Recent Posts by Geertjan Wielenga

If you go to O'Reilly's Open Source Java Directory, you'll find a long list of open source Java APIs. Many of them provide a great opportunity for you if you want to create NetBeans modules (either for NetBeans IDE or for any other application based on the NetBeans Platform) quickly and easily. After all, why reinvent the wheel? So, let's create a PDF writer, using iText (click here to go to the iText homepage):Download the iText JAR file, from the site specified above....

In Error Annotation Support for Wicket (Part 1), Petr's implementation of an error annotation for the Wicket module was discussed (some interesting remarks are found in the comments at the end of that blog entry). But recently he went one step further: now, when the error annotation appears, a lightbulb also appears (if you select the line where the error annotation appears): The IDE makes a suggestion (also known as a "hint") about what to do to fix the problem. When you...

Only for those who have nothing else to read (and that is hard to imagine with the number of brochures, flyers, booklets, pamphlets, and so on that JavaOne attendees so generously got thrust upon them), here's the full diary I've been keeping since arriving in the US for the first time, which was two weeks ago. I'm at the airport in San Francisco right now, an hour or so from embarking and beginning the trip back to Prague (via Amsterdam). I've been keeping this diary on and...

This was the final demo in the BOF I did with Petr Pisl on Thursday at 21.30. It illustrates the power of using a framework to create rich-client applications. In fact, you're not creating them, but assembling them. Here's how it goes: In the New Project wizard, choose NetBeans Plug-in Modules under Categories and then choose Module Suite Project under Projects. Click Next and name the project Text Editor. Click Finish. Right-click the Text Editor project node and choose...

Two presentations I did in the last two weeks: Firstly, the BOF I did yesterday: Creating an IDE for Your Own Favorite Web Framework Secondly, the final version of the presentation I put up here a few days ago: Technical writers and blogging: Waste of time... or time well spent?

Admittedly I'm only a little person in the greater scheme of things. Admittedly I've just returned to my little hotel room after drinking a little bit more than I might have otherwise. However, this is beside the point and the beauty of the immediacy of blogging. So anyway, my theory is that the way to get out of the whole Eclipse/NetBeans discussion is like this... display an application built on the NetBeans Platform. At this point, you're not talking about NetBeans IDE....

Above is a row of shortcuts on my laptop's desktop. They point to applications installed on my laptop. The first five are probably familiar to you, at least by name, but the last three are found only on my laptop—they're standalone desktop applications (e.g., they have their own executable and splash screen) that I've been working on to varying degrees over the last days, weeks, or months. They're first class citizens of my laptop, existing to the same extent as any other...

BOF-2835, on Thursday from 21.30 to 22.20 (Esplanade, 304/306), entitled "Creating an IDE for Your Favorite Web Framework" promises to be interesting. How do I know this? Well, I am one of the co-presenters. Together with Petr Pisl, who is the web-tier tech lead for NetBeans IDE, I've been working on a new IDE, for a specific framework: Wicket. But that's only an example. So, either if you're a Wicket fan, or if you're someone considering creating tooling support for a...

Tim Boudreau demonstrated yesterday how to migrate a Swing application to the NetBeans Platform. He started with a Hex Editor (which you can find in the NetBeans sources, in contrib). This is what it looks like: He then created a module suite project, wrapped the JAR file of the Hex Editor in a library wrapper module, and used a wizard to create an Action class that appears in the popup menu of Java files and in the Java editor. Then, he filled out the Action class's performAc...