"}],"short_description":"One way to extend the life of your JavaFX based app is to embed a map control from Qt Maps SDK into it.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"As we move forward with the evolution of ArcGIS Maps SDKs, many customers have shared their migration plans and ideas. For some, transitioning to ArcGIS Maps SDK for Qt<\/a> or ArcGIS Maps SDK for .NET<\/a> is a great opportunity to take advantage of modern frameworks and capabilities. However, we also recognize that some applications are deeply integrated with JavaFX, featuring complex user interfaces and system connections. For these teams, a full migration may not be practical.<\/p>\n To support these scenarios, we\u2019ve explored ways to make the transition smoother. One option is embedding the map control from another ArcGIS Native Maps SDK into existing JavaFX applications. This approach allows developers to replace the ArcGIS Maps SDK for Java<\/a> component without rewriting the entire app, while still benefiting from the latest enhancements and bug fixes available in ArcGIS Maps SDK for Native Apps.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n This blog post explores a technique of using ArcGIS Maps SDK for Qt as a map control in a JavaFX based application and includes these sections:<\/p>\n The example code created for this blog post is available in the JavaFxQt GitHub repo<\/a>. Please note that we intend this to showcase one proof-of-concept example of how this can work, and there may be alternative patterns to consider instead.<\/p>\n Note: For brevity\u2019s sake, code snippets throughout this blog have been slightly modified from the original code to remove things like null checks, error checks, and state management.<\/em><\/p>\n The high-level architecture of the example is based on three primary concepts:<\/p>\n The first major milestone in integrating a Qt The primary pieces needed to display the map are as follows:<\/p>\n 1. A Qt method that takes in a Java window handle and places the Qt 2. A JNI bridge method between Java and Qt:<\/p>\n 3. JavaFX code that uses reflection to obtain the window handle from the JavaFX Stage, and ultimately passes this through to the Qt method in step 1 via the JNI Bridge:<\/p>\n Using this technique, you not only see the map, but you can interact with all the built-in mouse and keyboard gestures, like panning, zooming, and rotating.<\/p>\n Most applications take user input from the UI and pass it to the application logic. To demonstrate this, the example has a JavaFX ComboBox that contains several viewpoint options. When you select a new option, the corresponding We achieved this with the following:<\/p>\n 1. Export a JNI method that calls 2. Call the JNI method from Java code:<\/p>\n Another important concept for most applications is connecting to events so you can appropriately update your application. For example, events (aka Qt signals<\/a>) are raised on the Qt side, such as clicking on the We achieved this with the following workflow:<\/p>\n 1. Implement a Java method that updates a JavaFX label with the click location:<\/p>\n 2. Create a thread-safe JNI bridge method:<\/p>\n 3. Connect to the The example GitHub repo<\/a> provides all the setup and build instructions. The assumptions are that you are already a JavaFX developer, and that you need to install Qt and the related dependencies, possibly for the first time. Full instructions are available on the developer site<\/a>, but at a high level, you will minimally need:<\/p>\n Through the above techniques, we’ve shown that it is possible to display a Qt MapView in Java, as well as to have two-way communication between Java and Qt via JNI. While this example is by no means a silver bullet, we hope that it might be an inspiration on how you can continue to move forward with your JavaFX apps using the latest ArcGIS technology. We encourage you to clone the repo<\/a>, setup your Qt environment and give it a try. If you have any questions, open an issue<\/a>, or reach out on the Esri Community forums<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
High-level architecture<\/h2>\n
\n
MapView<\/code>,\u00a0and\u00a0is\u00a0referred to as\u00a0<\/span>\u201cQtMapApp.dll\u201d<\/span>\u00a0in the diagram below.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\nRendering a MapView<\/h2>\n
MapView<\/code> within a JavaFX application is to render the map. Upon building and running the JavaFXApp example project, you\u2019ll see a UI like this:<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2953717,"id":2953717,"title":"map-qt-to-java","filename":"map-qt-to-java.png","filesize":472970,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-qt-to-java.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/sdk-java\/developers\/using-arcgis-maps-sdk-for-qt-in-a-javafx-based-application\/map-qt-to-java","alt":"World map with three buttons above it","author":"372342","description":"","caption":"","name":"map-qt-to-java","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2953714,"date":"2026-01-11 07:02:57","modified":"2026-01-11 07:03:49","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":901,"height":629,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-qt-to-java-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-qt-to-java.png","medium-width":374,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-qt-to-java.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":536,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-qt-to-java.png","large-width":901,"large-height":629,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-qt-to-java.png","1536x1536-width":901,"1536x1536-height":629,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-qt-to-java.png","2048x2048-width":901,"2048x2048-height":629,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-qt-to-java-666x465.png","card_image-width":666,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-qt-to-java.png","wide_image-width":901,"wide_image-height":629}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"MapView<\/code> on it:<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\/\/ Step 1: Qt method that takes in a JavaFX window handle and displays a MapView<\/span>\r\nvoid<\/span> QtMapApp::runQtMapOnJavaFxWindow<\/span>(quintptr parentHwnd)\r\n{\r\n \/\/ Create the application<\/span>\r\n QGuiApplication app<\/span>(argc, argv);\r\n\r\n \/\/ Create QQmlApplicationEngine and load the QML file<\/span>\r\n QQmlApplicationEngine engine;\r\n\r\n \/\/ Set the source<\/span>\r\n engine.load<\/span>(QUrl<\/span>(\"qrc:\/qml\/main.qml\"<\/span>));\r\n\r\n \/\/ Set the foreign window as a parent of the QML root object<\/span>\r\n QWindow* foreignWindow = QWindow::fromWinId<\/span>(static_cast<\/span><WId>(parentHwnd));\r\n const<\/span> auto<\/span> rootObjects = engine.rootObjects<\/span>();\r\n QObject* rootObject = rootObjects.first<\/span>();\r\n QtMapApp::s_quickWindow = qobject_cast<\/span><QQuickWindow*>(rootObject);\r\n if<\/span> (QtMapApp::s_quickWindow)\r\n {\r\n \/\/ Set the Map as a child of the JavaFx window.<\/span>\r\n QtMapApp::s_quickWindow->setParent<\/span>(foreignWindow);\r\n QtMapApp::s_quickWindow->setFlags<\/span>(Qt::Window | Qt::FramelessWindowHint);\r\n QtMapApp::s_quickWindow->setPosition<\/span>(200<\/span>, 190<\/span>);\r\n foreignWindow->show<\/span>();\r\n QtMapApp::s_quickWindow->show<\/span>();\r\n }\r\n\r\n app.exec<\/span>();\r\n}\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\/\/ Step 2 - Create a JNI bridge method to call from the Java side<\/span>\r\nJNIEXPORT void<\/span> JNICALL Java_com_example_javafxqt_HelloController_runQtMapOnJavaFxWindow<\/span>(JNIEnv *env, jobject obj, jlong parentHwnd)\r\n{\r\n JniBridge::initialize<\/span>(env, obj);\r\n QtMapApp::runQtMapOnJavaFxWindow<\/span>(static_cast<\/span><quintptr>(parentHwnd));\r\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\/\/ Step 3 - Get the window handle and call the JNI method<\/span>\r\nvoid<\/span> launchQtApplication<\/span>() {\r\n Stage stage = (Stage) container.getScene<\/span>().getWindow<\/span>();\r\n long<\/span> parentHwnd = getWindowId<\/span>(stage);\r\n runQtMapOnJavaFxWindow<\/span>(parentHwnd);\r\n}<\/code><\/pre>\nCalling a Qt method from Java<\/h2>\n
setViewpoint<\/code> method is called to programmatically navigate the MapView<\/code>.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2953732,"id":2953732,"title":"map-dropdown-qt-to-java","filename":"map-dropdown-qt-to-java.png","filesize":437557,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-dropdown-qt-to-java.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/sdk-java\/developers\/using-arcgis-maps-sdk-for-qt-in-a-javafx-based-application\/map-dropdown-qt-to-java","alt":"World map with drop-down menu showing viewpoint options","author":"372342","description":"","caption":"","name":"map-dropdown-qt-to-java","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2953714,"date":"2026-01-11 08:19:07","modified":"2026-01-11 08:19:57","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":910,"height":622,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-dropdown-qt-to-java-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-dropdown-qt-to-java.png","medium-width":382,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-dropdown-qt-to-java.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":525,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-dropdown-qt-to-java.png","large-width":910,"large-height":622,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-dropdown-qt-to-java.png","1536x1536-width":910,"1536x1536-height":622,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-dropdown-qt-to-java.png","2048x2048-width":910,"2048x2048-height":622,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-dropdown-qt-to-java-680x465.png","card_image-width":680,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-dropdown-qt-to-java.png","wide_image-width":910,"wide_image-height":622}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"setViewpoint<\/code> on the Qt MapView<\/code>:<\/p>\n\/\/ Step 1 - create a JNI method that calls into Qt Maps SDK. This can be called directly from Java.<\/span>\r\nJNIEXPORT void<\/span> JNICALL Java_com_example_javafxqt_HelloController_setViewPoint<\/span>(JNIEnv *env, jobject obj, jdouble x, jdouble y)\r\n{\r\n const<\/span> Point pt<\/span>(x, y, QtMapApp::s_map->spatialReference());\r\n QtMapApp::s_mapView->setViewpointCenterAsync<\/span>(pt);\r\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\/\/ Step 2 - define the associated method in Java<\/span>\r\npublic<\/span> native void<\/span> setViewPoint<\/span>(double<\/span> x, double<\/span> y);\r\n \r\n\/\/ Step 3 - call the method in Java when the combo box selection changes<\/span>\r\nsetViewPoint<\/span>(-117.195681<\/span>, 34.056218<\/span>); \/code><\/code><\/pre>\nListening to Qt signals (events) in Java with callbacks<\/h2>\n
MapView<\/code>, and you will need to update the Java side with the clicked location.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2953734,"id":2953734,"title":"map-loc-clicked-qt-to-java","filename":"map-loc-clicked-qt-to-java.png","filesize":733563,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-loc-clicked-qt-to-java.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/sdk-java\/developers\/using-arcgis-maps-sdk-for-qt-in-a-javafx-based-application\/map-loc-clicked-qt-to-java","alt":"Location clicked x and y coordinates are now populated","author":"372342","description":"","caption":"The x and y coordinates for Location Clicked are now populated","name":"map-loc-clicked-qt-to-java","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2953714,"date":"2026-01-11 08:38:53","modified":"2026-01-11 08:40:57","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":905,"height":617,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-loc-clicked-qt-to-java-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-loc-clicked-qt-to-java.png","medium-width":383,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-loc-clicked-qt-to-java.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":524,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-loc-clicked-qt-to-java.png","large-width":905,"large-height":617,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-loc-clicked-qt-to-java.png","1536x1536-width":905,"1536x1536-height":617,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-loc-clicked-qt-to-java.png","2048x2048-width":905,"2048x2048-height":617,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-loc-clicked-qt-to-java-682x465.png","card_image-width":682,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/map-loc-clicked-qt-to-java.png","wide_image-width":905,"wide_image-height":617}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\/\/ Step 1: Declare a Java method that updates a JavaFX label<\/span>\r\npublic<\/span> void<\/span> callJavaFxMethodFromQt<\/span>(double<\/span> x, double<\/span> y) {\r\n xLabel.setText<\/span>(String.valueOf<\/span>(x));\r\n yLabel.setText<\/span>(String.valueOf<\/span>(y));\r\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\/\/ Step 2: Create a JNI bridge method<\/span>\r\ns_helloControllerGlobal = env->NewGlobalRef<\/span>(helloController);\r\ns_callMethod = env->GetMethodID<\/span>(cls, \"callJavaFxMethodFromQt\"<\/span>, \"(DD)V\"<\/span>);\r\n\r\nvoid<\/span> callJavaFxMethodFromQt<\/span>(double<\/span> x, double<\/span> y) { \r\n JNIEnv* env = nullptr<\/span>;\r\n const<\/span> jint getEnvResult = s_jvm->GetEnv<\/span>(reinterpret_cast<\/span><void<\/span>**>(&env), JNI_VERSION_1_6);\r\n bool<\/span> attachedHere = false<\/span>;\r\n if<\/span> (getEnvResult != JNI_OK) {\r\n if<\/span> (s_jvm->AttachCurrentThread<\/span>(reinterpret_cast<\/span><void<\/span>**>(&env), nullptr<\/span>) != JNI_OK) {\r\n return<\/span>;\r\n }\r\n attachedHere = true<\/span>;\r\n }\r\n \r\n env->CallVoidMethod<\/span>(s_helloControllerGlobal, s_callMethod, x, y);\r\n \r\n if<\/span> (attachedHere) {\r\n s_jvm->DetachCurrentThread<\/span>();\r\n }\r\n}<\/code><\/pre>\nMapView::mouseClicked<\/code> signal in Qt with a lambda function, and call back to Java via the JNI bridge method:<\/p>\nconnect<\/span>(QtMapApp::s_mapView, &MapQuickView::mouseClicked, this<\/span>, [](QMouseEvent& mouseEvent)\r\n{\r\n const<\/span> auto<\/span> globalPos = mouseEvent.globalPosition<\/span>();\r\n const<\/span> auto<\/span> localPos = QtMapApp::s_quickWindow->mapFromGlobal<\/span>(globalPos);\r\n const<\/span> auto<\/span> point = QtMapApp::s_mapView->screenToLocation<\/span>(localPos.x<\/span>(), localPos.y<\/span>());\r\n \/\/ Use JNI bridge for thread-safe callback into Java<\/span>\r\n JniBridge::callJavaFxMethodFromQt<\/span>(point.x<\/span>(), point.y<\/span>());\r\n});<\/code><\/pre>\nWhat are the software requirements?<\/h2>\n
\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n