Description
In the JavaFX learning path, you learned to use the NetBeans IDE and the JavaFX SDK to build Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) that can run on the desktop, on the web, and on mobile devices. By completing the learning path, you now have your own personalized basic media player.
Now comes the challenge. There are media players everywhere -- MySpace pages, YouTube, web portals such as Yahoo!, fansites, news sites, the list goes on. I'm sure you've seen them, and I'm sure you have some favorite features.
So, what feature(s) is/are missing from your basic media player that you just can't live without? Playlists, channels, full-screen display ... what is your "must have" feature?
Your challenge is to add a new feature, or features, to your multimedia player. Design your new feature(s), code them up, and make your media player the best one out there, the one that everybody wants to embed on their web page.
Basic Steps
- Design a new feature (or features) for your media player.
- Code it up in the media player project you created in the JavaFX learning path. If you're feeling constrained by the existing media player, feel free to start over from scratch. That sounds like a lot of work to me, but if you're up for it, show us what you've got!
- Submit your project that you created to the activity. You will submit a jar file (a java archive file) that contains your runnable program. To find the jar file, open your project in NetBeans, and note that in the project pane, there are 3 tabs: Projects, Files, Services. Select the Files tab. Expand your project folder by clicking on the '+' sign. You should see a folder called 'dist'. Expand the dist folder, you will probably see a few files and maybe some folders. One of the filenames should end in .jar. This is the file that you will submit. Open the context menu on that file (on Windows, right-click on the file; on Mac, Ctrl-click on it), and select 'properties' from the menu. One of the properties will be the full path to where the jar file lives on your system. Use your file browser to go get the file, and submit it.
- (Optional) If you have a website where you are able to upload code, you can now embed the video player on your site. If you do this successfully, submit the URL to your web page that has the video player! To deploy to the web site, do the following:
- Make sure yourNetBeans project is set up to build for running in a browser. Select your project in the project pane, and then under the Run menu, select Set Project Configuration, and select Customize ... A dialog window will pop up; select the Run category, and then select Run in Browser for the Application Execution Model. Click OK to save your selection.
- Build your project.
- Select the Files tab in the project pane. Expand your project, and you'll see a folder called dist. This has the results of your project build. You need to copy everything in the dist folder to your web server. You need to copy it to the appropriate place on your server; since web servers may be different, it's up to you to figure out where to install the files. Note that there is a directory (folder) called lib in the dist folder; you need to copy lib and its contents as well. Probably the easiest thing to do is to copy the entire dist folder and its contents up to your web server, and then just rename dist to something more descriptive (like "MyMediaPlayer" or something like that).
- Now visit the .html file that is in your dist folder, using the URL for your web server. So the URL you type into your browser will be something like http://my.web.com/directoryName/project.html, where my.web.com should be replaced by the name of your web server, directoryName should be replaced with whatever you called your dist directory when you copied it to the web server, and project.html should be the name of the html file that got created in the dist directory when you created your project.
Rules
Here is a summary.
- Must be US resident age 13-18 to participate
- Must have completed the "Build Flashy Websites with JavaFX" learning path
- The submission must be your own work
- Submit between 6/15/09 and midnight pacific 8/19/09
- Enter as many times as you would like!
Please be sure to review the complete set of rules.
Prizes
There are three really nice prizes for the contest.
- First prize - $1,500 cash
- Second prize - $1,000 cash
- Third prize - $500 cash
For more on prizes, please see the official rules.


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