A ButtonBar is essentially a HBox, with the additional functionality for operating system specific button placement. In other words, any Node may be annotated (via the ButtonBar#setButtonData(Node, ButtonData) method, placed inside a ButtonBar (via the getButtons() list), and will then be positioned relative to all other nodes in the button list based on their annotations, as well as the overarching button order specified for the ButtonBar.

Uniform button sizing

By default all buttons are uniformly sized in a ButtonBar, meaning that all buttons take the width of the widest button. It is possible to opt-out of this on a per-button basis, but calling the setButtonUniformSize(Node, boolean) method with a boolean value of false.

If a button is excluded from uniform sizing, it is both excluded from being resized away from its preferred size, and also excluded from the measuring process, so its size will not influence the maximum size calculated for all buttons in the ButtonBar.

Screenshots

Because a ButtonBar comes with built-in support for Windows, Mac OS and Linux, there are three screenshots shown below, with the same buttons laid out on each of the three operating systems.

Windows:

Mac OS:

Linux:

Code Samples

Instantiating and using the ButtonBar is simple, simply do the following:

// Create the ButtonBar instance
ButtonBar buttonBar = new ButtonBar();

// Create the buttons to go into the ButtonBar
Button yesButton = new Button("Yes");
ButtonBar.setButtonData(yesButton, ButtonData.YES);

Button noButton = new Button("No");
ButtonBar.setButtonData(noButton, ButtonData.NO);

// Add buttons to the ButtonBar
buttonBar.getButtons().addAll(yesButton, noButton);

The code sample above will position the Yes and No buttons relative to the users operating system. This means that on Windows and Linux the Yes button will come before the No button, whereas on Mac OS it'll be No and then Yes.

In most cases the OS-specific layout is the best choice, but in cases where you want a custom layout, this is achieved be modifying the button order property. These are cryptic-looking strings that are shorthand representations for the button order. The built-in orders for Windows, Mac OS and Linux are:

ButtonBar Layout Table
Operating System	Button Order
Windows	L_E+U+FBXI_YNOCAH_R
Mac OS	L_HE+U+FBIX_NCYOA_R
Linux	L_HE+UNYACBXIO_R

You should refer to the ButtonData enumeration for a description of what each of these characters mean. However, if your ButtonBar only consisted of ButtonData#YES and ButtonData#NO buttons, you always wanted the yes buttons before the no buttons, and you wanted the buttons to be right-aligned, you could do the following:

// Create the ButtonBar instance
ButtonBar buttonBar = new ButtonBar();

// Set the custom button order
buttonBar.setButtonOrder("+YN");

Nested and Inner Type Summary

Modifier and Type	Class and Description
public static enum	ButtonBar.ButtonData An enumeration of all available button data annotations.

Field Summary

Modifier and Type	Field and Description
public static final String	BUTTON_ORDER_LINUX The default button ordering on Linux (specifically, GNOME).
public static final String	BUTTON_ORDER_MAC_OS The default button ordering on Mac OS.
public static final String	BUTTON_ORDER_NONE A button ordering string that specifies there is no button ordering.
public static final String	BUTTON_ORDER_WINDOWS The default button ordering on Windows.
private final DoubleProperty	buttonMinWidthProperty
private final StringProperty	buttonOrderProperty
private ObservableList<Node>	buttons

Constructor Summary

Access	Constructor and Description
public	ButtonBar() Creates a default ButtonBar instance using the default properties for the users operating system.
public	ButtonBar(final String The button order to use in this button bar instance. buttonOrder) Creates a ButtonBar with the given button order (refer to `buttonOrderProperty()` for more information).

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
public final DoubleProperty	Returns: the minimum width property buttonMinWidthProperty() Specifies the minimum width of all buttons placed in this button bar.
public final StringProperty	Returns: the button order property buttonOrderProperty() The order for the typical buttons in a standard button bar.
protected Skin<?>	createDefaultSkin() Overrides javafx.scene.control.Control.createDefaultSkin. Create a new instance of the default skin for this control.
public static ButtonBar.ButtonData	Returns: the previously set ButtonData property on the given button getButtonData(Node The button to return the previously set ButtonData for. button) Returns the previously set ButtonData property on the given button.
public final double	Returns: the minimum width value getButtonMinWidth() Returns the minimum width of all buttons placed in this button bar.
public final String	Returns: The current `button order`. getButtonOrder() Returns the current `button order`.
public final ObservableList<Node>	Returns: A list containing all buttons currently in the button bar, and allowing for further buttons to be added or removed. getButtons() Placing buttons inside this ObservableList will instruct the ButtonBar to position them relative to each other based on their specified `ButtonData`.
protected Boolean	getInitialFocusTraversable() Overrides javafx.scene.control.Control.getInitialFocusTraversable. Returns the initial focus traversable state of this control, for use by the JavaFX CSS engine to correctly set its initial value.
public static boolean	Returns: true if button is part of the uniform sizing calculations isButtonUniformSize(Node the button button) Returns whether the given node is part of the uniform sizing calculations or not.
public static void	setButtonData(Node The button to annotate with the given `ButtonData` value. button, ButtonBar.ButtonData The ButtonData to designate the button as. buttonData) Sets the given ButtonData on the given button.
public final void	setButtonMinWidth(double the minimum width value value) Sets the minimum width of all buttons placed in this button bar.
public final void	setButtonOrder(String The currently set button order, which by default will be the OS-specific button order. buttonOrder) Sets the `button order`
public static void	setButtonUniformSize(Node The button to include / exclude from uniform sizing. button, boolean Boolean true to force uniform sizing on the button, false to exclude the button from uniform sizing. uniformSize) By default all buttons are uniformly sized in a ButtonBar, meaning that all buttons take the width of the widest button.

Field Detail

BUTTON_ORDER_LINUX	back to summary
public static final String BUTTON_ORDER_LINUX The default button ordering on Linux (specifically, GNOME).

BUTTON_ORDER_MAC_OS	back to summary
public static final String BUTTON_ORDER_MAC_OS The default button ordering on Mac OS.

BUTTON_ORDER_NONE	back to summary
public static final String BUTTON_ORDER_NONE A button ordering string that specifies there is no button ordering. In other words, buttons will be placed in the order that exist in the `getButtons()` list. The only aspect of layout that makes this different than using an HBox is that the buttons are right-aligned.

BUTTON_ORDER_WINDOWS	back to summary
public static final String BUTTON_ORDER_WINDOWS The default button ordering on Windows.

buttonMinWidthProperty	back to summary
private final DoubleProperty buttonMinWidthProperty

buttonOrderProperty	back to summary
private final StringProperty buttonOrderProperty

buttons	back to summary
private ObservableList<Node> buttons

Constructor Detail

ButtonBar	back to summary
public ButtonBar() Creates a default ButtonBar instance using the default properties for the users operating system.

ButtonBar back to summary

ButtonBar	back to summary
public ButtonBar(final String buttonOrder) Creates a ButtonBar with the given button order (refer to `buttonOrderProperty()` for more information). Parameters buttonOrder:String The button order to use in this button bar instance.

public ButtonBar(final String buttonOrder)

Creates a ButtonBar with the given button order (refer to buttonOrderProperty() for more information).

Parameters

buttonOrder:String: The button order to use in this button bar instance.

Method Detail

buttonMinWidthProperty	back to summary
public final DoubleProperty buttonMinWidthProperty() Specifies the minimum width of all buttons placed in this button bar. Returns:DoubleProperty the minimum width property

buttonMinWidthProperty

Modifier and Type	Field and Description
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	APPLY A tag for the "apply" button.
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	BACK_PREVIOUS A tag for the "back" or "previous" button.
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	BIG_GAP A glue push gap that will take as much space as it can and at least an "unrelated" gap.
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	CANCEL_CLOSE A tag for the "cancel" or "close" button.
private final boolean	cancelButton
private final boolean	defaultButton
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	FINISH A tag for the "finish".
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	HELP A tag for the "help" button that normally is supposed to be on the right.
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	HELP_2 A tag for the "help2" button that normally is supposed to be on the left.
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	LEFT Buttons with this style tag will statically end up on the left end of the bar.
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	NEXT_FORWARD A tag for the "next" or "forward" button.
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	NO A tag for the "no" button.
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	OK_DONE A tag for the "ok" or "done" button.
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	OTHER All Uncategorized, Other, or "Unknown" buttons.
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	RIGHT Buttons with this style tag will statically end up on the right end of the bar.
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	SMALL_GAP An "unrelated" gap.
private final String	typeCode
public static final ButtonBar.ButtonData	YES A tag for the "yes" button.

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
public String	Returns: the single character code used to represent the ButtonData annotation getTypeCode() Returns the single character code used to represent the ButtonData annotation in the `button order` string.
public final boolean	Returns: true if this is a 'cancel' button isCancelButton() Indicates whether buttons created from the ButtonData enumeration should be the 'cancel' button in the user interface.
public final boolean	Returns: true if this is a 'default' button isDefaultButton() Indicates whether buttons created from the ButtonData enumeration should be the 'default' button in the user interface.
public static ButtonBar.ButtonData	valueOf(String name)
public static ButtonBar.ButtonData[]	values()

public Class ButtonBar

Uniform button sizing

Screenshots

Code Samples

Nested and Inner Type Summary

Field Summary

Constructor Summary

Method Summary

Field Detail

Constructor Detail

Method Detail

public final Enum ButtonBar.ButtonData

Field Summary

Constructor Summary

Method Summary

Field Detail

Constructor Detail

Method Detail