Add Buttons to Tabs and Tab area JavaFX

Question

I'm searching a way to add a Button to a JavaFX Tab.

Searched the internet for it but I can't find any solution for it.

Something like the buttons in the screenshot below.

Can someone help me with it?

Answer 1

To have iconed Buttons on the Tabs:

The setGraphic method of Tabcan be used to add any Nodeto be displayed on the Tab. A Button can be added as it is a Node.

After this a fully functional button is present, but it does not display any icon. Button also has the setGraphic method which works the same, therefore an ImageView can be added to display an Image on the Button.

To have control Buttons on the top-right corner of the tab-area:

These buttons can be placed on the TabPane, rather than inside the TabPane. For this you can use an AnchorPane to anchor the Buttons to the top-right corner.

Example:

public class ButtonedTabPane extends Application {
    @Override
    public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
        BorderPane root = new BorderPane();
        TabPane tabPane = new TabPane();
        tabPane.setTabClosingPolicy(TabPane.TabClosingPolicy.UNAVAILABLE);

        // HBox of control buttons
        HBox hbox = new HBox();
        hbox.getChildren().addAll(createTabButton("min.png"), createTabButton("max.png"));

        // Anchor the controls
        AnchorPane anchor = new AnchorPane();
        anchor.getChildren().addAll(tabPane, hbox);
        AnchorPane.setTopAnchor(hbox, 3.0);
        AnchorPane.setRightAnchor(hbox, 5.0);
        AnchorPane.setTopAnchor(tabPane, 1.0);
        AnchorPane.setRightAnchor(tabPane, 1.0);
        AnchorPane.setLeftAnchor(tabPane, 1.0);
        AnchorPane.setBottomAnchor(tabPane, 1.0);

        // Create some tabs
        Tab tab = new Tab("Files");
        tab.setGraphic(createTabButton("files.png"));
        ((Button) tab.getGraphic()).setOnAction(e -> System.out.println("I'll show the list of files!"));
        tabPane.getTabs().add(tab);

        tab = new Tab("Network");
        tab.setGraphic(createTabButton("network.png"));
        ((Button) tab.getGraphic()).setOnAction(e -> System.out.println("I'll show the network!"));
        tabPane.getTabs().add(tab);

        root.setCenter(anchor);
        Scene scene = new Scene(root, 400, 400);
        scene.getStylesheets().add(getClass().getResource("style.css").toExternalForm());
        primaryStage.setScene(scene);
        primaryStage.show();
    }

    private Button createTabButton(String iconName) {
        Button button = new Button();
        ImageView imageView = new ImageView(new Image(getClass().getResource(iconName).toExternalForm(),
                16, 16, false, true));
        button.setGraphic(imageView);
        button.getStyleClass().add("tab-button");
        return button;
    }

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

The only thing left to remove the default background and borders from the Buttons. This can be done by inserting the following CSS selectors into your CSS stylesheet.

style.css

.tab-button {
    -fx-border-width: 0;
    -fx-background-radius: 0;
    -fx-background-color: transparent;
    -fx-content-display: graphic-only;
}

.tab-button:hover {
    -fx-background-color: white;
}

The result: