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20080623 Monday June 23, 2008

Notes for NetBeans Platform 6.5 Milestone 1

I've been looking at recent builds for a few weeks, making changes to the JavaHelp in the NetBeans Platform area. Here are my notes, which will be formalized later so currently is just a draft:

  • API Changes: See NetBeans API Changes Since Last Release.

    Highlights:

    • New Code Generator SPI
    • User can drop text into palette
    • Loaders are registered in layer
    • No need for DataLoaders anymore
    • New OutlineView component replaces TreeTableView component
    • New resource bundle properties for window system customization
    • Image methods in Utilities class now replaced by new ImageUtilities class

  • NetBeans Platform Tooling Changes:

    • Code Generator wizard. New, supports the new Code Generator SPI.

    • Window component wizard. New field in wizard for keeping preferred size when minimized.

    • Options Panel wizard. "Create Secondary Panel", i.e., upper part of the wizard, lets you add a subpanel to an existing panel, not just the Miscellaneous panel.

    • File Type wizard. No more DataLoader and BeanInfo class generated. Instead, this is how DataObjects are now registered: 
      <folder name="Loaders">
    <folder name="text">
        <folder name="x-abc">
            <folder name="Actions">
                <file name="org-openide-actions-CopyAction.instance">
                    <attr name="position" intvalue="500"/>
                </file>
                <file name="org-openide-actions-CutAction.instance">
                    <attr name="position" intvalue="400"/>
                </file>
                <file name="org-openide-actions-DeleteAction.instance">
                    <attr name="position" intvalue="700"/>
                </file>
                <file name="org-openide-actions-FileSystemAction.instance">
                    <attr name="position" intvalue="200"/>
                </file>
                <file name="org-openide-actions-OpenAction.instance">
                    <attr name="position" intvalue="100"/>
                </file>
                <file name="org-openide-actions-PropertiesAction.instance">
                    <attr name="position" intvalue="1300"/>
                </file>
                <file name="org-openide-actions-RenameAction.instance">
                    <attr name="position" intvalue="800"/>
                </file>
                <file name="org-openide-actions-SaveAsTemplateAction.instance">
                    <attr name="position" intvalue="1000"/>
                </file>
                <file name="org-openide-actions-ToolsAction.instance">
                    <attr name="position" intvalue="1200"/>
                </file>
                <file name="sep-1.instance">
                    <attr name="instanceClass" stringvalue="javax.swing.JSeparator"/>
                    <attr name="position" intvalue="300"/>
                </file>
                <file name="sep-2.instance">
                    <attr name="instanceClass" stringvalue="javax.swing.JSeparator"/>
                    <attr name="position" intvalue="600"/>
                </file>
                <file name="sep-3.instance">
                    <attr name="instanceClass" stringvalue="javax.swing.JSeparator"/>
                    <attr name="position" intvalue="900"/>
                </file>
                <file name="sep-4.instance">
                    <attr name="instanceClass" stringvalue="javax.swing.JSeparator"/>
                    <attr name="position" intvalue="1100"/>
                </file>
            </folder>
            <folder name="Factories">
                <file name="AbcDataLoader.instance">
                    <attr name="dataObjectClass" stringvalue="org.nb.demomodule5.AbcDataObject"/>
                    <attr name="instanceCreate" methodvalue="org.openide.loaders.DataLoaderPool.factory"/>
                    <attr name="mimeType" stringvalue="text/x-abc"/>
                </file>
            </folder>
        </folder>
    </folder>
</folder>

      Here's what you get when you now complete the File Type wizard:

      Related document: http://wiki.netbeans.org/FitnessAgainstForgetfulness

    • Project Properties dialog box. Right-click an application, choose Properties, and now you have a new tab in the Project Properties dialog box, called "Window System". Use it to tweak whether the windows should be draggable, resizable, maximizable, etc.

I will get the above notes verified and they'll be part of some kind of release notes at some point.

Jun 23 2008, 10:48:49 PM PDT Permalink