NetBeans IDE

JBoss AS 7 here?

2012-02-08T07:28:00.000-08:00

In a previous post I promised to make a review for a book about JBoss AS 7. At that time I still didn't dig into it, and didn't know that our latest NetBeans IDE (7.1) still does not support the seventh generation of JBoss servers. You may see some informative rant going on here. And to be clear - hacking to simulate support thanks to the configurations of the 5-th or 6-th versions wouldn't help. JBoss 7 is completely redesigned to be modular. So the default support (unsurprisingly) comes from the rival - eclipse ;)

While we're waiting you may actually read the book, because it is a good one. If you need first to read the review, it is here on my other blog.

Be careful when using NetBeans on DropBox

2012-01-17T16:03:00.000-08:00

My recent experimentation with the cloud service took me to a revelation that says: "Well you should know better!" At least I should be more careful setting up my system. Especially when being aware of the nature of things, but still let myself be sloppy.

It cost me some precious time and puzzled, achy head, but at the end the situation is already crystal clear to me.

I was trying to run NetBeans with portable JDK - both tools in the DropBox folder. It constantly refused to run saying it couldn't find a proper JDK.
At some point I decided to go with absolute paths in the netbeans.conf file. I did it very simply by defining in all my environments the variable $DROPBOX_BASE (with the actual corresponding value for every system of course). No more misty relative paths.
Still I didn't have success running the IDE. Hmm!

These days I'm experimenting with the new JBoss AS 7. Well taking the same approach there, the result that followed is obvious - the JBoss complained that it can not find a proper JDK unless I show it its position on the system with the --jdkhome command line option. Getting the same result after using the option in question, puzzled me the most. But it didn't take long until I realized that something wrong should be happening with some executable bits. Again some time and googling passed until I remembered that on the current (Linux) system I placed the Dropbox folder on NTFS partition, which was never even designed for the idea of executable bits being set as permissions.

So, my conclusion: when using DropBox on Linux, never set its folder on partitions designed for Windows OSes. You might still sync properly, but successfully executing binaries from it is very unlikely.
Touché!

NetBeans 7.1 is here and ...

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

The official announcement came almost a week ago and for me it almost coincided with another event. The guys from PACKT Publishing gave me the chance to review another one of their books.

First about the IDE:

May be the release notes would be more informative than the official announcement. At least it contains all the possible links you might need along with the latest top features presented visually. Of course there is this video presentation, which is worth watching.

It seems this time the focus is on JavaFX. Its 2.0 version is covered in a way that makes its applications' configuration and deployment easy and complete - it seems you won't miss a feature here.

From the other features presented in the video the most attractive seemed the visual debugger, the batch and selective rectangular re-factoring and the enhanced maven integration.

Once I have more time to make some stuff with it, I'll report. Which leads me to the second point - the book:

JBoss AS 7 Configuration, Deployment and Administration by Francesco Marchioni.

Going through this book is a nice opportunity to check the new architecture of the revamped JBoss Application Server. I guess (and hope) it will have some in-depth tweaks. Scrolling over its TOC increased my appetite seeing topics like clustering, security and cloud leveraging. I'm anxious to start it, so I'll say no more in this post.

Developing "in the cloud"

2011-09-04T04:31:00.000-07:00

To continue from the last two posts and driven by curiosity, I decided to see if a DropBoxed GlassFish application server (along with its built in JavaDB database) will be able to complement the dropboxed NetBeans IDE I already use on three Linux systems.

As a little detour I must state that these Linux systems are such that I have complete access over them. If I had to work in a more mixed environment (e.g. in Windows or in any system without administrative privileges), I would still use OS independent packages, but I would use a USB flash drive as a carrier. It doesn't seem appropriate for one to utilize the service on a machine that is publicly shared. It comes to my mind that going hardcore, could make you try to install a DropBox on the system in question (whether I doubt it is possible without administrative privileges) and as synchronized folder to use one on a flash drive. But I have the impression that, at least currently, the DropBox service is not intended for such loose usage.

So! GlassFish. OS independent ZIP archive. Extracting it somewhere under the DropBox root folder completes its installation. It takes some minutes (or maybe hour, or two) to propagate, but as usual, this has never been a concern.

Now - configuring and running seem to be more interesting. Adding the server in NetBeans under the "Servers" node is nothing special. You just point to the installation directory, where the ZIP was extracted. If you need to, specify a custom domain different from the default domain1 and that's it. NetBeans knows all the rest. If you start it from its node with the context menu, in a few seconds, you'll be able to access it in a browser. Of course it still needs certain configurations, so that not everybody has access to the administration console on port 4848, etc.

One good way to test the installation is to test it against the Quick Start Guide. If we say that the installation directory for the server is marked GF, the guide in question is the file:

GF/glassfish/docs/quickstart.html

It opens in a browser and explains with examples, what commands can be issued in the command line in order to make the administration tool do the right job for you. The tool is called asadmin and it starts the desired domain (or simply the default) and the database. In Linux the absolute and the relative paths should work the same way.

Another good testing method is to run through some tutorial, and what would be better than this one.

While taking it, it is interesting to observe what's going on in your DropBox. May be the most beautiful part is that the both entities - the syncing service and the development stack - just work. The development stack behaves like it exists in a usual file system, like it actually is. The service rapidly synchronizes the bunch of small files that are created and/or modified during the development process - changing configuration files, writing to log files, deploying the different types of Java archives to the domain sub-folders of the server, etc.

Opening your "Events" page on the DropBox web site you'll see something like this:

This of course is not the full list, but as you can see the more details are easily accessible by clicking the appropriate link:

I read some time ago a question on StackOverflow that someone had trouble running the JavaDB database after installing the GalssFish server in his DropBox folder. All I can say is that it worked in my set of environments from the command line. But just because NetBeans is good enough to manage a development environment on its own, I use it for the same purpose. Registering the application server with the IDE is the only required step - as a consequence it manages the built-in database pretty well. And after running the examples from the FirstCup tutorial on one of my machines, I could very easily review exactly the same data on every other machine registered with the syncing service:

I heard some categorizations that DropBox is a "cloud service". I don't know if this is a fair comparison, because cloud computing although becoming better and better defined every day, still has some vague boundaries. Despite that the feeling when working with my mirrored and aptly synchronized small-project-sized-single-user-development-environment is like I have one computer everywhere I go. I guess at least this is what the Coluds are trying to achieve. So if we're already there, there's nothing left but to wait and see what will be the next challenge.

Another way to be portable - part II

2011-08-19T04:48:00.000-07:00

So, NetBeans stack (with servers) portable through DropBox - sounds quite possible. After all PortableApps can be used this way. But what's to consider first? Here's the list (it's not long at all):

Will the free account's box size suffice? Yes, it will, even for a full install (with the two app servers). And I guess there'll be a little bit more space for some small projects, etc.
What if utilize multiple platforms (Windows at work, Linux at home, and Mac on the move)? Well fortunately the IDE still has the "OS independent Zip" on the download page, but as you can see there, this option comes without the servers. The servers are completely different story, for another post.
And should I put the JDK also in the DropBox? If so, should it also be platform independent? Hm, friend, this is Java you know! And I think, we've already been through this :)

Maybe these are all of the preliminary considerations, so I dive in ....

Downloaded the OS independent ZIP for the latest (currently 7.0.1) version (242 MB archived, and around 470 MB extracted to a DropBox sub-folder). With my connection, it uploaded to the central server for around half an hour.

For further examinations lets name the path to the DropBox folder as DB. So if the IDE is extracted to DB/netbeans, the adventure starts from the DB/netbeans/bin folder (I believe you can easily figure out the corresponding Windows paths). In this folder there are only two files - the executables for the two major platforms. Since the IDE is configured by default to search for the java installation existing on the system, if such exists, the IDE will run. If only JRE is installed, it might run, but it surely won't compile your projects and it will complain about it. Of course, the access to a java installation can be configured, but I don't think there is a point in repeating myself. Everything said in that post still applies.

I would only add that if you use a portable JDK, you might tweak it, to make it slimmer. This means that bin, jre and lib folders will suffice. Another detail is that you might have to gather the executable files from different platforms in their corresponding sub-folders in order to be fully portable. Actually it is all a matter of taste and context. All environments that I have DropBox on are Linux, so I don't need portable JDK. In that case I only have to take care that on every environment I use compatible JDKs. For example if on Env1 I have installed JDK 1.7, the Env2 which has by default (from repositories) JDK 1.6 the projects might become in conflicted state. This might not happen for different updates of the same version of the JDK, but for a different versions of used application servers the conflict is certain. So the journey continues.

I don't know how close, but this installment looks to me similar to an IDE on the cloud. I accept every suggestion that might reduce the distance between the reality and the idea.

Another way to be portable

2011-08-07T13:13:00.000-07:00

Few months ago I found DropBox. I almost immediately started using it as holder of some sample NetBeans projects. Its seamless integration with the host OS and immediate synchronising of the project files amazed me. These guys have done a wonderful job. I know they are being criticised about security and privacy matters, but if you get to become paranoid about your sensitive data why use Internet at all?

At first I didn't think of it as a variant of portability - actually portable are only your projects, and not the IDE. This in fact is more similar to a very simplified one-user-version-control. And for small projects I guess I would be happy with it. I would call it cloud portability, but it still would be about the projects.

And there's the idea - what if I installed the IDE in my DropBox folder? There are few drawbacks that come into my mind:

It would take up most of my original 2 GB quota. This is not the greatest concern - I could invite some friends or at some point I even can go for a paid account.
Performance. May be this is the biggest (as usual) concern. But since the IDE is copied on every HDD I installed DropBox on, it will be ran form a hard drive and not from a flash drive. This leads me to the next concern.
Synchronised environments. In order for the IDE to work at all I'll have to use the same classpaths for the JVM and the libraries. And may be at some point even for any servers. I know your next question - why not install everything in the DropBox folder? It seems tempting. Something bothers me here. I'm not very sure what exactly it is, but I'll figure it soon. May be the best way to find out is to just do the thing and watch it how it moves.

One thing is certain - installing the IDE will be as slow as your bandwidth. I mean, not installing it on the local hard drive, but sending it to your other PCs. Well this is not a real worry - DropBox does the transfer, not you. And if your remote PC is online, once you get there you'll might already have the IDE on it.

I'm kind of tempted to do it, but may be after some more considerations.

Significant events

2011-08-07T02:56:00.000-07:00

I am an occasional blogger. So here is the occasion. A big one. Actually there are three interconnected events:

Oracle finally released the latest (7th) version of the standard edition variant of the prominent Java programming language's SDK. The tech related part of the web is all boiling with the fuss. Use it! Don't use it! There are severe bugs in the JVM. There's nothing scary about the bugs - they'll be fixed before the JVM is adopted in production. The new syntax enhancements are great. There's not enough new features to the language. Etc., etc., etc. It's always been and will always be a work in progress - there'll always be hideous bugs lurking in the code invisible, until the rarest never-met-before conditions bring them to the light. It's OK. Bugs, features, fallacies - its' all part of producing software. Any kind of software. Even great meta-software like Java. Since the engine is here, where's the new chassis so we can utilize it for a nice smooth software development drive? Here it comes.
Oracle released the 7th version of the NetBeans IDE some time before the official release of the Java SE 7 SDK, so after the first event on the list, they had to release the NetBeans 7.0.1 with the required official support. Game on! The IDE is ready for download you very well know where from. I wish it was available in the Ubuntu repositories also, but I don't think this will be an option soon.
A book. You didn't expect this, right? In fact it is a very nice book about how the IDE eases the development of Java 6 Enterprise applications. I won't tell more about it right now, because I'm in process of going through it, in order to make a full review. So, with no more distractions, I'm diving back to Mr. Heffelfinger's thoughtfully organized and narrated set of screen-shots. Here's the cover to just whet your appetite:

All the three events are pretty significant for the NetBeans users. The tool of the trade was upgraded and on the other hand there is a concise source of some background information for the developers.

A review to come. See ya ;)

Enterprise Java 6 with NetBeans 7 narrated

2011-07-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

I already published two almost identical reviews at Developer Zone and Amazon. I feel it is clear what are the purpose and the structure of Java EE 6 Development with NetBeans 7. The reasons for why I like it are not just that I needed such reference for a long time and it finally showed up. I liked it because it is straight to the point. Promptly teaches you what you need to do, with further details where possible and reveals the technology gradually and remarkably fully for the given small amount of pages.

So in the sake of diversity, completeness and to give the book the coverage it deserves, I'll pay a bit more attention to its contents.

The introductory chapters

The first three chapters might be considered as legacy. I mean, they are there in favor of the complete beginners. On the other hand most of the functions represented here can be found in the same or similar form through the previous versions of the IDE. Those are the features that define the NetBeans way - the keys for simplicity, speed and robustness during your development process.

First we're introduced with the IDE. From installing it to adding and managing application and database servers - it is all a fundamental knowledge. Even if you only create desktop applications the chances are rather small, that you'll never have to work with database. This knowledge is just a must precondition.

After that a similar thing is done for Java EE and how it is backed by the IDE. If the reader is not a bit more familiar with Servlets, JSPs, configuring the security, etc. this introduction can't be enough. Here you'll see presented the ready templates and configuration-tweaking editors that require such basic knowledge.

Finally we're given the tag palettes. They are organised around the forms in the applications' pages. NetBeans gives us automation for the HTML tags that require most effort when written by hand, and for some of the JSTL tags.

The nicest example I found here is a small tutorial on how to create custom JSP tags - sometimes the wide JSTL extension over HTML still might not be enough functional or flexible.

The basics of the Enterprise Java

In the following two chapters we meet the newer wave in the Java EE history - the Java Sever Faces (JSF) framework over the core Servelt and JSP APIs and a complementary component library - PrimeFaces.

Since every chapter in the book can be taken as a separate tutorial for creating a certain technology-centered throw-away application, these two chapters are visually oriented. In terms of the MVC design pattern here we're shown how to create the View. The JSF API is backed up by lots of wizards - managed beans, facelets, components, etc. Do you think this is enough? Well, NetBeans don't. They provide the PrimeFaces components integration, so with the help of fast code-completion very decently looking pages can be built that could have tabbed layout, or to behave like wizards. Of course I wish there was at least a plugin that could bring the tags in their own palette, but I guess this integration is in an early stage.

The core innovations to Java EE 6

In the previous version of the SDK, the Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) API consisted of three types of Enterprise Beans - entity beans, session beans and message-driven beans. With the API's evolution, the first ones were extracted to their own specification comprising the Java Persistence API (JPA). Another new feature covered is the Contexts and Dependency Injection (CDI) - long awaited, after all it is one of the things that made the Spring framework so famous.

To the Enterprise Beans and CDI's integration are dedicated the next four chapters of the book. The one for JPA is my favorite tutorial, because it shows not only the power of the IDE to automate the creation of data components. It gives a whole MVC application - JSF application extracted from the paired database. The rest of these chapters concentrate on the business tire in an enterprise application. We see how easily can be created modules and clients, message resources, qualifiers and stereotypes. Everything is there after a few clicks in the file wizard, smartly coded templates ready for customization.

Java EE 6 and the Open Web

The web services are left for the last two chapters. The classic SOAP services, using heavy XML for data transfer versus the modern RESTful services that utilize the lighter JSON data format. Both are equally and very well covered. To the point that NetBeans has a nice graphical editor for configuring the parameters of a service.

As examples we can see a SOAP web service created from existing EJB module and from ready WSDL file, and RESTful web service created from existing database. The last one also has a client created for it.

The Appendixes

I cannot imagine developing some application without debugging some of its trickier methods at a point. Doing it for an enterprise application is generally a bit more difficult, regarding the external execution environment - the server. NetBeans proves such difficulty does not exist.

I must admit that the Profiler is the NetBeans's prominent performance tool that I never had a chance to use in working conditions. Yet having it in the IDE for such a long time (if memory doesn't fool me, after version 5.5 it became integrated, instead of being a separate plugin) is a persuasive argument towards its quality.

Like I said in the external reviews, code templates customization and the possibility for adding custom palettes, deserved at least another appendix, but after all this is a Java-EE-6-centric book, and NetBeans is just the tool. Anyway, I personally like very much the way this book gives credit to the IDE, to its grade of integration with the SDK. The plethora of examples might comprise only to throw-away applications, but they are so technology-aware that throwing-away option easily might be transformed to merging-and-extending option. Have fun!

Portable JavaDB in NetBeans

2010-02-27T01:18:00.000-08:00

Here is a little situation I got in recently.

I'm using my portable NetBeans 6.8 IDE with all my projects set up on the same flash drive. However when I was making the portable installation something slipped my attention, and here is the fix.

Some days ago I was reviewing one of the Patrick Keegan's JavaDB tutorials on a Windows laptop. Made the example and tweaked it a little but didn't go further about how the JavaDB drivers are set up - I taught that they're somewhere in the debris of the netbeans folder like MySQL's and PostgreSQL's drivers. After that I forgot about this example and the other day when I tried to open the same project in NetBeans IDE installed on an Ubuntu PC I got the warning sign for a reference problem. The IDE usually gives this one when a library is missing from the paths declared to the project. I opened the "Resolve Reference Problem" dialog from the context menu and only the derby.jar was listed in it. Didn't have time to fix it then but today decided to dig into it.

In the IDE when I went to "Tools > Libraries" I found such for MySQL and PostgreSQL, but there was none for JavaDB. So I went to Services window and opened the Drivers node in order to see in the properties where the drivers were pointed to. This is what I found:

So I needed to do a fresh and prferrably portable JavaDB installation in order to fix this issue. Since I wanted it portable, I couldn't use the MSI installer for Windows - the installer actually couldn't see my portable device (unless you write it manually instead of using the Browse button) even though it lets you change the installation path. To spare myself time and possible troubles, I chose the platform independent ZIP archive package. I extracted it directly into the root of my flash drive and in the IDE's Service window customized the drivers' nodes to point in the right directions (the JARs are located in the lib folder of the package). The same approach can be taken in a Linux/UNIX environments.

Now I could resolve the reference problem.

And after making sure the project runs and has DB capabilities I can say that today my IDE is yet again a little further more portable than before.

One more cheatsheet

2009-12-23T11:38:00.000-08:00

I just said few words about Dzone's cheat sheets regarding NetBeans in my last post and they came with a new one. This time the refcard numbered 80 tells in short about the NetBeans Platform. It briefs about the massive structure upon the IDE is built up and is suitable for constructing full-blown and feature rich desktop and client applications.

This matter is the foundation for building the IDE's plugins and modules. If you wonder what's the difference, the simplest explanation is that:

a plugin is the piece of software unit that can be uniformly added to the IDE in order to perform some specialized task. Depending on the task, the plugin might range in simplicity and size.
a module is an independent package of software that ties to the platform in such uniform way that makes it a separate software product. Modules might be targeted at enhancing the IDE's functionality or they just might run free ;)

This area sure is targeted at the hardcore developers and professionals, but some of the novices might also be interested what actually lies under the hood. Well done DZone!

The cheat sheet

2009-12-15T22:23:00.000-08:00

Do you know DZone? Of course you do! This gathering place for developers from all over that hosts the well-known RefCardz. And the newest one is a very relevant and on-time update of an older one. Generally a version is skipped and we have refcardz for NetBeans 6.1 and 6.8. This is not such a big deal since the most present is also the most relevant. And the most present is already here. Enjoy!

NetBeans' native portability

2009-12-14T01:10:00.000-08:00

I bring up the theme of portability once again, because of the last comment from this my post. Thanks on this Valery! I really missed this one before.

Let us start with the obvious - Java is by default a portable language. So any software written in it, if not making any assumptions for the host operating system or utilizing platform specific features, should without changes run anywhere. Although the NetBeans IDE is developed with several OSes in mind, it also has such platform-independent version:

As can be seen, the most complete bundle for the current version (6.8) lacks the JavaFX IDE and the application servers, but has everything else.

Download, unzip to the USB drive (lets say we have K:\netbeans folder as a result) and this is where the fun begins.

In the K:\netbeans\bin folder there are two files - a Windows executable, and a shell script for the UNIX family OSes. All is the way it should be.

Running the netbeans.exe on different PCs shows that the IDE feels pretty comfortable anywhere. It even isn't as slow as I expected! The only "drawback" is that it makes itself at home everywhere. This means that it scans the local $HOME directory and arranges its properties there. It even suggests you to import the setting of a previous version if such has existed on the machine. I'm still not sure how this gets along with installing your preferred plugins on the PC and then using them on another PC. But I wouldn't rely on such IDE scattered across several computers. I just would take the steps necessary to make it more portable. The step is generally one and it is toward editing the K:\netbeans\etc\netbeans.conf file. This configuration file is pretty self explanatory but lets take a look just in case.

The first property is netbeans_default_userdir. Its default value is "${HOME}/.netbeans/6.8". At first I replaced it with:

"${HOME}/.netbeans/6.8" -> "../.netbeans/6.8"

and ... nothing actually happened. In such cases running the executable makes things a bit more clear and ... it did:

It appears that the NetBeans IDE doesn't let you place its configuration and properties directory into its installation directory. That makes sense if think about it. So pick some place on your USB drive dedicated to configuration stuff and point to it in the netbeans.conf file. In the end I have my specific properties in K:\data\.netbeans\6.8 and it works fine with the property value set to:

netbeans_default_userdir="../../data/.netbeans/6.8"

The second property is netbeans_default_options. Its default value tunes up the JVM that runs the IDE with several parameters. They are not directly relevant to the portability. They are more of a performance tweaks.

All the other properties are commented, hence not taken into account by the IDE. Here's what they mean:

netbeans_jdkhome - this one is important and it should be uncommented in all cases where on the host OS there is no any Java installed. It also must be uncommented for the sake of portability. In my case I have this path K:\jdk\jdk1.6.0_16. I could put it in the K:\netbeans folder but I also use portable eclipse in some cases, so the JDK is kind of shared between the two IDEs (and any Java dependent software I decide to use on my USB drive in future). The value for the property becomes "../../jdk/jdk1.6.0_16" (that makes two folder up in the tree).
netbeans_extraclusters - this is related to modules that come separated from the official bundles. For example you've made your own C# editor on top of the NetBeans platform and you want to use it in your portable IDE. This is where you set the relationship between both.

Well, if I have some conclusion to make, it would be that if the intricacies of the host operating system are not concerned, the portability is only a matter of correctly setting the paths, whatever your portable media is.

So far we've exhausted the current portability issue, wright? Wrong! What about UNIX/Linux? And what about WINE? Soon.

Пак сме обновени

2009-12-10T07:35:00.000-08:00

Преди около час NetBeans обявиха в Twitter (10.12.2009), че официалното издание на версия 6.8 вече е налично за сваляне.

Чудя се има ли връзка, между забавянето на 7-та версия с постоянно бавещата се също 7-ма версия на Java.

На официалния сайт са се постарали да представят новостите в средата чрез комплект от тематични видео-та, което би било интересно не само за начинаещите.

Това, което ми направи впечатление относно наличността на средата е, че вече не може да се поръча безплатното ДВД. Може да се свали ISO файла му, но той е все още за версия 6.7.1 - е явно не може всичко да се свърши наведнъж. Друг вариант е закупуването на въпросното през онлайн магазина на SUN срещу само $8.50.

Ами честито! За новостите отвътре ще поговорим мако по-нататък.

NB 6.7 - следващата итерация

2009-07-09T04:27:00.000-07:00

Ето, че повече от седмица измина откакто излезе новата версия (6.7) на любимото IDE и вече е време за малко впечатления. Не съм се ровил надълбоко, но новости могат да се открият и на повърхността - при изпълнение на тривиални задачи, като създаването на нов проект например.
Ще спомена само какво ми се наби на очи при бърз поглед върху средата.
При създаване на нов проект, първоначално всички категории са дезактивирани. Това означава, че преди не е работено по проект от тази категория и за да се активиря тя, просто се натиска бутона за следващата стъпка. Според мен това е новост свързана с платформата, която има общо с повишена ефективнаост при използване на паметта.
Друга видима разлика е вкарване на поддръжката на maven проектите в ядрото (вместо да се тегли като плъгин) , като заедно с това тук е разширен и списъка с категориите:

Още нещо, което от скоро е хит сред разработчиците в общността - Project KENAI. Това е поддържана от (все още) SUN Microsystems услуга за взаимопомощ между разработчици и подслоняване на проекти (друга аналогична инициатива е Google Code). Интеграцията с NetBeans прави използването на услугата естествена част от процеса на разработка. Може да се намери в собствено подменю в менюто "Team".
Трябва да се отбележи, че версия на средата за новата версия на JavaFX (1.2) ще се появи малко по-късно като добавка, поради закъснение при хората от JavaFX.
За сега толкова. В очакване на седмата версия, скоро може заедно да хвърлим едно око на платформата на IDE-то, като отворим капака и надзърнем в непрекъснато развиващото се API.

Очи пълни с NetBeans

2009-04-21T23:07:00.000-07:00

Всеки ден откривам нови малки нещица, които придават цвят и вкус на работата с любимото IDE. Например до сега не бях обърнал внимание на тази екстра, която дойде по Twitter. Екран на който няма нищо друго освен NetBeans. Може да е задушаващо за някои, но лично за мен е точно обратното. Често когато съм писaл код съм имал чувството, че екрана не ми стига и съм изпитвал неистово желание да увелича прозореца на редактора дори отвъд границите на екрана.
Е сега вече съм още малко по-близо до желаното.

Where do we go from here?

2009-04-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

The biggest news of these days is the acquisition of SUN Microsystems by the ORACLE Corporation.
I felt a little chill creeping down my spine. I hope it's just from the colder weather today.
I hope for the best for NetBeans, but it all soon will be revealed.

And now for the homies:

Няма как да не сте чули вече новината - за добро или за зло Оракула вече ще се разпорежда с нашето IDE. Дано всички страхове да са само илюзорни.

Междувременно има и някои добри новини. Особено ако се интересувате от JavaFX. За българските почитатели на новата технология ще обърна внимание на това ново местенце в системата, където ще можете да научавате доста интересни нови трикове. Пожелавам успех на колегата и при възможност ще помагам ;)

Know your IDE

2009-04-07T23:27:00.000-07:00

So, the certification from SUN Microsystems is already here. And after you read the description and requirements it looks pretty clear that the CX-310-045 exam should be quite easy to take. A major point is that you are not required to have any of the other SUN certificates. That sounds convenient - if you are new to certifications it is just another fresh option for a start point. So far there were two entry points in SUN's Java certification program - you may start as Sun Certified Java Associate or Sun Certified Java Programmer. The first one (CX-310-019) isn't that important if you want to become Java developer, because it is more technology centric and not detailed in the language intricacies. The second example is more of a stack of related exams:

CX-310-065 - the most actual exam. It concerns the latest version (6) of the Java language in production. If you want to be an edge-on-java-programmer, take this one.
CX-310-066 - this is an upgrade. If you have already taken the one below, you don't need to struggle through the one above, so in your case, this is the case. Savvy? So this is not actually an intro exam, because you must already have taken an exam for Java Programmer for a previous version of the language.
CX-310-055 - the same as #1, but for the previous (and still most used in production) version of the language (5). If you don't have a really good reason for the opposite, you'd better take the other one.
CX-310-056 - the same as #2 but for Java 5. Here also the CX-310-066 is the preferable choice.

That was in a very tiny nutshell. And the most important - none of these is required for a NetBeans certification, but at least is desirable.

А сега и няколко думи на Български.
Накратко: SUN Microsistems измислиха още един начин да ни сертифицират - като ни тестват доколко познаваме любимата си среда за разработка, определена от тях като "официална" и разпространявана заедно с JDK-то. NetBeans отдавна узря достатъчно за подобна роля. Дотолкова, че от компанията майка решиха, че не е достатъчно да казваш, че разработваш на него ами и трябва да се фукаш пред работодателите, че си сертифициран за него. Защо ли обаче в България фирмите все още предпочитат предимно Eclipse? :)

Малко информация за напълно случайно попадналите тук:
SUN Microsystems (все още) е един от флагманите на разработването на софтуер с отворен код. В момента компанията поддържа един стек от осем такива продукта (няма как да не сте чували за поне един-два от тях) достъпни на сайта им:

Java - прочутият програмен език, претендиращ да работи навсякъде.
NetBeans - официалната среда за разработка на Java приложения, която далеч не се ограничава с Java.
GlassFish - приложният мрежов сървър на SUN, който все още не е достигнал популярността на Apache Tomcat и JBoss.
MySQL - най-популярната в света база данни с отворен код.
opensolaris - отвореният аналог на една от най-стабилните сървърни операционни системи в света (Solaris), насочена към разработчиците.
xVM (SUN VirtualBox) - машина за виртуализации (аналог на VMWare Player). Позволява изпробването на други операционни системи, сървъри за бази данни и т.н. без да се налага инсталирането им на локалната машина или рестартирането и.
OpenOffice.org - частична алтернатива на офис пакета на MicroSoft.
JavaFx - нова Java технология, аналогична на Adobe Flash и MicroSoft Silverlight. Java приложенията ще стават все по-шарени в своята интерактивност.

The New One - 6.5

2008-11-21T16:45:00.000-08:00

The latest version is out already. 6.5

What impressed me the most? The Early Access of the Python editor of course - I expected it for some time. The best part is that the underlying Jython runtime isn't obligatory for you. Just choose from the menu Tools > Python Platforms and you may define whatever platform you use on your own. It doesn't matter if it's the official CPython distribution installed localy or the Portable version from your USB drive, or else.

Still hadn't enogh time to dig in the IDE, but the first impression while creating new project and coding some lines is that it really feels better and lighter than the 6.1 version.

And what's more, it behaves quite nice on a USB drive - adjusted properly NetBeans can be a beautiful portable application (despite that it is expectedly much slower compared to a desktop install).

Now I can't wait to try develop a Django web application with MySQL or PostgreSQL back end managed by the IDE. I know NetBeans is already mature enogh for that development task.

Portable NetBeans - part II

2008-04-13T01:44:00.000-07:00

Of course just placing NetBeans on USB drive and running it from there doesn't make it really portable. Why?
As most of the serious contemporary applications the IDE uses some deal of system awareness. That means it not only scans the host system (during installation) for where your Java is but it also takes account on the user's home directory, where the service information have to be stored.
So when the installer is started, if you monitor the contents of your user's directory in Windows, you'll see a new one created - '.nbi'. It stores the logs and configurations that let the installer, when started again, know what exactly have been installed on the previous occasions(s). That's not bad at all. On one hand you have a host environment that may serve you as a dock for your portable IDE. But on the other, it restricts the portability. This folder may be moved on the USB drive, but NetBeans installer will still search for it in the current user's home directory. That's not a catastrophe so far - you successfully installed the IDE already and most probably it won't happen again up till the next version.
Anyway, another and more important directory is created into the user's home the first time NetBeans is started - '.netbeans'. This is the actual configuration center for the IDE - updates are downloaded here, the current state of the application is preserved here, etc. In time this folder may become quite big in size. What's worse - this directory could leave a trace of your presence on the host system! Oops! That would be so unportable.
I feared so, that's why I made a test. I ran the IDE on a fellow's laptop. Before that I had been moved the '.netbeans' folder in a place such as 'X:\tools\netbeans\conf' on my USB memory. When started the update center I expected the '.netbeans' folder to be regenerated into the user's home. Nothing like this. I installed a module and the trace for this was written exactly where it had to be - in 'X:\tools\netbeans\conf\.netbeans\6.1\update-tracking' and the module was downloaded into 'X:\tools\netbeans\conf\.netbeans\6.1\modules'. It is still a mystery to me how this happened, because it is dumb to believe that things happen this way. On a second try it didn't work. Of course.
So, what is the right way? Well, I just opened the right file: 'X:\PortableApps\NetBeans 6.1\etc\netbeans.conf' and provided the correct value to the netbeans_default_userdir variable on the second line:

netbeans_default_userdir="X:/tools/netbeans/conf/.netbeans/6.1"

Now with everything in place NetBeans starts and updates very portably.
Yet another 'prankster' always appears during the NetBeans startup - the '.netbeans-registration' directory. It regenerates anytime, anywhere. And always leaves a trace. It isn't much - just a small XML status file, but this is a trace after all. I don't mind to register my IDE, but no more than once is appropriate, I think.

Well, all these 'hacks' are just on the go. We can hardly ever expect an official version of Portable NetBeans from the community or SUN. If you're smart enough (and I bet you are) and you chase the Portable conditions then the sky is the limit, like they say. Not only the IDE but the Java itself can alway be made thinner and slimmer and encapsulated. It is only a matter of little effort and plenty of free time. And of course limitless imagination.

NetBeans 6.1 & MySQL

2008-04-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

As we all know few months ago SUN Microsystems acquired MySQL AB - the vendor of (still) the most popular open source database server. Did this make an impact on the SUN's preferred JAVA IDE? Well the answer is easily noticeable when comparing the 6.0 and the 6.1 (still Beta and still evaluating) versions. In the 'Services' tab of the IDE there's always been a 'Databases' node introducing set of supported JDBC drivers and predefined connections. Since JAVA 6 (and consequently NetBeans 6.0) the JavaDB (also known as Apache-Derby) was presented and strongly supported with its Embedded and Network drivers. Defining connections through drivers for MySQL and PostgreSQL database servers was also supported.

Now in the 6.1 version we see much stronger support for JavaDB and MySQL. They're separated in their own database nodes, which has enhanced controls over the server management and properties.

The extended administration support lets you redefine the default start and stop commands for the server with custom arguments. Once defined the right way those commands are available in the MySQL node's context menu.
It also makes possible in the 'Admin Properties' to choose any MySQL aware application as additional administration tool - not only the vendor's applications from the GUI tools package, but really any Windows application.

Once connected to a Schema on the MySQL server, you may expand the connection icon and three folders are available, for the three major database objects supported by MySQL - Tables, Views and Procedures.
NetBeans is a powerful database editor, supporting creation and management of databases and their objects by comfortable specialized dialogs or just by executing SQL scripts in the code editor.
Quick table creation is available through this dialog:

It looks easy and really is. If this is not sophisticated enough for you, just choose 'Execute command ...' option from the context menu. A text editing window opens, where you can describe in SQL any table structure you like.
Maybe the most advanced feature is the 'Design Query ...' window (available in the context menu of the table's columns. Its visual approach makes creating complex queries more intuitive and fast.

In the end it might be stated that creating Java database-driven applications with MySQL back-end have always been non-trivial task, involving different tools. Applications for database administration and query design; for schema design and entity relationship management. Let's not forget the IDE for code creation. Now with the 6.1 version of NetBeans the control shifts toward one single tool - the IDE itself. This could help the developer be more focused and shorten the completion time for their project, no matter if it is in Java, Ruby or C++.
I think this is a good start and in the future versions the MySQL support and database support as a whole will be enhanced further. With such excellent UML designer one might expect that ERD for databases will also be supported.
So whatever course might be taken from now on in the MySQL-NetBeans community, the results will be expected with great impatience from me. Good Luck!

Portable NetBeans

2008-03-22T12:17:00.000-07:00

The hype of portability is still fresh and as the pile of available applications grows bigger and bigger providing you with a digital personality on an USB disk just in your pocket, a question arises:

"If I can carry anywhere my own browser, my office suite and my data, is it possible to make my flash drive a development environment?"

Of course you can. It is extremely easy. There are some limitations, mostly concerning performance (the transfer speed of a flash memory sometimes is an issue) or system privileges on public computers, but such obstacles are negligible.

In case your favorite development tool is NetBeans and you still haven't figured out how to put it on your portable disk, read on. For the environment will be needed at least 1 GB big drive for a standard installation. Two downloads are required - the latest JDK and the latest NetBeans IDE.

1. Prepare the environment
There are two ways to make the standard Java Development Kit from SUN Microsystems (the latest version as of the time of writing is JDK 1.6.0 Update 3) available from the portable device - to copy it from installation directory or to make a fresh install. Both cases are equally easy:

Copying the JDK folder (usually stored on C:\Program Files\Java\ in Windows) somewhere on the USB file system takes only minute or two. Of course, if there are defined some system variables (such as JAVA_HOME, JRE_HOME, etc.) they won't be useful anymore (on other PC).
Installing the development kit from scratch is a good decision. Just point the installer a path on your USB ('X:\tools\' for example).

All additional packages you might use (JavaDB, SwingX, etc.) can be installed the same way.

2. The IDE
The latest stable version of NetBeans is 6.0.1 and there is a Beta 1 version available for testing of the newest release 6.1. We'll point out some of the cool new features of the IDE a bit later. As for the installation - there is no difference which version you choose. From version 6 NetBeans has very nice and comfortable new installer. Customizing what to have in the IDE is a matter of personal choice and needs. If you bought a fast drive with good access speed, then you might try to install even the application server (Glassfish) an run it from the USB (with the quite bearable maximum of 480 Mbit/s for the hi-speed mode of the 2.0 standard). That would be quite an adventure on a bit older architecture - the 1.1 USB standard provides up to 12 Mbit/s speeds.
Anyway, running portable NetBeans on top of portable Java (even the fast 1.6 version) will generally appear slower than the natively installed ones on the host system. But actually that's the worst news about this (may I call it) portable platform. Portability itself is an enormous advantage.
So let's go through the installer of the latest beta version - I'll use the variant with all packs.
The first page of the wizard gives you the opportunity to customize your IDE. Let's see what's in there:

Base IDE (requires 58.3 MB) - only this choice isn't really optional. This is the absolute minimum installation and actually it is the platform.
Java SE (takes up to 112.6 MB) - this is the essence of the standard Java IDE.
Web and Java EE (takes up to 214.5 MB - it requires not only the Base IDE but also the Java SE module) - this module completes NetBeans as an Enterprise Java development tool.
Mobility (takes up to 209.5 MB - it also requires the Java SE module) - this module contains the Wireless tollkits of the mobile edition of Java.
UML (takes up to 147.6 MB - it also requires the Java SE module) - this module makes NetBeans very powerful application for UML modeling and reverse engineering of source code.
SOA (it requires the large amount of 339.7 MB because it depends not only on the Web & Java EE package but also on the both GlassFish end OpenESB runtimes) - the addition for Service Oriented Architecture is an extension of the Web & Enterprise edition of Java.
Ruby (occupies 90.2 MB) - a module that gives the Ruby developers a powerful tool for their needs.
C/C++ (fills 69.9 MB on the drive) - this module makes the IDE suitable for programming in the powerful languages from the C family. But it does not include the compilers, linkers, etc. - you still have to install your preferred ones on your own as is explained here.

There are three additional runtimes that are a must for some of the development purposes. They might be installed on their own and don't need the Base IDE package:

GalssFish V2 UR1 (requires 83.5 MB) - the Open Source variant of the SUN Microsystem's application server (the former SUN Application Server).
Apache Tomcat 6.0.16 (a thin application server that takes only 10.4 MB on the drive) - a lightweight web application server from the Apache Software Foundation.
Open ESB V2 Preview 4 (takes up to 101.9 MB) - only this runtime cannot be installed on its own because it runs in the context of the GlassFish application server. This is an implementation of an architecture for easier web services integration.

As you may noticed there can be installed several different development environments for various needs. There are Java and Java Web/Enterprise IDE, IDE for mobile Java development, application for UML modelling, Ruby IDE and C/C++ IDE.
A full installation requires about 530 MB and that's without the JDK.
If you choose to install everything after you accept the terms of the License Agreement three screens follow that let you:

Provide folder where the application will be installed (that should be on your portable drive) and the folder where the Java Runtime is (where we put it on the previous step).
Provide the information for the installation of the GlassFish application server - folder, administrative account, etc.
Provide folder where the Apache Tomcat server you want to be installed.

A confirmation page with choices made and Install button follows. Just press it and few minutes later you'll be able to import your projects and libraries and start code on whatever Windows system chance takes you.

At last iReport for/in NetBeans!

2008-02-19T00:34:00.000-08:00

Two of my favorite Open Source projects finally met.
Few years ago JasperReports became de facto number one open source reports engine according to its popularity. Of course JarperReports wouldn't get such wide-spread acceptance without the graphical designer iReport (an independent project at first; later they became one joined by JasperSoft). Although a powerful tool for quickly setting professionally looking reports, iReport lacked some robustness in the user interface. Sometimes using it for few hours, building heavy reports with lots of fields, text boxes, etc. made it slow and even unresponsive. As we can see now a decision for that issue had been sought. And what is better than a proven IDE platform?
The guys from JasperForge have been playing around with the most popular IDE platforms (at least for two I know - eclipse and NetBeans) and made a choice. Now there are plug-ins for the both of the platforms (the one for eclipse was the first one and instructions for installing it in the eclipse IDE are packed within the installation bundle). Nevertheless the final decision
was in favor of NetBeans. Not only there is a plug-in (an NBM file) for the platform, and not only there is a preview version of iReport built upon the platform, but there is the road-map.
It says that the project is moving completely. Two or three weeks ago JasperSoft were the presented featured partner on the NetBeans site.

The wait still continues. The new project is in a little more than a preview state. It is stable enough and reports can be made easily (the NetBeans style - something a bit odd for people who are used to iReport's way of doing things) but still there are some important functionalities that are missing (the chart tool for example). The current version is 0.9 and they promise that in the summer there gonna be a rejoin between the version numbers (now the old-fashioned iReport's version replies to the JasperReport's one).

So, big thumbs up for that pleasant and powerful union and hope the result will deserve the applause.

NetBeans - the best IDE around!

2008-01-24T03:43:00.000-08:00

My favourite IDE (Integrated Development Environment) ever is NetBeans.
This blog will give many answers to the question "Why?".

Soon the fun will begin ;)