Friday April 01, 2005
Welcome to me!
My name is Geertjan. I'm Dutch, raised in South Africa. Over the last few years I've been living and working in the Netherlands, Austria, and now here in the Czech Republic. I started working for NetBeans in May of 2004. I'm a technical writer in the Docs team in Prague. Before working here, I worked as a technical writer for Coca-Cola in Vienna, Compuware in Amsterdam, Seagull Software near Rotterdam, and Four Seasons Software (which became SuperNova and was then taken over by WRQ in Seattle) near Utrecht.
Occasionally Asked Questions About Me And This Blog:
- This blog seems to be all about "NetBeans". What kind of vegetable is that? Not a vegetable, my friend. Just the free and open source development environment, for programming languages such as Java, provided by Sun Microsystems. You can think of a development environment as being something like what "Open Office" or "Word" is to a writer of books or articles. Instead of books and articles, NetBeans is for writing programs, either for the web, for your desktop, or for your mobile phone. The generic term for this kind of tool is "integrated development environment" or, in short, "IDE". Find out more about NetBeans IDE here.
- So where in the world are you, in real life? In beautiful Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, where NetBeans was originally created, in 1997. I've been here since 2004.
- What is your official job at NetBeans? For the NetBeans open-source project, I am responsible for all documentation that relates to web services, NetBeans module development, and rich-client application development on the NetBeans Platform. (I also wrote a lot of the help files and tutorials that relate to web applications.) So, I'm responsible for the help file sections (choose "Help > Help Contents" in the IDE) for these areas as well as the on-line documents, such as quick start guides and tutorials.
- Are you involved in other activities relating to NetBeans? Yes, I occasionally do presentations (like at Sun Tech Days, JavaOne, and NL-JUG conferences). I also contributed to the 2nd edition of the NetBeans Field Guide. And I contribute to some open source projects on dev.java.net, such as jMaki, BluePrints and NBWicketSupport. One thing I've really enjoyed is giving trainings on NetBeans IDE and on the NetBeans Platform, which I've done in "live" classroom settings as well as in on-line courses via Elluminate.
- Do you have a recentish picture of yourself? Yes. Here it is:

- Come on! Did anyone ever really ask the previous question? Well, no. I actually just needed an excuse to post my picture (because apparently that's the polite thing to do in a blog).
- What's this blog about? I use this blog to record interesting new discoveries that I keep making while using the IDE. There've been so many times that I've thought, "Wow. This is really cool." But then a week or so later I've forgotten all about it because there's something else that I've discovered that is cool. And maybe someone out there will benefit from my discoveries. (By the way, this blog was inspired by my NetBeans colleague Roumen.)
- Is everything in this blog official gospel truth reflecting Sun policy and strategy? No. It is just my personal view on things. And you'll not find much on Sun policy and strategy here. It is all about NetBeans, how to use it, what it can do for you, some hidden tips and tricks, and my new learnings and insights. And they could all be wrong. Use at your very own risk.
- What am I supposed to do with your blog? Read it and enjoy it! And ask questions when things don't make sense. Also, if you have anything to say about anything you find in this blog, or if anything is unclear in any way, either leave a comment in this blog or write to me at my personal e-mail address: g_wielenga@yahoo.com.
Apr 01 2005, 02:08:33 AM PST Permalink
Posted by Lucian Pintilie on May 25, 2005 at 08:16 PM PDT #
Posted by Brennet Aurelien on July 05, 2005 at 01:21 AM PDT #
There are also several tutorials there and articles that you might find useful.
Posted by Martijn Dashorst on July 19, 2005 at 04:10 AM PDT #
Posted by David Hunt on August 08, 2005 at 07:24 AM PDT #
About your other points, you should map whatever targets relate to project command to the related project command. I mean, of course not all free-form projects have a target actually called 'Install'. But, whatever the name of the target is that runs the project should be the one that you should map to the Run Project command.
Hope this helps, if not, please feel free to leave another message!
Posted by Geertjan on August 08, 2005 at 09:13 AM PDT #
Posted by Geertjan on August 24, 2005 at 06:10 AM PDT #
Posted by Leonardo Moreira on September 06, 2005 at 10:43 AM PDT #
Posted by Geertjan on September 06, 2005 at 10:45 AM PDT #
Posted by Istvan on November 17, 2005 at 01:16 AM PST #
Posted by new2jwsdp on January 02, 2006 at 11:58 AM PST #
Posted by Geertjan on January 04, 2006 at 09:01 AM PST #
Posted by d on January 13, 2006 at 12:24 AM PST #
Posted by Hadi on February 16, 2006 at 12:34 PM PST #
Posted by Christian on March 15, 2006 at 07:22 AM PST #
Posted by Geertjan on March 15, 2006 at 07:24 AM PST #
Hi Geertjan, I've made a couple of posts today on your blog (pdf and NB) and a question came to my mind...
About a year ago, I experienced a problem with JSPs in NetBeans 4.1, when they were not validating into NB (showing an error at status bar) but deploying right into the servers.
The problem was a duplicated library (commons-logging or log4j, can't remember) overriding NB internal bundled lib, distributed from the Visual Paradigm UML plugin.
The quizz is... a Sun employe at Prague contacted me via ICQ/Mail to resolve the problem, and I'm guessing if that person was you. I switched work and I lost my old-work ICQ/email account.
Just wondering, you know, curiosity is an evil enemy ;)
Keep doing good job.
PD: I'd have sent you an email asking but we have our internet access cut at office... blogs.sun.com is our only escape way in our daily duties :)
Posted by Juan Ara on May 25, 2006 at 08:25 AM PDT #
Posted by Geertjan on May 25, 2006 at 08:27 AM PDT #
Posted by Piet Crombach on June 30, 2006 at 05:40 AM PDT #
Posted by Geertjan on June 30, 2006 at 05:46 AM PDT #
Posted by Pranesh on July 24, 2006 at 11:40 PM PDT #
Posted by Geertjan on August 04, 2006 at 11:10 AM PDT #
Posted by Kathy on August 19, 2006 at 12:52 PM PDT #
Posted by Geertjan on September 10, 2006 at 11:44 AM PDT #
Posted by shansi on October 31, 2006 at 04:47 AM PST #
Posted by Geertjan on October 31, 2006 at 05:09 AM PST #
Posted by Uma Sankar Anivilla on February 23, 2007 at 08:22 AM PST #
Posted by Geertjan on February 23, 2007 at 08:27 AM PST #
Posted by Lin Ye on March 29, 2007 at 08:10 AM PDT #
Posted by Geertjan on March 29, 2007 at 08:27 AM PDT #
Posted by Java Forums on May 06, 2007 at 05:10 AM PDT #
Posted by Kadir Wijaya on May 09, 2007 at 03:02 PM PDT #
Posted by Priya on July 05, 2007 at 02:31 AM PDT #
Posted by Geertjan on July 05, 2007 at 02:37 AM PDT #
Posted by jay on July 22, 2007 at 10:00 PM PDT #
Posted by Geertjan on July 23, 2007 at 12:18 AM PDT #
http://www.informit.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=0132354802&rl=1
Posted by Geertjan on July 24, 2007 at 06:36 AM PDT #
Posted by Geertjan on July 24, 2007 at 10:08 AM PDT #
Posted by jay on July 26, 2007 at 04:24 AM PDT #
I was searching for Struts 2.0 support in Netbeans. Currently it supports 1.2.9. Could you shed more light on this ?
Posted by Mohan on August 10, 2007 at 10:08 AM PDT #
https://nbstruts2support.dev.java.net/
Posted by Geertjan on August 10, 2007 at 10:17 AM PDT #
Thank you for posting the very useful keyboard shortcuts!
Posted by web.rian on August 24, 2007 at 12:09 AM PDT #
I have a question: I am using beanshell inside an app and I would like to have code completion in my custom editor. Can I implement this code completion in a JEditorPane and use it OUTSIDE netbeans? (in my custom app)? Can you please guide me on that?
I mean, I would like to implement code-completion in my JEditorPane (currently it only has syntax highlighting).
This JEditorPane is used to edit beanshell code inside my application.
Can you please please help me on that?
Thanks
Bruno
Posted by Bruno R Bertechini on August 29, 2007 at 05:34 AM PDT #
Hi Bruno, not sure, sorry... I would write to dev@openide.netbeans.org and ask this question there.
Posted by Geertjan on September 09, 2007 at 11:48 PM PDT #
Hi Geertjan,
Trying to play with your mf files samples related to the GLF (Schliemann) I found that in the final release of NB6 there is a built in implementation (language.nbs) for manifest files that shows a syntax error in the key token. And the same happens with your sample... I guessed that the solution is to define an initial <DEFAULT> state for the token, and then the syntax error disappears...
Another question i'll be glad you should blog about is... is it sure to tweak the default nbs in order to provide .i.e navigation support for manifest files or other features?? WDYThink? Thanks
Posted by Emilio Cortegoso on December 07, 2007 at 02:06 AM PST #
Hi Geertjan
Our company (SAAB Grintek) has recently selected the NetBeans Platform as our development framework, however everything we know of it has been through Internet research.
We were wondering what options we might have with regards to setting up a 'NetBeans Certified Engineer Course' in South Africa? Or if we would have to travel there for the course, or possibly an online course?
Any feedback would be highly appreciated.
Thanks
Khalil
Posted by Khalil on January 07, 2008 at 01:14 AM PST #
Hi Khalil. Please drop me an e-mail at geertjan DOT wielenga AT sun.com and we will be able to discuss further. Various solutions are possible, please drop me an e-mail and we'll talk.
Posted by Geertjan on January 07, 2008 at 01:18 AM PST #
interesting :)
Posted by sahibinden satılık daire on January 19, 2008 at 12:36 AM PST #
Hi, really useful blog, I've been reading it a lot through my netbeans development. One question for you, do you know if it is possible to deploy an application via jnlp & also use the netbeans update center to deploy new modules. I haven't been able to get this to work.
Cheers,
Conall.
Posted by Conall Flood on January 29, 2008 at 01:24 AM PST #
Hi Geertjan,
I don't know if you know about the NetBeans Innovators Grants [1]. But this would be a great deal for our project [2]. Now our project looks for a man who knows the details of NetBeans and could get into
1. the visual library
2. project API (e.g. 'new project' etc.)
3. beans binding
4. GUI (wizards etc.)
quickly?
Because we want to port the application with major enhancements.
Do you know somebody?
He will be even paid for this if we will be elected.
/*
I guess you couldn't work on it, right?
*/
Thank you,
Peter.
PS: Great work you did all the time with your blog. Really useful!
Even today I learned one more thing:
ALT SHIFT LEFT
[1] http://www.netbeans.org/grant/
[2] http://www.timefinder.de/
Hi!
All of your Blogs help me so much, Thank You!
There is one question i can not get an answer for.
Even on the NBusers Newsgroup i did not recieve an answer.
I am using NetBeans IDE 6.1 (Build 200804211638) on Windows Vista.
I created a new Model Suite with only the NB Platform Modules in it. Looks fine. But i want my Application to have a defined size and i want the Maximize Button of the Suite to be disabled. The User shall not resize it.
I can not find the right way to do this. Is there a property for this?
Again Thank You so much.
Dirk.
Posted by Dirk on June 20, 2008 at 03:20 PM PDT #
Hi Dirk, thanks for the comments. The functionality you need will be available in NetBeans IDE 6.5:
http://blogs.sun.com/geertjan/date/20080616
Posted by Geertjan on June 20, 2008 at 03:33 PM PDT #
Hello Geertjan!
Here you say:
>>What is your official job at NetBeans? For the NetBeans open-source project, I am responsible for all documentation that relates to web services...
And what are the prospects?
thx for the reply.
Hello Geertjan!
Here you say:
>>What is your official job at NetBeans? For the NetBeans open-source project, I am responsible for all documentation that relates to web services...
And what are the prospects?
thx for the reply.
Posted by мобильные телефоны on July 06, 2008 at 06:47 AM PDT #
What do you mean? What does "And what are the prospects?" mean???
Posted by Geertjan on July 06, 2008 at 07:51 AM PDT #
Hey Geertjan,
just one Question again. :-)
Is it possible to set the whole Mainwindow invisible? So that the only way to access the Applicationlogic is through a TaskbarItem? I know that this isnt really RCP but i like the NetbeansRCP mechanics so much, i would love to use them for this kind of project too.
Thank You
Dirk
Posted by Dirk on July 23, 2008 at 01:54 AM PDT #
Good Evening (Greece here) Geertjan,
you work over guidelines for NB and Java is really great. Most that i've read have to deal with Visual Library. Currently i am still an amature in this library. Im developing an application that uses ObjectScene to map object-widget data. All my needs are functional and operational. The las problem i have is that i cannot apply a Graph-like Layout to my Scene. Is there any other solution than using GraphScene (which is absolutely useless for my intent) or construct myself a method to set the PRefferedLocation of my objects-widgets?
Thanks for your generous Knowledge supplυ inside the blog. Hope you can help me now.
Thanks for your time.
Posted by Dimoklis Despotakis on August 03, 2008 at 10:32 AM PDT #
Ok, now i figured out the inheritance.
Closed:)
Posted by Dimoklis Despotakis on August 08, 2008 at 09:26 AM PDT #
I do not understand one thinh( how developers such like this guys are having time to keep up and running own blog?
Posted by Autos Namibia on August 15, 2008 at 06:26 AM PDT #
what % of users are really know what is all about?
Congratulations in the Ukrainian language.
interesting
Posted by ücretsiz ilan on September 13, 2008 at 08:34 AM PDT #
HI Geertjan
I would like to know if you have topcomponent in a netbeans module , and this module you would like to use in more that one netbeans application.
I have a few popup menu options on this topcomponent that is visible in all the other netbeans apps , that is using this module.
If these "other" applications would like to add extra or new popup menus on this topcomponent in the NBM , is it possible?
Is it possible in such a way that it wont change / effect the NBM , that is used in the "other" apps?
So what i am asking is that can these extra popup menus be restricted to the NB app , and not be part of the NBM?
Posted by Theuns on October 21, 2008 at 11:45 PM PDT #
Theuns, just create more modules, and then you will have more menu items. Each menu item could be in a separate module.
Posted by Geertjan on November 02, 2008 at 06:11 AM PST #
Hi,
We wanted to use javascript editor with Netbeans modules. Currently, the editor available with Netbeans6.1 does not show the core javascript commands unless its a Web Application Project. Kindly let us know how can we use the same in Netbeans Module.
Thanks
Posted by Richa Gupta on December 04, 2008 at 11:20 PM PST #
when i tried to add server i got a problem in netbean 6.7
what i did was
services-->servers-->
addserver-->googleappengine-->installation location :appengine-java-sdk-1.2.2
(I have put my appengine-java-sdk-1.2.2 inside my c drive which i have download from google AppEngine for Java)
when i press next if gives me error message like below
A java.lang.reflect.UndeclaredThrowableException exception has occurred.
Please report this at http://www.netbeans.org/community/issues.html,
including a copy of your messages.log file as an attachment.
The messages.log file is located in your C:\Users\shashi\.netbeans\6.7\var\log folder.
please help me
Posted by shashi shrestha,denmark on July 28, 2009 at 04:49 AM PDT #
Join & write to nbusers@netbeans.org.
Posted by Geertjan on July 28, 2009 at 04:56 AM PDT #
Hi GeertJan,
I am just starting to look into RichClient stuff and I am just wondering, what justifies the usage of RichClient over a pure Swing design and implementation? What can I do what can't be done in pure Swing?
Thnx
André
Posted by André on September 01, 2009 at 04:39 AM PDT #
Do you have a recentish picture of yourself?
(Now you have a reason for later picture updates/posts ;-))
Hi Geertjan,
I have just started developing Rich client applications on netbeans. Im wondering how i can disable(grey out not hide) menu items that are provided by windows system api, (for example if i want to disable Help>About).
Thanks,
Ashraf
Posted by Ashraf on October 12, 2009 at 05:37 AM PDT #
Hi Geertjan,
I send you this message because I manage the Netbean's section on developpez.com and I would like to know if we can translate your articles in french and publish it on Developpez.
Thanks for all resources that you write,
Mike
Posted by Mike FRANCOIS on November 21, 2009 at 11:32 AM PST #
Yes, Mike, please go ahead and translate anything you like. When it's done let me know and I will link it from this blog. Thanks!
Posted by Geertjan Wielenga on November 21, 2009 at 11:36 AM PST #


