• Create Scene
• Set Scene on Stage
• The Scene Graph
• Scene Mouse Cursor

The JavaFX Scene object is the root of the JavaFX Scene graph. In other words, the JavaFX Scene contains all the visual JavaFX GUI components inside it. A JavaFX Scene is represented by the class javafx.scene.Scene. A Scene object has to be set on a JavaFX Stage to be visible. In this JavaFX Scene tutorial I will show you how to create a Scene object and add GUI components to it.

Create Scene

You create a JavaFX Scene object via its constructor. As parameter you must pass the root JavaFX GUI component that is to act as the root view to be displayed inside the Scene. Here is an example of creating a JavaFX Scene object:

VBox  vBox  = new VBox();
Scene scene = new Scene(vBox);

Set Scene on Stage

In order to make a JavaFX Scene visible, it must be set on a JavaFX Stage. Here is an example of setting a JavaFX Scene on a Stage:

VBox vBox = new VBox(new Label("A JavaFX Label"));
Scene scene = new Scene(vBox);

Stage stage = new Stage();
stage.setScene(scene);

A JavaFX Scene can be attached to only a single Stage at a time, and Stage can also only display one Scene at a time.

The Scene Graph

As mentioned in the JavaFX Overview, the scene graph consists of all the nodes which are attached to a given JavaFX Scene object. Each Scene object has its own scene graph.

The scene graph has a single root node. Other nodes can be attached to the root node in a tree-like data structure (a tree is a kind of graph).

Scene Mouse Cursor

It is possible to set the mouse cursor of a JavaFX Scene. The mouse cursor is the little icon that is being displayed at the location of the mouse cursor (pointer). You set the mouse cursor of a Scene via the setCursor() method. Here is an example of setting the mouse cursor of a JavaFX Scene:

scene.setCursor(Cursor.OPEN_HAND);

The javafx.scene.Cursor class contains a lot of constants you can use to specify which mouse cursor you want to display. Some of these constants are:

• Cursor.OPEN_HAND
• Cursor.CLOSED_HAND
• Cursor.CROSSHAIR
• Cursor.DEFAULT
• Cursor.HAND
• Cursor.WAIT
• Cursor.H_RESIZE
• Cursor.V_RESIZE
• Cursor.MOVE
• Cursor.TEXT