I am attempting to utilize the NetBeans Rich Client Platform (RCP) as a shell to manage plugins for an automated trading application which uses JavaFX for the UI, but no Swing components. As such, I have a module installer class which creates the JavaFX scene, but no TopComponent class which RCP developers are accustom to using. The module class I have created is below.

import org.openide.modules.ModuleInstall;

public class Installer extends ModuleInstall {

@Override
public void restored() {
    Platform.setImplicitExit(false);

    // create JavaFX scene
    Platform.runLater(() -> {
        Parent root;
        try {
            FXMLLoader fxmlLoader = new FXMLLoader(MainScreen.class.getResource("/com/zoicapital/qtrader/plugin/BasePanel.fxml"));
            root = (Parent) fxmlLoader.load();
            Scene scene = new Scene(root);
        } catch (Exception ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
        }
    });
}

The problem is that when launching the application the following exception is being thrown.

java.lang.IllegalStateException: Toolkit not initialized
at com.sun.javafx.application.PlatformImpl.runLater(PlatformImpl.java:273)
at com.sun.javafx.application.PlatformImpl.runLater(PlatformImpl.java:268)
at javafx.application.Platform.runLater(Platform.java:83)
at com.zoicapital.qtrader.plugin.Installer.restored(Installer.java:22)

It turns out that even though Platform.runLater() is being invoked, it does not initialize the JavaFX runtime if it hasn’t already been started.

There are a couple of ways around the issue. The first is to invoke the Application.launch() method, or simply instantiate a new JFXPanel() class (even if it isn’t used for anything). Either action will cause the JavaFX Runtime to start and avoid initialization exception when the application is started.