JavaTutorial #10 : How to create Maps Aplication (Google Maps in Desktop Version) with java using Netbeans

team2dev(58)

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#utopian-io

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Repository

https://github.com/dmlloyd/openjdk

What Will I Learn?

You will learn about JFXPanel Package
You will learn how to create mini browser with java programing
You will learn how to get a location typing by user on textfield from GoogleMap
You will learn how to display location result on mini browser using JFXPanel package

Requirements

NetBeans IDE Software
Basic Knowledge about Java Programing and Netbeans

Difficulty

Basic

Tutorial Contents

On this occasion we will create a desktop application to display the actual location as well as google maps. In accordance with the title of this contribution, we will make this application using java programming language.

The application that we will create consists of a form which contains a textfield and a button. When the user inputs a location in the textfield and presses the search button, this application will display a map of that location.

Where do we take the location data? whether from ourselves or we take it from another platform. We retrieve location data from Google Map, because for now Google Map is one of the best map applications. How do we do it? let's look at the following tutorial.

Create a Form

open Netbeans IDE software then creat new project
Add new JFrame form
Design the form that must contain a textfield and a button like following screenshot
Rename the variable of the components

Edit The Source Code

Double click on jbutton in design until appear like this

add the some method. here I rename the locate() method

Left Click on hint simbol then double click on create method
Scroll the code page to bottom until you get like this
Create a string variable to accommodate the Text that input by user.
String a=location.getText().replace(" ","+");

replace() method we use to replace the space that input by user with the + sign. Why ? because we will get map from google map link, and no space in link but usually used + sign to replace the space

Add a code to open new JFrame Form for displaying the map later.

        final JFrame frame=new JFrame();
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setSize(1280,720);

frame the variable name for new JFrame. setDefaultCloseOperation method to set the the exit button on right-top corner. setSize() is method to set the width and height of the new frame

Note : before adding the above code you need to import package import javax.swing.JFrame;

initialize new JFX panel to open the mini browser for displaying the map then add the jfxpanel on jframe

        final JFXPanel fxpanel=new JFXPanel();
        frame.add(fxpanel);

add the code to open the mini browser

Platform.runLater(new Runnable(){
            @Override
            public void run() {
                WebEngine engine;
                WebView wv =new WebView();
                engine=wv.getEngine();
                fxpanel.setScene(new Scene(wv));
                engine.load("https://www.google.com/maps/place/"+a);         
            }
        });

Platform.runLater method to run some task on JFXpanel
@Override to implement all abstract method
public void run() is run method.
WebEngine engine; Inisialize web engine
WebView wv =new WebView(); inssialize web view
engine=wv.getEngine();get view from web engine
fxpanel.setScene(new Scene(wv));set scene on JFXpanel
engine.load("https://www.google.com/maps/place/"+a); load the url

How to set URL for displaying some place

Here I will explain how to create a url to display the location of google map.

Try to open google map on your browser and type some location on search field then press enter
you can see the string las Vegas in url
So the default url is https://www.google.com/maps/place/. To get some location we need just add string after default url.
You can see engine.load("https://www.google.com/maps/place/"+a);. I set the default url and combine with some variable that contain the location input by user.