On the SPOT: David G. Simmons

NetBeans 6.0 and Sun SPOTs

Wednesday Mar 05, 2008

Ok, well after trying to avoid it for months, I have succumbed to the pressure. I am releasing a beta version of the following Sun SPOT-specific plugins for NetBeans 6.0.

  1. Update Center -- this will add the Sun SPOT update center to your NetBeans, so that it will be checked automatically for new modules
  2. SunSPOTApplicationTemplate -- our handy template for creating proper Sun SPOT Applications
  3. SunSPOTHostApplicationTemplate -- our handy template for creating (guess what?) proper Sun SPOT Host Applications
  4. Sun SPOT Info -- the 'welcome' and Tutorial module

The easiest way to get going with this is to download the UpdateCenter Plugin, and then add it to NetBeans 6. Here's how:

  1. Go to Tools-->Plugins
    Plugin1.png
  2. Click on 'Downloaded'
  3. Click on 'Add Plugins'
    Plugin2.png
  4. Find the .nbm file you downloaded from the link above
    Plugin3.png
  5. Click 'Install'
    Plugin4.png
  6. Accept the non-existent license, and agree to install the module, even though it isn't signed. (Trust me, I'm here to help :-) )
    Plugin5.png
  7. Now go to the 'Available Plugins' tab, and select the 2 Sun SPOT Plugins
    Plugin6.png
  8. Agree to their license terms, and trust that they are not nefarious (they aren't) and you're good to go!

You should, after all of that, see a small Sun SPOT Icon in your toolbar.


Plugin7.png

Clicking that will bring up the tutorial. Also, if you click 'Create New Project' YOu will have the choice of Sun SPOT Application or Sun SPOT Host Application.


Plugin8.png

There may very well be some issues with these plugins, but I wanted to get them out there to you as soon as possible. If you have problems, please let me know so that I can work on a fix!

[ Children are natural mimic who act like their parents despite every
effort to teach them good manners. ]

[18] Comments
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Posted at 11:18AM Mar 05, 2008 by davidgs in SunSPOTs
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Thanks Again !!
Quickly response for modules

Posted by Marlon J. Manrique on March 05, 2008 at 02:31 PM EST #

Thanks a lot! Needed this a lot. However, I don't see the Sun SPOTs Info plugin at all and so don't have the little icon in the netbeans 6 toolbar.

Posted by Akshay on March 15, 2008 at 06:20 PM EDT #

I have followed the above steps and the plugin i downloaded came with "SpotRenameRefactoring" instead of "Sun SPOTs info". I am also missing the SPOT icon in Netbeans 6.0 as Akshay pointed out. I can't find the "build and deploy to SPOT" command in the 'file' menu either which prevents me from getting the code to the SPOT. I do have the options to create SPOT applications and host applications but again, no welcome/demo page, icon, or deploy option. What can I do? Thanks

Posted by matt on March 24, 2008 at 05:52 PM EDT #

It looks like the Info Module fell out of the module bundle, so I will try to get it back in. Sorry for the problems.

Posted by David Simmons on March 24, 2008 at 05:59 PM EDT #

David, thanks for the quick response. Will this module create the "deploy to SPOT" option in the 'file' menu as well as create the icon in Netbeans 6.0? As far as I can tell these are the only missing components of the package. When can we expect this fix? Thanks again and great product.

Posted by matt on March 25, 2008 at 02:29 PM EDT #

I clicked 'UpdateCenter Plugin' link and com-sun-sunspot-updatecenter.zip was downloaded. There is no *.nbm in the zip file. Please help. Thanks.

Posted by Guanghwa Ho on April 03, 2008 at 01:06 PM EDT #

Your browser likely changed the extension from .nbm to .zip. Rename the file to change the extension to .nbm and then the above instructions should work.

Posted by David Simmons on April 03, 2008 at 04:56 PM EDT #

[Trackback] If you do not have a Sun SPOT, do not be bored, you can still have a lot of fun! In this entry, I gonna explain how to start programming the world using NetBeans 6.1!

Posted by Bruno Ghisi's Blog on April 12, 2008 at 12:43 AM EDT #

I have also tried to install the addition to NetBeans and I don't have the Icon on the toolbar. Only one plug in was installed called:
SunSPOTsModuleUpdateCenter.

Posted by Charlie Bess on April 16, 2008 at 09:26 AM EDT #

The SunSPOTsModuleUpdateCenter module is the module that connects you to the Sun SPOTs update center. You should, after installing that module, go to the plugins window and if the Sun SPOTs modules do not show up under 'Available Plugins' then click 'Reload Catalog' and look again.

Posted by David Simmons on April 16, 2008 at 09:39 AM EDT #

hallo,

when i have downloaded the file from the link i am not able to find the nbm file which is needed!!

Posted by kristof on April 22, 2008 at 11:44 AM EDT #

Look back through the comments, and you'll see :-) Your browser likely renames it as a .zip file. Rename it to .nbm and you should be all set!

Posted by David Simmons on April 23, 2008 at 08:49 AM EDT #

"You can now freely access the Software Only SDK via the Sun SPOT Manager (v3.0) Tool at <http://www.sunspotworld.com/SPOTManager/>"

After clicking on this link I am asked to open or to save the file SPOTManager.jnlp. I don't know yet what application will open (or launch) this file. Could you explain, please.

Posted by Phil on June 01, 2008 at 09:24 PM EDT #

"The SunSPOTsModuleUpdateCenter module is the module that connects you to the Sun SPOTs update center. You should, after installing that module, go to the plugins window and if the Sun SPOTs modules do not show up under 'Available Plugins' then click 'Reload Catalog' and look again."

I did all that above and I have allways only one plugin called:
SunSPOTsModuleUpdateCenter.
.

Posted by Phil on June 01, 2008 at 09:28 PM EDT #

You need Java WebStart. This comes as a part of the Sun Java Development Kit (JDK). YOu have to have at least JDK version 1.5 installed, which you can get from http://java.sun.com/ . Once you have that, you should be able to run Java Webstart applications.

Posted by David Simmons on June 01, 2008 at 09:34 PM EDT #

The forums at http://www.sunspotworld.com/forums is the best place to get support. Hit the 'refresh Catalog' button and you should see the other modules.

Posted by David Simmons on June 01, 2008 at 09:37 PM EDT #

(I copiied this post from https://www.sunspotworld.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1463)

Unfortunately, I cannot buy the SunSpot developpment kit for now. (Why for Canada is much more expensive? ) .

I thought I could play with the emulator for a while. I have a notebook Dell Vostro 1400, Windows XP Home Edition, JDK 1.6.0_06, NetBeans 6.1 RC2.

I downloaded from http://www.sunspotworld.com/NB6/com-sun-sunspot-updatecenter.nbm, installed it in my NetBeans but I see only one module: SunSpotsModuleUpdateCenter. I tried to "Reload Catalog" - nothing happens.

I did the same thing in Fedora 8, with the same JDK, the same NetBeans - the result is the same.

This is one frustrating problem.

The other one is that I cannot launch http://www.sunspotworld.com/SPOTManager. In my Java Control Panel it is allowed to launch files with JNLP extension, but it does not launch the SPOTmanager.

Posted by Phil on June 03, 2008 at 09:59 AM EDT #

Yes, I noticed that you copied the forum post. :-) I'll respond on the forums ...

dg

Posted by David Simmons on June 03, 2008 at 10:31 AM EDT #

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