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Creating an Application

Once webforJ and all applicable dependencies have been installed and the POM configuration has been completed, it's time to start creating! If you followed the installation guide, a sample "Hello World" program should be included already. However, in this section, a demonstration of how to create a new application from scratch will be provided.

tip

Using the HelloWorldJava program will help expedite the creation of a simple application.

Start a new Application​

Should you decide to create an application from scratch, a few integral steps must be followed in order to get the webforJ application up and running.

Create a Java Class​

The first thing that will be required is the creation of a new Java class - do this by creating a file with the .java file extension in your IDE of choice. In this demo, we'll create a class called MyApplication.

public class MyApplication {
    
}

Extend the App class​

In order for webforJ to recognize that a new application is being created, the class that is created will need to extend the App class.

import com.webforj.App;

public class MyApplication extends App{
    
}

Override the run() method​

After this is complete, the run() method must be overridden. This method is where the instructions for the execution of your application will be contained.

import com.webforj.App;
import com.webforj.exceptions.webforJException;

public class MyApplication extends App{

    @Override
    public void run() throws webforJException { 

    }
}

Create the main Frame​

Finally, in most instances, within the run() method or in another function called by the run method, a Frame will need to be created as a main container for the contents of the application.

import com.webforj.App;
import com.webforj.exceptions.webforJException;
import com.webforj.component.window.Frame;

public class MyApplication extends App{

    @Override
    public void run() throws webforJException { 
        Frame mainFrame = new Frame();
    }
}

Customizing your Application​

You can then add various components that come with webforJ, or custom components, elements, etc to the Frame. In the example below, the Frame will be created and a button will be added to the panel.

import com.webforj.App;
import com.webforj.exceptions.webforJException;
import com.webforj.component.window.Frame;
import com.webforj.component.button.Button;

public class ExampleClass extends App{
    
    Button myButton = new Button("My Button");

    @Override
    public void run() throws webforJException { 
        Frame mainFrame = new Frame();
        mainFrame.add(myButton);
    }
}

Once this has been done, you can use the installation plugin to compile and deploy your application.

tip

Visit this section to see the various components that can be used in webforJ. To see how to create your own components, see this section.

App Data​

You can set the application's title, theme and meta tags by using annotations.

@AppTitle("My app title")
@AppTheme("system")
@AppMeta(name = "description", content = "My App")
@AppMeta(name = "keywords", content = "My, App, Java")

public class HelloWorld extends App {
//Implementation
}