Gradle in JavaFX projects

I see what you mean, you're referring to the IntelliJ project templates.

The JavaFX project template simply creates a Main.java file and Controller.java file as well as a sample.fxml file. They're just files for a hello world app - you can make a JavaFX app without them.

Unfortunately, in IntelliJ, you have to create or import a project as a Gradle project to get the Gradle tool window. You can just start a new Gradle project and create your own Main and Controller classes and index.fxml and let Gradle handle compiling your source code.

If you want to make an executable binary, you can use Gradle's "application" plugin in addition to the "java" plugin (instead of running your app by entering java -jar my-app.jar you can simply run my-app).

If you do happen to want those JavaFX starter files, just copy these (use whatever package name you want, doesn't have to be the default "sample"):

Main.java

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader;
import javafx.scene.Parent;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

public class Main extends Application {

    @Override
    public void start(Stage primaryStage) throws Exception{
        Parent root = FXMLLoader.load(getClass().getResource("sample.fxml"));
        primaryStage.setTitle("Hello World");
        primaryStage.setScene(new Scene(root, 300, 275));
        primaryStage.show();
    }


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

Controller.java

public class Controller {
}

sample.fxml

<?import javafx.geometry.Insets?>
<?import javafx.scene.layout.GridPane?>

<?import javafx.scene.control.Button?>
<?import javafx.scene.control.Label?>
<GridPane fx:controller="Controller"
          xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml" alignment="center" hgap="10" vgap="10">
</GridPane>