johnc: NetBeans, Web Analysis, and Random Ramblings

Got to take the new CVS support for a spin last week, and while I don't usually spell cool with so many O's, this is totally justified. It's a quantum leap ahead!

You can check out a guided tour here. (That's right, Ken, more shameless self-promotion of my docs )

Some quick hits:

• CVS support is now project-aware. If you do a checkout that contains NetBeans project metadata, the IDE offers to open the project. If the checkout doesn't contain a project, the IDE offers to create a project immediately.
• If your source root is in a CVS working directory, NetBeans recognizes it and enables CVS commands for the files. No setup is necessary.
• The new Versioning window rocks. Check it out:
  
  You can focus the window on a particular project, folder, or on everything that's open in the Projects window. The Versioning window scans your project and lists any changes, both in the working dir and on the repository, and you can do diffs, updates, and commits right from the window. And the window shows a real-time view of your changes, so when you make a change it's updated automatically.
• It's got built-in SSH support. I think I just heard a few people go "aaaahhhhh".

OK, so how do you get it? Unfortunately, it's only available on the Development Update Center for development builds, which aren't very stable. It doesn't work in 4.1, so you'll have to wait a while to use it in a stable build.

Also, it doesn't play well with the existing VCS support, so to turn it on you have to turn off the other VCS profiles. The VCS team only has time to convert CVS to the new system for the next release of NetBeans, so VSS users will have to keep using the old system.

Overall, though, way cooooool. It's great to see us checking all this stuff off the list of things where NetBeans is viewed as inferior to the competition. And once that new GUI builder gets in there... Watch out Eclipse.