First off, I'd like to say that my day-to-day programming is with
Intellij IDEA (note that there is a free version available now) but I do prefer Netbeans for GUI designing.
A friend of mine suggested trying out the Netbeans 'Platform' for a new project that we had plans for.
The philosophy sounded great - the platform would help to create windows with a tested layout system and would contain useful modules such as database integration etc.
However, the result was less than pleasing.
I didn't want to dive straight into the big project so I thought I would start off with something small.
An SVN client.
Netbeans already has SVN support built in so it should be easy to create an SVN client right?
Just strip off the rest of the components and there you go right?
Well not so easy.
Posting on the Netbeans forum publishes your email address!
WTF??
So what if it is synchronised to a mailing list.
If I register a user on a web forum, I don't expect my email address to be available to anyone on google!
I had to create a new email address specifically to post on the forum.
The platform is not intuitive at all.
When you go to File - New Project there are Netbeans Modules Samples available:
The samples get created nicely and they run giving you nice examples but when you look at the code it doesn't make any sense.
Where is all the code?
Time to read the tutorials!
The samples aren't at the right level to start with
e.g. browse though the
CRUD Tutorial and see if it makes any sense
I didn't get to the bottom of it before closing the page so I didn't notice a link to the
Learning Trail
However, this isn't laid out well either because it doesn't tell you where to start.
(For reference if you do decide to start after all my ranting you should look at the
HTML Editor)
The community is poor.
Now I realise that the forums aren't my own private support line and that people have now obligation to reply.
However, most other forums with a good community have a good turnover on replies.
e.g.
http://www.vbforums.com,
http://devnet.jetbrains.net/community/idea/eap,
http://forums.opensuse.org/ etc
My
first question was basically asking for pointers on where to get started and took 5 weeks and 2 bumps to get any response!
My
second question was similar but got no response at all :(.
At this point (2 months on and off - mostly off) I have managed to get some sort of semblance going.
I ask a question about
how to modify the menus and get no response either.
IDE change screws you up
Now, I mentioned above that I generally use IDEA so I tried to use it for this without any luck.
Although
Geertjan posted info on how to import the project, the project doesn't really make much sense outside of Netbeans.
However, you would think it would be OK in Netbeans though right?
Well, I updated to Netbeans 7beta and now my project doesn't work!
I get ClassNotFoundExceptions
e.g. org.netbeans.modules.subversion.ui.update.UpdateWithDependenciesAction
and my Window is missing panels!
The Configuration Is Magic XML
Your application is configured in a file called layer.xml.
This seems nice in some way because you make a small change and "bam!" you have a new toolbar easy as pie.
However, where you take a look at it, it is all backward.
Here is a snippet of my Toolbar, try and work out what it looks like
<folder name="Toolbars">
<file name="Build_hidden"/>
<file name="Debug_hidden"/>
<file name="Memory_hidden"/>
<file name="QuickSearch_hidden"/>
</folder>
Thats right! It has the following
- New
- New Project
- Open Project
- Save All
- Undo
- Redo
Couldn't you tell??
Thats because instead of specifying what is to be put IN, you specify what is to put taken OUT.
Riiiigggghhhht!!!
Can't Modify Existing Modules
So at this point I had a window and an svn pane, but I didn't really like the fact that it had its own little toolbar attached.
I wanted to use my main application toolbar - especially as I would put more useful stuff on it.
Plus it wasn't filling the main window, it was only sliding in and out from the bottom.
Well, guess what?
This seemed impossible to change and it looked like I would have to write it from scratch!
I asked on the forums, but what a surprise! Nobody replied!
My advice is to stay away from the Netbeans 'platform'.
Its a pain in the rear and a waste of your time!
