Recent Posts by Geertjan Wielenga

I'm obviously an idiot because only yesterday I realized how easy it is to install NetBeans API Javadoc in the IDE. It's as simple as going to the Update Center and selecting 'API Documentation': It might take you a while to download the API Documentation module: But then working with the APIs is much easier (notice how the Javadoc even includes info about the entries required in the layer.xml file): By the way, if you download the netbeans-5_0-beta-src-ide_sources.zip from here...

There's quite a long list of plug-in module tutorials that are scheduled to be done by the time NetBeans IDE 5.0 is released. One of them—the first draft should be done halfway through next week, right after the first draft of the Copy Class Refactoring Module Tutorial that I mentioned a few days ago— will describe how to extend the redesigned Options window. This you can do in one of two ways—either you add a new category to the Miscellaneous section (click the pic on the...

Matisse is the code name for the project of making Java GUI design with NetBeans an easy and intuitive task. A side effect of this project was the creation of a new layout manager called GroupLayout. It makes the otherwise complex world of GUI development a piece of cake. It is a work of art, hence the name. Inside the IDE, the layout manager is called 'Free Design'. This is how you select it (click to enlarge): That's it. (By the way, I just received a comment from...

NetBeans IDE 5.0 will include several new refactorings. Roumen's WebLog is brimming over with detailed stories about them. However, what if you find that something's missing? Do you submit an issue in Issuezilla and then wait patiently for something to be added to the Update Center? Sometimes you might even have to wait until the next release. Forget patience! Why not try and make your new refactoring yourself? (And, if it works, contribute it back to NetBeans!) However, you...

The secret of syntax highlighting in NetBeans IDE is... no longer a secret. It's all explained here: NetBeans Manifest File Syntax Highlighting Module Tutorial Source code is included—your Manifest files will never be the same again. Of course, the sample and the tutorial are both first drafts, so any feedback would be very welcome indeed.

There's more. More than one kind of syntax highlighting. Typically, you would implement it for a syntax that the IDE doesn't support by default, such as the manifest file syntax shown in yesterday's blog entry. However, how about this scenario—typing regular expressions can be not much fun. How about some syntax highlighting to help you? Here you see a Regular Expression Tester (made by my NetBeans colleague Martin Adamek) with syntax highlighting for typing in the regular...

This is what your manifest files look like: But check out mine: Syntax highlighting rocks. The tutorial that explains everything you'll ever want to know about syntax highlighting—including the complete source code for manifest file syntax highlighting—will be available in the next few days. (Check out this blog entry from some time ago to get a basic idea of part of what's going on.) Many thanks to Andrei Badea for inspiration and support!

In NetBeans IDE 5.0, creating new windows is as simple as clicking through a wizard (see the NetBeans Anagram Game Module Tutorial to find out how). Windows can be used for many things... but have you thought about this (look at the new panel to the right of the Source Editor): Cool, right? I didn't need to code anything at all—I spent more time coming up with the text in the window above than in creating the window itself. Since it's a module, like any other module...

I created a module project, used the Project Template wizard, declared a module dependency on J2EE DD API and then added this to the iterator's instantiate() method, in order to add a servlet, servlet mapping, and welcome file to the project's deployment descriptor (web.xml) and to let the IDE open it when the project is created: FileObject webXmlFo = dir.getFileObject("web/WEB-INF/web.xml");WebApp webApp = DDProvider.getDefault().getDDRoot(webXmlFo);DataObject webXmlDo =...