Save Node or Scene to Image in JavaFX 2.0

by Narayan G. Maharjan
October 26, 2011January 31, 2012
12 Comments

Even after waiting so many days, the Javafx bug team has not implemented this feature still in this new Javafx General Availability release . So I’ve managed to make blog about this function for javafx. Many javafx enterprises developer may think that javafx is still not useful because they don’t know how to save their graphics component in image format. Developer don’t have a simple api function like sceneToImage() which was provided in javafx script 1.3. Don’t know why ? We developers are that’s why intelligent to find the alternative way. So I also intended to research on this topic.Then started to warmup my hands on keyboard.

We are using some Java apis and JavaFX apis for making these things work. Ok Let’s get started with the class ‘FXImaging’

FXImaging.java

FXImaging.java

import java.awt.Container;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.ComponentEvent;
import java.awt.event.ComponentListener;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.File;
import javafx.application.Platform;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import javafx.embed.swing.JFXPanel;
import javafx.geometry.BoundingBox;
import javafx.geometry.Bounds;
import javafx.scene.Group;
import javafx.scene.Node;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.Timer;
/**
 *
 * @author Narayan
 */
public class FXImaging{
 /**
 * Some of the important private variables;
 */
 private JFXPanel fxPanel;
 private int TIME = 200;
 private File file ;
 private JFrame frame;
 private BoundingBox boundbox;
 private Timer timer;
 private Stage stage;
 private Scene scene;
 private ObservableList list;
 private Node node;
 /**
 *
 * @param scene the scene which is to be imaged
 * @param save place where the image to be saved
 * @param width width of image
 * @param height height of image
 */
 public void sceneToImage(final Scene scene,final File save,double width,double height){
 stage = (Stage)scene.getWindow();
 this.scene = scene;
 BoundingBox bound = null;
 if(width &gt;0 &amp;&amp; height &gt;0){
 bound = new BoundingBox(0,0,width,height);
 }
 initAndShowGUI(scene,save,bound);
 }
 /**
 * Overload function of sceneToImage
 *
 * @param scene
 * @param save
 */
 public void sceneToImage(final Scene scene,final File save){
 sceneToImage(scene,save,0,0);
 }
 /**
 * This function helps to save the Node to Image
 * and it's the only function which is public
 *
 * @param node node to be saved
 * @param list list of children where the node is kept
 * @param save place where the image to be saved
 */
 public void nodeToImage(final Node node,final ObservableList list ,final File save){
 nodeToImage(node,list,save,0,0);
 }
 /**
 * This function helps to save the Node to Image
 * and it's the only function which is public
 *
 * @param node the node to be saved
 * @param list the ObservableList of children where the node is kept
 * @param save place where the image to be saved
 * @param width width of image to be saved
 * @param height height of image to be saveed
 */
 public void nodeToImage(final Node node,final ObservableList list,final File save,final double width, final double height){
 stage = (Stage)node.getScene().getWindow();
 scene = node.getScene();
 this.node = node;
 this.list = list;
 BoundingBox bound = null;
 if(width &gt; 0 &amp;&amp; height &gt; 0){
 bound = new BoundingBox(0,0,width,height);
 }
 initAndShowGUI(node,save,bound);
 }
 /**
 * This is the main function to generate the graphics of the Node
 * using the FXPanel inside the JFrame.
 * @param node
 * @param f
 * @param bound
 */
 private void initAndShowGUI(final Node node,File f, BoundingBox bound){
 Group root = new Group();
 Scene sc = new Scene(root);
 root.getChildren().add(node);
 initAndShowGUI(sc,f,bound);
 }
 /**
 * This is the main function to generate the graphics of the scene
 * using the FXPanel inside the JFrame.
 *
 * @param sc
 * @param f
 * @param bound
 */
 private void initAndShowGUI(final Scene sc,File f,BoundingBox bound) {
 file= f;
 if(bound == null)
 boundbox = new BoundingBox(0,0,stage.getWidth(),stage.getHeight()) ;
 else
 boundbox = bound ;
 frame = new JFrame();
 //Frame.setUndecorated(true);
 fxPanel = new JFXPanel();
 fxPanel.setScene(sc);
 fxPanel.addComponentListener(new ComponentListener(){
 public void componentResized(ComponentEvent e) { 
 ActionListener ac = new ActionListener() {
 public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent e) {
 save(fxPanel,boundbox, file );
 timer.stop();
 fxPanel.removeAll();
 restore();
 frame.dispose();
 }
 };
 //I've set timer for capturing image of the Node
 timer = new Timer(TIME, ac);
 timer.start();
 }
 public void componentMoved(ComponentEvent e) {
 }
 public void componentShown(ComponentEvent e) {
 }
 public void componentHidden(ComponentEvent e) {
 }
 }); 
 frame.add(fxPanel);
 frame.setSize((int)boundbox.getWidth(),(int)boundbox.getHeight());
 if(stage !=null){
 frame.setLocation((int)stage.getX(), (int)stage.getY());
 Platform.runLater(new Runnable(){
 public void run(){
 stage.hide();
 }
 });
 }
 frame.setVisible(true);
 }
 /**
 * This function saves the container as FXPanel
 * to the Image using the Java API
 * @param container
 * @param bounds
 * @param file
 */
 private void save(Container container, Bounds bounds, File file) {
 try {
 String extension = "";
 String name = file.getName();
 if(name.contains(".")){
 int start= name.lastIndexOf(".");
 extension = file.getName().substring(start+1);
 }
 else{
 extension = "jpg";
 }
 ImageIO.write(toBufferedImage(container, bounds), extension, file);
 System.out.println("Node To Image saved");
 } catch (java.lang.Exception exception) {
 exception.printStackTrace();
 JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "The image couldn't be saved","Error",JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
 restore();
 }
 }
 /**
 * Restoring the scene or Node to it's original state
 */
 private void restore(){
 if(node!=null){
 restoreNode();
 }else{
 restoreScene();
 }
 }
 /**
 * Restores the Node
 */
 private void restoreNode(){
 Platform.runLater(new Runnable(){
 public void run(){
 list.add(node);
 stage.show();
 }
 });
 }
 /**
 * This function restores the main Scene to the original Stage
 * from where the event has been triggered
 */
 private void restoreScene(){
 Platform.runLater(new Runnable(){
 public void run(){
 stage.setScene(scene);
 stage.show();
 }
 });
 }
 /**
 * This function is used to get the BufferedImage of the
 * Container as JFXPanel
 * @param container
 * @param bounds
 * @return
 */
 private BufferedImage toBufferedImage(Container container, Bounds bounds) {
 BufferedImage bufferedImage = new BufferedImage(
 (int) bounds.getWidth(),
 (int) bounds.getHeight(),
 BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
 Graphics graphics = bufferedImage.getGraphics();
 graphics.translate((int) -bounds.getMinX(), (int) -bounds.getMinY()); // translating to upper-left corner
 container.paint(graphics);
 graphics.dispose();
 return bufferedImage;
 }
}

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import java.awt.Container;

import java.awt.Graphics;

import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import java.awt.event.ComponentEvent;

import java.awt.event.ComponentListener;

import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;

import java.io.File;

import javafx.application.Platform;

import javafx.collections.ObservableList;

import javafx.embed.swing.JFXPanel;

import javafx.geometry.BoundingBox;

import javafx.geometry.Bounds;

import javafx.scene.Group;

import javafx.scene.Node;

import javafx.scene.Scene;

import javafx.stage.Stage;

import javax.imageio.ImageIO;

import javax.swing.JFrame;

import javax.swing.JOptionPane;

import javax.swing.Timer;

/**

* @author Narayan

publicclassFXImaging{

/**

* Some of the important private variables;

privateJFXPanel fxPanel;

privateintTIME=200;

privateFile file;

privateJFrame frame;

privateBoundingBox boundbox;

privateTimer timer;

privateStage stage;

privateScene scene;

privateObservableList list;

privateNode node;

/**

* @param scene the scene which is to be imaged

* @param save place where the image to be saved

* @param width width of image

* @param height height of image

publicvoidsceneToImage(finalScene scene,finalFile save,doublewidth,doubleheight){

stage=(Stage)scene.getWindow();

this.scene=scene;

BoundingBox bound=null;

if(width>0&&height>0){

bound=newBoundingBox(0,0,width,height);

}

initAndShowGUI(scene,save,bound);

}

/**

* Overload function of sceneToImage

* @param scene

* @param save

publicvoidsceneToImage(finalScene scene,finalFile save){

sceneToImage(scene,save,0,0);

}

/**

* This function helps to save the Node to Image

* and it's the only function which is public

* @param node node to be saved

* @param list list of children where the node is kept

* @param save place where the image to be saved

publicvoidnodeToImage(finalNode node,finalObservableList list,finalFile save){

nodeToImage(node,list,save,0,0);

}

/**

* This function helps to save the Node to Image

* and it's the only function which is public

* @param node the node to be saved

* @param list the ObservableList of children where the node is kept

* @param save place where the image to be saved

* @param width width of image to be saved

* @param height height of image to be saveed

publicvoidnodeToImage(finalNode node,finalObservableList list,finalFile save,finaldoublewidth,finaldoubleheight){

stage=(Stage)node.getScene().getWindow();

scene=node.getScene();

this.node=node;

this.list=list;

BoundingBox bound=null;

if(width>0&&height>0){

bound=newBoundingBox(0,0,width,height);

}

initAndShowGUI(node,save,bound);

}

/**

* This is the main function to generate the graphics of the Node

* using the FXPanel inside the JFrame.

* @param node

* @param f

* @param bound

privatevoidinitAndShowGUI(finalNode node,Filef,BoundingBox bound){

Group root=newGroup();

Scene sc=newScene(root);

root.getChildren().add(node);

initAndShowGUI(sc,f,bound);

}

/**

* This is the main function to generate the graphics of the scene

* using the FXPanel inside the JFrame.

* @param sc

* @param f

* @param bound

privatevoidinitAndShowGUI(finalScene sc,Filef,BoundingBox bound){

file=f;

if(bound==null)

boundbox=newBoundingBox(0,0,stage.getWidth(),stage.getHeight());

else

boundbox=bound;

frame=newJFrame();

//Frame.setUndecorated(true);

fxPanel=newJFXPanel();

fxPanel.setScene(sc);

fxPanel.addComponentListener(newComponentListener(){

publicvoidcomponentResized(ComponentEvente){

ActionListener ac=newActionListener(){

publicvoidactionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvente){

save(fxPanel,boundbox,file);

timer.stop();

fxPanel.removeAll();

restore();

frame.dispose();

}

};

//I've set timer for capturing image of the Node

timer=newTimer(TIME,ac);

timer.start();

}

publicvoidcomponentMoved(ComponentEvente){

}

publicvoidcomponentShown(ComponentEvente){

}

publicvoidcomponentHidden(ComponentEvente){

}

});

frame.add(fxPanel);

frame.setSize((int)boundbox.getWidth(),(int)boundbox.getHeight());

if(stage!=null){

frame.setLocation((int)stage.getX(),(int)stage.getY());

Platform.runLater(newRunnable(){

publicvoidrun(){

stage.hide();

}

});

}

frame.setVisible(true);

}

/**

* This function saves the container as FXPanel

* to the Image using the Java API

* @param container

* @param bounds

* @param file

privatevoidsave(Container container,Bounds bounds,File file){

try{

Stringextension="";

Stringname=file.getName();

if(name.contains(".")){

intstart=name.lastIndexOf(".");

extension=file.getName().substring(start+1);

}

else{

extension="jpg";

}

ImageIO.write(toBufferedImage(container,bounds),extension,file);

System.out.println("Node To Image saved");

}catch(java.lang.Exception exception){

exception.printStackTrace();

JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"The image couldn't be saved","Error",JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);

restore();

}

/**

* Restoring the scene or Node to it's original state

privatevoidrestore(){

if(node!=null){

restoreNode();

}else{

restoreScene();

}

/**

* Restores the Node

privatevoidrestoreNode(){

Platform.runLater(newRunnable(){

publicvoidrun(){

list.add(node);

stage.show();

}

});

}

/**

* This function restores the main Scene to the original Stage

* from where the event has been triggered

privatevoidrestoreScene(){

Platform.runLater(newRunnable(){

publicvoidrun(){

stage.setScene(scene);

stage.show();

}

});

}

/**

* This function is used to get the BufferedImage of the

* Container as JFXPanel

* @param container

* @param bounds

* @return

privateBufferedImage toBufferedImage(Container container,Bounds bounds){

BufferedImage bufferedImage=newBufferedImage(

(int)bounds.getWidth(),

(int)bounds.getHeight(),

BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);

Graphics graphics=bufferedImage.getGraphics();

graphics.translate((int)-bounds.getMinX(),(int)-bounds.getMinY());// translating to upper-left corner

container.paint(graphics);

graphics.dispose();

returnbufferedImage;

}

I’ve commented the codes so that you will understand the use of the function properly. In above class the nodeToImage(),sceneToImage() are the function which help to save your Node or Scene into Image format. The save() function helps to save your bufferedImage from JavaAPI. After saving the image the Node/Scene is being restored to the original stage from where the Node/Scene is being taken. The algorithm of saving Node/Scene is given in the picture below.

Now you can easily save your Node or Scene in the Image format. Below is one of the sample demo of saving the Scene into Image.

FXImagingTest.java

FXImagingTest.java

" ]public class FXImagingTest extends Application {
 private ObservableList&lt;String&gt; items;
 private ListView list;
 private VBox root;
 private Scene scene;
 /**
 * @param args the command line arguments
 */
 public static void main(String[] args) {
 Application.launch(args);
 }
 @Override
 public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
 
 primaryStage.setTitle("Hello World");
 root = new VBox();
 scene = new Scene(root, 400, 250);
 list = new ListView();
 items = FXCollections.observableArrayList();
 Button btn = new Button();
 btn.setOnAction(new EventHandler&lt;ActionEvent&gt;(){
 public void handle(ActionEvent event) {
 FXImaging imager = new FXImaging();
 imager.nodeToImage(list,root.getChildren(),new File("c:/st.png"));
 }
 });
 for(int i = 0; i&lt;10; i++ ) {
 items.add("Item "+i+"1"); 
 }
 list.setItems(items);
 root.getChildren().addAll(list,btn);
 primaryStage.setScene(scene);
 primaryStage.show();
 }
}

" ]public class FXImagingTest extends Application {

private ObservableList<String> items;

private ListView list;

private VBox root;

private Scene scene;

/**

* @param args the command line arguments

public static void main(String[] args) {

Application.launch(args);

}

@Override

public void start(Stage primaryStage) {

primaryStage.setTitle("Hello World");

root = new VBox();

scene = new Scene(root, 400, 250);

list = new ListView();

items = FXCollections.observableArrayList();

Button btn = new Button();

btn.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>(){

public void handle(ActionEvent event) {

FXImaging imager = new FXImaging();

imager.nodeToImage(list,root.getChildren(),new File("c:/st.png"));

}

});

for(int i = 0; i<10; i++ ) {

items.add("Item"+i+"1");

}

list.setItems(items);

root.getChildren().addAll(list,btn);

primaryStage.setScene(scene);

primaryStage.show();

}

Image of Node

Or if you want to make image of whole Scene then use this code:

imager.sceneToImage(scene,new File("c:/st.png"));

imager.sceneToImage(scene,newFile("c:/st.png"));

Image of Scene

It has image like below

Thanks. for watching this blog. You can comment if you have any queries.
Have a good 🙂 day.

12 thoughts on “Save Node or Scene to Image in JavaFX 2.0”

Anatol October 31, 2011 at 1:22 pm

Hello! Cool works!

But is (will) any possibility to NOT use AWT and Swing?
As I can imagine, this layers bring additional requirements of time and memory?
Narayan Gopal Maharjan November 2, 2011 at 8:38 pm

Actually it’s just the hack for saving the Node or scene to Image format. The JavaFX team is working on this facility I think this facility will be available on coming version soon

Thanks.
Pingback: Java desktop links of the week, November 7 | Jonathan Giles
promotion site January 25, 2012 at 10:39 pm

I’m impressed!!! Really informative blog post on blog.ngopal.com.np my friend. I just wanted to comment & say keep up the quality work.
Samuel January 26, 2012 at 11:23 am

It works excellently. Thank you!
Narayan Gopal Maharjan January 26, 2012 at 2:35 pm

You are welcome!! 🙂
Samuel February 2, 2012 at 4:47 am

Thank you friend. You are an excellent professional and very honest too.
Kishore January 31, 2013 at 12:59 am

Very nice one..!! Liked it a lot..!! Thank u very much use full to my project as well. Keep it up…, keep doing.
ravenocean November 27, 2013 at 9:38 am

good
Software Company Perth June 13, 2014 at 6:00 pm

Great work!!!!
serimu July 13, 2014 at 12:50 am

nice work.
can we send it to visitor’s browser for download without saving disk?
Narayan G. Maharjan August 5, 2014 at 1:11 am

Yes we can send to browser for download as well, but I think you should make your own server and port for listening to the visitor’s computer and send file there by using HTTP headers rules.

Save Node or Scene to Image in JavaFX 2.0

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12 thoughts on “Save Node or Scene to Image in JavaFX 2.0”

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