JavaFX plugin for NetBeans

I downloaded the latest preview of NetBeans 6.0 (M9) and it is definitely getting more and more impressive with every release. Couldn't help noticing the JavaFX plugin on the update site, so decided to downloaded and get down and dirty with F3...err, I meant JavaFX.

I have to say first impressions are pretty negative...there are some nice wizards to create a new JavaFX app or JavaFX file, but they barely do anything, just create a blank file. The plugin seems to be very slow (it locks up the entire IDE for a few seconds with a "Parsing..." message in the Navigator even when opening a very simple JavaFX file), offers not much more than basic syntax highlighting, often highlights errors when there are none...etc. Not even alpha quality at this time.

I hope this really is just a basic preview of some "real" plugin, because if this is the depth of functionality that Sun is hoping to compete with let's say Microsoft Expression Blend, then we Java developers are in a lot of trouble.

Next step: I will be trying to create an actual "real" app in JavaFX, i.e. one that retrieves data from the DB using JPA, presents it/edits it and allows to save it back. We'll see how that works...

But seriously, Sun claiming that JavaFX comes with any sort of development tools support at this point is a gross overstatement.

Outside of that, I have to say I am really liking a lot of what I see of JavaFX in the docs, especially the easy and powerful data binding (with expressions! very cool!).

What I am not liking at first glance is the lack of constructors...how do I then enforce mandatory parameters are passed to me during object creation? Will need to investigate...I am sure such a basic requirement could not have been missed...