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copied!<p><strong>Update - Builders are Deprecated</strong></p> <p>Regarding Builders in general, the JavaFX project leader <a href="http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/openjfx-dev/2013-August/010024.html" rel="nofollow">writes</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>Deprecated in 8 and removed from the JavaDoc, gone in 9 (will be available as a separately downloadable Jar so you can keep using them, but they won't be updated). We're removing them from samples.</p> <p>Best to cycle off the Builders.</p> </blockquote> <hr> <p>The <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javafx/2/api/javafx/util/Builder.html" rel="nofollow">Builder classes</a> in JavaFX provide a <a href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluent_interface#section_1" rel="nofollow">fluent interface</a> to functionality. Such an API is often more easily readable than code which is imperative. </p> <p>Fluent APIs are <a href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declarative_programming" rel="nofollow">declarative</a> by nature and it is often easier to write bug free declarative code than stateful <a href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperative_programming" rel="nofollow">imperative code</a>. </p> <p>A Builder instance can be created as a template and the same instance reused over and over as nicely demonstrated in the <a href="http://blog.netopyr.com/2012/01/24/advantages-of-javafx-builders/" rel="nofollow">Advantages of JavaFX Builders</a>.</p> <p>JavaFX Builders also define the attributes which may be used in an FXML document. See the Builders section of the <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javafx/2/api/javafx/fxml/doc-files/introduction_to_fxml.html#instance_declaration_elements" rel="nofollow">Introduction to FXML</a> document for more information on this usage.</p> <p>Some areas where Builders may be insufficient in JavaFX 2.2 compared to the imperative API are:</p> <ol> <li>Builders don't facilitate property bindings.</li> <li>Builder APIs may not be complete for all functionalities.</li> <li>Builders can make use of generics which are hard to understand.</li> <li>Builders don't allow you to set static constraints on objects.</li> <li>For simple declarations, builders are more wordy than their counterparts.</li> </ol> <p>An example of point 4 would be that a Builder has no equivalent of a method such as <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javafx/2/api/javafx/scene/layout/GridPane.html#getVgrow%28javafx.scene.Node%29" rel="nofollow">GridPane.setVgrow(priority)</a>.</p> <p>As to <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javafx/2/api/javafx/scene/layout/GridPaneBuilder.html" rel="nofollow">GridPaneBuilder</a> specifically vs using the <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javafx/2/api/javafx/scene/layout/GridPane.html" rel="nofollow">GridPane</a> class - it has the same advantages and drawbacks as other builder vs imperative API comparisons, however GridPaneBuilder is a bit more hamstrung than some other builders as it exposes only a subset of the GridPane interface's functionality - primarily because GridPane relies quite heavily on static methods to specify layout constraints and the equivalent functionality is not exposed in the Builder.</p>

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