );
}
});
setExtent( 0, 0, 320, 260 );
JPanel panel = (JPanel)getContentPane();
panel.setLayout( new BorderLayout() );
String mediaFile = "vfw://1";
try {
MediaLocator mlr = new MediaLocator( mediaFile );
_player = Manager.createRealizedPlayer( mlr );
if (_player.getVisualComponent() != null)
panel.add("Center", _player.getVisualComponent());
if (_player.getControlPanelComponent() != null)
panel.add("South", _player.getControlPanelComponent());
}
catch (Exception e) {
System.err.println( "Got exception " + e );
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
JMFTest jmfTest = new JMFTest();
jmfTest.show();
}
}

Java usually doesn't like accessing hardware, so you will need a driver program of some sort, as goldenmean said. I've done this on my laptop by finding a command line program that snaps a picture. Then it's the same as goldenmean explained; you run the command line program from your java program in the takepicture() routine, and the rest of your code runs the same.
Except for the part about reading pixel values into an array, you might be better served by saving the file to BMP, which is nearly that format already, then using the standard java image libraries on it.
Using a command line program adds a dependency to your program and makes it less portable, but so was the webcam, right?

I believe the web-cam application software which comes along with the web-cam, or you native windows webcam software can be run in a batch script(windows/dos script) after turning the web cam on(i.e. if it needs an external power supply). In the bacth script , u can add appropriate delay to capture after certain time period. And keep executing the capture command in loop.
I guess this should be possible
-AD

There's a pretty nice interface for this in processing, which is kind of a pidgin java designed for graphics. It gets used in some image recognition work, such as that link.
Depending on what you need out of it, you might be able to load the video library that's used there in java, or if you're just playing around with it you might be able to get by using processing itself.

FMJ can do this, as can the supporting library it uses, LTI-CIVIL. Both are on sourceforge.

Recommand using FMJ for multimedia relatived java app.

Try using JMyron How To Use Webcam Using Java. I think using JMyron is the easiest way to access a webcam using java. I tried to use it with a 64-bit processor, but it gave me an error. It worked just fine on a 32-bit processor, though.