Version issues

[jb-1966]

I am working with JavaFX on MacOSX (Monterey) using graalvm-svm-java17-darwin-gluon-22.1.0.1-Final.
The application starts without issues and runs. As soon I start the native build the executable is created but crashes due to SceneBuilder incompatibilities. The only downloadable version of ScenBuilder is 23 or 24 right now (beside I overlooked something) which creates properties not recognized in the java17-22 version. I tried to remove questionable properties and elements manually, without success.
I can not upgrade to more recent version of Gluon-GraalVM as everything above 17 lacks linux-aarch64.

Expected Behavior

Either we get some sort of compatibility setting in SceneBuilder (thus 23 can distinguish between 17 and higher), or maybe open up a download link for SceneBuilder 17 or create SceneBuilder 23 compatible JDKs for all platforms.

Steps to Reproduce

Load a FXML written by Scenebuilder 23 and loading will crash in

<cursor> <Cursor fx:constant="NONE" /> </cursor>

or

focusTraversable="true"

and many others.

Next I downloaded ScenceBuilder sources from github, checked out tag 17.0.0, but could not build it due to test failures. Building is only succesfull with -DskipTests

I can at least start SceneBuild in IntelliJ adding "--add-opens javafx.fxml/javafx.fxml=ALL-UNNAMED" to the cmd line. But unknown properties and elements are not stripped, means I have to recreate the UI, what I will do next. Would be nice to see while loading fxml files which property and element will cause an exception later to avoid a trial and error approach.

Any help is appreciated.

Jens

BTW: had a funny discussion with ChatGPT. After several try and error approaches I asked "Do you know John McEnroe?". ChatGPT replied:

😂 YES!! Classic John McEnroe meltdown:
"You cannot be serious!" 🎾💥

Perfect reaction to:

SceneBuilder 23 adding JavaFX 21 features
But only JavaFX 17 being available for ARM
And native-image failing silently or mysteriously
With no helpful version compatibility warnings
And FXML just… exploding 😤

⚠️ SceneBuilder 23 + JavaFX 17
"PropertyNotFoundException"
"Cannot determine type for property"
You CANNOT be serious!

Love the humor of AI

[ctoabidmaqbool]

Hi @jb-1966, thanks for the detailed report.

You're right—SceneBuilder 23+ introduces JavaFX 21+ features, which can cause compatibility issues when working with JavaFX 17 or older, especially on platforms like Linux ARM64 where only GraalVM 17 is available.

In case you missed it, all previous versions of SceneBuilder are still available for download from the official GitHub releases page:
👉 https://github.com/gluonhq/scenebuilder/releases

You can download SceneBuilder 17 from there, which should generate FXML files fully compatible with JavaFX 17.

Also, for more consistent compatibility, it's a good idea to keep both the SceneBuilder and the JavaFX runtime in sync with the target version used by the GluonFX or native image build.

Hope this helps—and good luck rebuilding the UI without too much trial and error!

[jb-1966]

https://github.com/gluonhq/scenebuilder/releases

Thanks for the answer, but maybe I am blind or stupid, because there are no binaries. I can search for Release 17, sure

but following the link leads to the official download page which only lists newer versions

Playing with the URL (https://gluonhq.com/products/scene-builder/thanks/?dl=https://download2.gluonhq.com/scenebuilder/17.0.0/install/mac/SceneBuilder-17.0.0-amd64.dmg) leads to

And working with 17 only helps if we accept that there are approximately 7 years between 17 and 24. Would be nice to work with a bit more "up 2 date" software at least from bug fix / security perspective.

[ctoabidmaqbool]

Hi @jb-1966,
Thanks for pointing that out — I see what you mean now. It seems the binaries for Scene Builder 17 (or earlier versions) are no longer available directly on the release page.

The official download link only provides access to the latest version, and manually tweaking the URL for older versions doesn't seem to work anymore either.

So yes, currently it looks like only the most recent Scene Builder versions are available as binaries. It would definitely be helpful to have access to older releases as well — especially for compatibility or testing purposes.

Thanks again for clarifying!

[jb-1966]

Sure! Thanks for looking into it. But what is the next step?
Can we expect older binaries for download again?
Are there any plans to upgrade from 17 to 23 in the near future?

[birdingman0626]

I tried to build from source code and succeed:

Here's the jar file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KMMLkeri7Tt0Nyypq6VZIHBHNtU1L4hL/view?usp=sharing

note that you need to run the jar file with jdkfx, for instance: https://www.azul.com/downloads/?version=java-17-lts&os=windows&package=jdk-fx#zulu

Please bear with me, as I don’t want to set up an entire outdated and non-modular environment to build the native images.