Creating a JavaFX form with styled text fields

Last update on May 26 2025 13:15:22 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

2. Style Form TextFields with CSS

Write a JavaFX program that creates a form with text fields. Apply CSS styling to modify the appearance of the text fields, such as changing the border color, background, and text color.

Sample Solution:

JavaFx Code:

// Main.java
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.TextField;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

public class Main extends Application {

    @Override
    public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
        primaryStage.setTitle("Styled Form");

        // Creating text fields
        TextField textField1 = new TextField();
        TextField textField2 = new TextField();
        TextField textField3 = new TextField();

        // Labels for text fields
        Label label1 = new Label("Name:");
        Label label2 = new Label("Email:");
        Label label3 = new Label("Phone:");

        // Creating a VBox layout to hold the form elements
        VBox vbox = new VBox();
        vbox.getChildren().addAll(
                createFormField(label1, textField1),
                createFormField(label2, textField2),
                createFormField(label3, textField3)
        );

        // Create a scene with the VBox layout
        Scene scene = new Scene(vbox, 300, 200);

        // Load CSS file to style the text fields
        scene.getStylesheets().add(getClass().getResource("styles.css").toExternalForm());

        // Set the scene on the stage and display it
        primaryStage.setScene(scene);
        primaryStage.show();
    }

    // Helper method to create form fields with labels
    private VBox createFormField(Label label, TextField textField) {
        VBox vBox = new VBox();
        vBox.getChildren().addAll(label, textField);
        vBox.getStyleClass().add("form-field");
        return vBox;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        launch(args);
    }
}

/*styles.css*/
.form-field .text-field {
    -fx-border-color: #4CAF50; /* Green border */
    -fx-background-color: #f2f2f2; /* Light gray background */
    -fx-text-fill: #333333; /* Dark text color */
}

Explanation:

In the exercise above,

Setting up the UI: The start method initializes a JavaFX window (Stage) with the title "Styled Form". It creates three text fields (TextField) and three labels (Label) to represent form elements for "Name," "Email," and "Phone."
Layout Structure: The form elements are arranged in a vertical box (VBox) layout using the VBox class. The createFormField method pairs each label with its respective text field, creating a structure of labeled input fields.
CSS Styling: The styles.css file contains CSS styling for form fields. It specifies a class selector .form-field .text-field to target text fields nested within elements with the class .form-field. This styling includes properties like border color, background color, and text color for the text fields within the form.
Scene and Stylesheet: The scene (Scene) is created with the VBox layout, set to a size of 300x200 pixels. The CSS file is loaded into the scene using scene.getStylesheets().add() to apply the specified styles to the text fields within the form.
Launching the Application: The main method launches the JavaFX application by calling launch(args).

Sample Output:

Flowchart:

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