Can not create clearable textField using ControlsFX

Question

I have created TextField using Scene Builder but when I tried it with KeyEvent but it doesn't work.

public class FXMLDocumentController implements Initializable {

    @FXML
    private TextField searchPatient;      

    @FXML
    void keyTyped(KeyEvent event) {
        this.searchPatient = TextFields.createClearableTextField();
    }

}

Here is main class:

public class MyFX extends Application {

    @Override
    public void start(Stage stage) throws Exception {
        Parent root = FXMLLoader.load(getClass().getResource("FXMLDocument.fxml"));

        Scene scene = new Scene(root);

        stage.setScene(scene);

        stage.show();
    }

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

}

Here is FXMLDocument.fxml:

<AnchorPane id="AnchorPane" prefHeight="597.0" prefWidth="726.0" xmlns="http://javafx.com/javafx/8.0.171" xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml/1" fx:controller="com.homeo.home.FXMLDocumentController">
   <children>
      <TextField fx:id="searchPatient" layoutX="14.0" layoutY="109.0" onKeyTyped="#keyTyped" prefHeight="26.0" prefWidth="372.0" promptText="Search" />
   </children>
</AnchorPane>

I don't want to relay on code for designing that's why I want to use ControlsFX with IDE generated code.

I'm expecting textfield must show clear icon as I enter few text in a textfield that's called clearableTextFieldf.

But with the all code above doesn't work as I expected.

It does not create ClearableTextField

Answer 1

You're creating the TextField in the KEY_TYPED event handler of a conventional TextField placed in your scene. The newly created TextField is never added to any scene though.

You could use the fx:factory attribute to use the static method for creating the TextField that FXMLLoader adds to the scene:

...
<?import org.controlsfx.control.textfield.TextFields?>

<AnchorPane id="AnchorPane" prefHeight="597.0" prefWidth="726.0" xmlns="http://javafx.com/javafx/8.0.171" xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml/1" fx:controller="com.homeo.home.FXMLDocumentController">
   <children>
      <TextFields fx:factory="createClearableTextField" fx:id="searchPatient" layoutX="14.0" layoutY="109.0" prefHeight="26.0" prefWidth="372.0" promptText="Search" />
   </children>
</AnchorPane>

You could alternatively use the initialize method to create&add your TextField instead:

public class FXMLDocumentController implements Initializable {

    ...
    @FXML
    private AnchorPane anchorPane;

    @Override
    public void initialize(URL location, Resources resources)
        searchPatient = TextFields.createClearableTextField();
        searchPatient.setLayoutX(14.0);
        searchPatient.setLayoutY(109.0);
        searchPatient.setPrefSize(372.0, 26.0);
        searchPatient.setPromptText("Search");
        anchorPane.getChildren().add(searchPatient);
        ...
    }
}

<AnchorPane fx:id="anchorPane" id="AnchorPane" prefHeight="597.0" prefWidth="726.0" xmlns="http://javafx.com/javafx/8.0.171" xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml/1" fx:controller="com.homeo.home.FXMLDocumentController" />