how to create a distributable .jar with intelliJ JavaFX - javafx

Question

It's been a few days since I've been trying to export a very simple project made in JavaFX but I have a very frustrating problem: To run the jar I need to open cmd navigate to the jdk folder and execute the following code java --module-path %path_to_JavaFX_on_my_pc% --add modules=javafx.controls,javafx.fxml,javafx.graphics -jar %path_to_jar% where I point to the jfx folder on the pc and add the necessary modules to run the jar.
run the jar using java java -jar %path_to_jar% results in the following error: Error: JavaFX runtime components are missing, and are required to run this application
The project is modular, having declared module-info.java with the following code:
module Timer {
requires java.prefs;
requires com.jfoenix;
requires javafx.base;
requires javafx.controls;
requires javafx.fxml;
requires javafx.graphics;
requires javafx.media;
requires javafx.web;
requires javafx.swing;
opens main;
exports main;
}
when exporting the artifact I include all the .jar contained in the javafx, so why should I point to it externally?
The app runs well when I run it through the IDE, I didn't even have to add VM options.
My goal is to create an application that can actually be distributed, without the user needing to have any knowledge beyond the basics to run it, no jre, jdk, jfx, cmd code, etc... just click twice and done.
The question is: How do I generate an executable file that can be opened with 2 clicks like any other application on the pc on *any pc?

Answer 1

finally I got a solution to my problem.
1 ° - It was necessary to solve the problem when generating a java artifact using javaFx in intelliJ: In JDK 13 the IDE threw the following error
Can't build artifact - fx: deploy is not available in this JDK
the easiest solution for that was to return on JDK 9 ond the javaFx was still built in and everything worked fine. Having done that, I was able to generate .jar artifacts that worked without the need to use command line tools.
2 ° -So I needed to generate a native executable for my application: In this topic there is an excellent list of tools that create launchers for java artifacts (Ideal was to convert but there gets a little complicated). What worked best for me was Jsmooth where I was able to set up a launcher that built in my .jar and where I could also attach a copy of the JRE for distribution on computers without Java
It is worth noting that I develop desktop applications just for my use and that of some friends, they do not work with sensitive data and do not require a high level of security and therefore there is no problem using an old version of jdk, in any other case, no recommend this approach.
Thank you all for your help.

Answer 2

I ran into the same problem with JavaFX 11. The way I did it, to be able to generate the jar artifact, I set the Project Settings - Artifacts - Type to JAR rather than JavaFX Application. That enabled me to create a jar in the out directory of my project. Afterwards, I wrote a batch file that created a custom jre for my app (as small as ~40 MB for a small app), including JavaFX. I called that bat file create.bat and placed that bat file in the same folder as my jar artifact.
Now, provided
my jar artifact is called app.jar,
path to JDK is D:\jdks\jdk11,
path to JFX mods is D:\jdks\jfx11\jmods,
module name is com.epsilon, and
path to Main class is com.epsilon.Main,
below is the contents of the bat file to create a custom JRE, including JavaFX. It created a custom JRE in the folder dist, the launch file is in the dist\bin directory called run.bat.
rem This sets the variable DIR to the current directory with the jar artifact
set DIR=%~dp0
rem This creates a temporary mod file
D:\jdks\jdk11\bin\jmod create --class-path %DIR%app.jar %DIR%temp.mod
rem This creates distributable JRE
D:\jdks\jdk11\bin\jlink ^
--compress=2 ^
--strip-debug ^
--no-man-pages ^
--launcher run=com.epsilon/com.epsilon.Main ^
--module-path D:\jdks\jdk11\jmods;D:\jdks\jfx11\jmods;%DIR% ^
--add-modules com.epsilon ^
--output %DIR%dist
rem This command deletes the temporary mod file
del %DIR%temp.mod
rem You can create a shortcut to your app above the "dist" folder and enter the below line to the shortcut's target property
rem %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c start "" "%CD%\dist\bin\javaw.exe" -m com.epsilon/com.epsilon.Main
So, this has enabled me to create a working distributable without downgrading Java.