ButtonBar

ButtonBar is a special JavaFX container designed to arrange buttons in a consistent way, especially for dialogs like OK / Cancel / Apply.

It automatically organizes buttons according to the operating system style.

Example:

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.ButtonBar;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

public class ButtonBarExample extends Application {

    @Override
    public void start(Stage stage) {

        Button saveButton = new Button("Save");
        Button cancelButton = new Button("Cancel");
        Button helpButton = new Button("Help");

        ButtonBar buttonBar = new ButtonBar();

        buttonBar.getButtons().addAll(saveButton, cancelButton, helpButton);

        VBox root = new VBox(20, buttonBar);

        Scene scene = new Scene(root, 300, 120);

        stage.setTitle("ButtonBar Example");
        stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        launch();
    }
}

Without ButtonBar, if you use an HBox, the buttons stay exactly in the order you added them.

With ButtonBar, JavaFX may rearrange them depending on the platform. For example:

• On Windows: Help Save Cancel
• On macOS: Cancel Save

This helps your app feel more native.

You can control the role of each button:

ButtonBar.setButtonData(saveButton, ButtonBar.ButtonData.OK_DONE);
ButtonBar.setButtonData(cancelButton, ButtonBar.ButtonData.CANCEL_CLOSE);
ButtonBar.setButtonData(helpButton, ButtonBar.ButtonData.HELP);

Full example:

Button saveButton = new Button("Save");
Button cancelButton = new Button("Cancel");
Button helpButton = new Button("Help");

ButtonBar.setButtonData(saveButton, ButtonBar.ButtonData.OK_DONE);
ButtonBar.setButtonData(cancelButton, ButtonBar.ButtonData.CANCEL_CLOSE);
ButtonBar.setButtonData(helpButton, ButtonBar.ButtonData.HELP);

ButtonBar buttonBar = new ButtonBar();
buttonBar.getButtons().addAll(helpButton, saveButton, cancelButton);

Even if you add them in a different order, ButtonBar may place them correctly for the OS.

Common ButtonData values:

ButtonBar.ButtonData.OK_DONE
ButtonBar.ButtonData.CANCEL_CLOSE
ButtonBar.ButtonData.YES
ButtonBar.ButtonData.NO
ButtonBar.ButtonData.FINISH
ButtonBar.ButtonData.HELP
ButtonBar.ButtonData.APPLY

FXML example:

<ButtonBar>
    <buttons>
        <Button text="Save"
                ButtonBar.buttonData="OK_DONE"/>

        <Button text="Cancel"
                ButtonBar.buttonData="CANCEL_CLOSE"/>
    </buttons>
</ButtonBar>

Typical use cases:

• dialog windows
• settings pages
• confirmation forms
• save/cancel areas at the bottom of a page

For example, in your JavaFX settings screens or monitor configuration pages, a ButtonBar at the bottom is often cleaner than a normal HBox:

BorderPane root = new BorderPane();

ButtonBar actions = new ButtonBar();
actions.getButtons().addAll(saveButton, cancelButton);

root.setBottom(actions);

Difference between HBox and ButtonBar: