Radhika

Migration help for Sun Java Studio Creator to NetBeans 6.0

There is more help now for migrating to NetBeans 6.0.  If you are
trying to migrate from Sun Java Studio Enterprise and/or Sun Java
Studio Creator
to NetBeans 6.0, Sun Microsystems, Inc is offering free migration help
for up to six months. For more details see:

Migration from Sun Java Studio Enterprise and/or Sun Java Studio Creator
to NetBeans 6.0.

Please note, this offer expires June 3, 2008.

Posted at 08:48AM Mar 05, 2008 by radhika in Creator  |  Comments[0]

New NetBeans Support Blog

Recently the NetBeans Support Team has started publishing it's blog. The aim is to serve as an additional  resource for NetBeans users. The blog has lots of useful tips & tricks, issue workarounds, and product updates. 

Check out NetBeans Support Blog

Effort is also underway to translate and provide a Japanese version of the blog. This is being done by Japanese volunteers. Cheers to them !

 A note to NetBeans users seeking support:  For all technical support issues please refer to NetBeans Support Resource Page

Posted at 09:23AM Jan 15, 2008 by radhika in NetBeans  |  Comments[2]

A simple JavaFX application developed using NetBeans 6.0

Sun introduced JavaFX script at the 2007 JavaOne Conference. Like most engineers it peaked my interest and curiosity to try it out. I put this small sample application together fairly quickly. It is pretty easy to code once you get started. I couldn't find a simple example with both input and output components working together , and String conversion all in one example. So I decided to write this simple Temperature Conversion application in JavaFX. It is already written using NetBeans in the Java Tutorials . Here the Celsius Converter Application uses swing. This also allows to give a comparison on how things are done differently in JavaFX. A similar application is also written in JavaFX using the Spinner and Slider components. I also found the learning curve journals very useful.

To use the application, the user enters a temperature (in Celsius) into the Text field, clicks the "Convert" button. The converted temperature appears in Fahrenheit in the output Fahrenheit label field. The minimize, maximize, and close buttons behave as expected, and the application has a title that appears along the top of the window. This is exactly as per the application written in swing. If the user enters an invalid number (for example text characters etc..), a message appears in the Text field prompting the user to Enter a valid number. Note the String conversion and the exception catching in the code below.

The screen shots followed by the sample code

The JavaFX Source Code for Celsius Converter Application

Following are the references I used for JavaFX:

Posted at 12:05PM Sep 05, 2007 by radhika in NetBeans  |  Comments[2]

Learning Java with NetBeans

If you are a beginner Java programmer wanting to use NetBeans IDE and learn java at the same time, here are some resources which will help:

"Hello World!" for the NetBeans IDE

Running Tutorial Examples in NetBeans IDE

Basic Java Programming Learning Trail

The Java Tutorials

I would suggest trying the first two tutorials before moving on to the learning Trail.

Posted at 12:58PM Aug 03, 2007 by radhika in NetBeans  |  Comments[2]

Running Simple Java application outside the Java Studio Creator IDE

This question is posted by new developers or developers just trying out the IDE. They want to write a Java Application in the IDE, and then run outside the IDE as an executable jar file. When the user creates a Java Class Library project from "General" category of the New Project Window, and runs it outside the IDE, it gives an error. When you create a Java Class Library project, it creates a new J2SE library in a standard IDE project. This project type is provided so that you can create a library which does not require a "main". The user of course then proceeds to write a class with main in it, and rest of the code.

Now when you compile and run, it'll work fine within the IDE. However if you try to run it on command line, it will give you an error:
"Failed to load Main-class manifest attribute from JavaLibrary1.jar"

Creator IDE is meant for quickly developing Java web application and web page design applications. For users who want to develop Java Applications, and run them on command line, I would suggest using the NetBeans IDE. The NetBeans IDE allows you to create a Java Application project, and create a JAR which you can excute outside the IDE, and you can add it to the Creator project if you need. See the following links for NetBeans:

NetBeans Index page

Introduction to Developing General Java Applications

Packaging and Deploying Desktop Java Applications

Also, now most of the Creator features are available in NetBeans as NetBeans Visual Webpack.

Having given my recommendations, someone suggested this work-around which I tried in the Creator IDE, and I was able to execute the JAR files on command line with no problem:

Work-around:

Find the following lines in build-impl.xml file (This file is located in the nbproject directory):

<target name="-post-jar">   

       <!-- Empty placeholder for easier customization. -->

        <!-- You can override this target in the ../build.xml file. -->

     </target>

Replace with following lines:

<target name="-post-jar">   

        <j2seproject1:jar>

            <j2seproject1:manifest>

                <j2seproject1:attribute name="Main-Class" value="${main.class}"/>

            </j2seproject1:manifest>

        </j2seproject1:jar>

        <!-- Empty placeholder for easier customization. -->

        <!-- You can override this target in the ../build.xml file. -->

     </target>

Now from main menu build -> Clean and Build Main project. Then go outside the IDE, and on a command line: java -jar JavaLibrary1.jar

Posted at 02:37PM Apr 16, 2007 by radhika in Creator  |  Comments[0]

NetBeans Visual Web Pack 5.5 Patch1 for English version only

Just got back from leave, and it feels great to be back ! In time for the release of Patch1 for NetBeans Visual Web Pack 5.5 for the English version only

Check this link for Patch Info. Also included are download and installation instructions.

You can also access this by searching for the patch from Sunsolve Online

Click on Patches and Updates link , and then enter the patch number 125305-01 in the search box.

Please Note: If you have the Visual Web Pack Multilanguage version , you don't need the patch, because the bugfixes are already incorporated.

Posted at 02:03PM Mar 02, 2007 by radhika in NetBeans Visual Web Pack  |  Comments[0]

On leave starting next week..

I'll be on leave for a while so won't be able to post on the blog for sometime. A final note before going:

Check out the just released NetBeans IDE 5.5 along with the new Mobility Pack, Profiler Pack, Enterprise Pack, C/C++ Pack (Beta 3), and a technology preview of the Visual Web Pack. Interesting to Creator users is the Netbeans Visual Web Pack.

Netbeans Visual Web Pack is based on and build from the Java Studio Creator product. It introduces the Netbeans community to some of the cool features of creator, allowing to rapidly and visually build standards-based web applications from within Netbeans. Included is support for AJAX and JSF components. Ofcourse there are lot of features not yet available in the Visual Web Pack which are present in Creator. So I recommend Creator users to stick to using Creator.

Here are some links to make browsing and getting started with Netbeans and Netbeans Visual Web Pack easier:

Posted at 11:16AM Nov 02, 2006 by radhika in Creator  |  Comments[0]

Changing default compiler in Creator

Came across this interesting enquiry in the Forums: How to change the compiler that is built into Sun Creator? There is not an option to change the default compiler from within the IDE, but here's the work-around I tried:

The Java Studio Creator 2 Update 1 IDE comes bundled with Java™ 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE™ Platform) 1.5.0_06 software. It is automatically installed for all supported operating systems except Mac OS.

If you go to the main menu in the IDE, click on Help -> About Java Studio Creator, go to Detail tab, you will see the values for Java and Java Home. The default location of J2SE JDK is specified in the creator.conf file located under \etc .

For example on windows platform:

The creator.conf is located:
C:\Program Files\Sun\Creator2_1\etc

You can change the entry for jdkhome in the creator.conf file to point to another jdk.
In the creator.conf file look for the following entry:
netbeans_jdkhome="C:\Program Files\Sun\Creator2_1\java"

I changed this entry to point to another jdk, like so:
netbeans_jdkhome="C:\Program Files\Java\JDK1.5.0_04"

On restarting the IDE the new path and jdk are taken. To see the change: go to main menu -> Help -> About Java Studio Creator . Go to Detail tab. You will see the values for Java and Java Home changed as per your change in the creator.conf file.

Ofcourse better to stick to what is supported !

Posted at 09:01PM Oct 05, 2006 by radhika in Creator  |  Comments[1]

Threadinar series on the forum !

I could not help but mention this on my blog. Our Creator Support engineer Kishore Mandyam has been posting a "threadinar" series on the creator forum, stepping through the Component Catalog. I found it to be very useful reference material. The threadinar postings have been very successful with over 1000 views.

He has posted the latest, the tenth in the Threadinar series. This time the topic focuses on 4 components in the "Components Palette: Layout Section" section of the Creator Component Catalog : The"Page Separator", "Page Fragment Box" , "Tab Set" & "Tab" Components. Check out the tenth threadinar in the series.

I highly recommend the threadinar series for those interested in the Component catalog.

The complete list of the threadinars can be found at The Components Threadinar Index

Posted at 01:58PM Sep 08, 2006 by radhika in Creator  |  Comments[0]

AJAX Component: Rich TextArea Editor not editable in Firefox browser

From the Creator IDE, adding a Rich Textarea Editor to a JSP page and then running in the FireFox browser, the component is rendered properly in the web page, but the text area is not editable, with no focus.

Rich Text component is a wrapper around the DOJO Rich Text Editor widget and this is a known issue in the editor.

Workaround: To get the focus, predefine a text (For example: "Your message") in the editable area via JSP or select the component and in the Properties window , set the value to "your message" . Now when you run the application using Firefox browser, the Rich Textarea editor is displayed with your initial text, and you can edit it.

Useful links to rich Textarea Editor and other AJAX components:
http://sunapp2.whardy.com/AjaxSamples2/faces/DemoRichTextareaEditor.jsp
http://developers.sun.com/ajax/componentscatalog.jsp#rich
http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/javatools/jscreator/reference/techart/2/ajax_samples.html

Posted at 12:47PM Aug 14, 2006 by radhika in Creator  |  Comments[1]

Creator Applications on WebSphere Application Server 6.x

More on WebSphere Application Server 6.x. In my earlier entry, I had mentioned issues with deploying to WebSphere Application Server 6.x. This FAQ will be of interest. It explains the issue with WebSphere Application Server 6.x in running Creator applications.

http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/javatools/jscreator/reference/faqs/technical/depsrvs/

FAQ:
Why don't Java Studio Creator applications run on the WebSphere Application Server 6.0?

Posted at 10:13AM Jul 17, 2006 by radhika in Creator  |  Comments[1]

Deleting Projects in Creator

The question on How to Delete a Project in Creator2 came up again.

Currently you cannot delete a project from within the IDE, even though the online help gives instructions on doing this. This is a known bug. To delete the project folder you have to do it from outside of the IDE. Go to the projects directory, and delete the unwanted project.

The projects by default are located at:
- C:\Documents and Settings\$user\My Documents\Creator\Projects, on windows

Posted at 04:04PM Jul 13, 2006 by radhika in Creator  |  Comments[0]

Browsing Javadoc API Reference in Creator

I noticed this question has been asked several times. Creator users have help right from the IDE on Javadoc reference.

You can browse the Javadoc API reference documentation for the following technologies through a well-designed, simple interface in the Creator IDE:

Java Reference
JavaServer Faces (JSF) Reference
Sun Web UI Component Reference
Application Model Reference
JSF Component Library (JSFCL) Reference
Data Provider Reference
RowSet Reference
Portlet Reference

To access this simply go to the Main menu of the IDE -> Help -> Javadoc API References , and select the one you are interested in. From there you can also search on any class, method etc you are looking for.

Posted at 11:55AM May 12, 2006 by radhika in Creator  |  Comments[0]

Deploying to IBM WebSphere

A minor correction to the article published on the Creator website:

Deploying to WebSphere from the Sun Java Studio Creator 2 IDE
http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/javatools/jscreator/reference/tips/2/deploytowebsphere.html

The article claims IBM WebSphere Application Server 6.x to be J2EE 1.3 container, and tells you to select the J2EE 1.3 option when exporting the war file. IBM WebSphere Application Server 6.x is in fact J2EE1.4 container, and you can select the J2EE1.4 option when exporting the war file. The deployment works if you are connected to the internet, and not behind a firewall.

More to follow on this...

Posted at 02:25PM May 05, 2006 by radhika in Creator  |  Comments[0]

Sun Java Studio Creator 2, Update 1 Available !

The Sun Java Studio Creator 2, Update 1 is a very exciting update in the Creator releases. I have summarized the new features and useful links to help users upgrade.

New Features:

Update 1 upgrades the application server from the bundled Sun Java Application Server 8.1 to 8.2,
http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/appserver/index.html

Database changed from PointBase to the open source Java Database 2 (Derby)
http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/javadb/overview/product_tour/readme.jsp

Sample AJAX Components
http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/javatools/jscreator/reference/code/samplecomps/

Hot fixes, see the complete list:
http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/javatools/jscreator/downloads/updates/index.html

More Useful Links:

Download
http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/javatools/jscreator/downloads/updates/index.html

To migrate Your Java Studio Creator 2 Settings and Data to the New Version of the IDE, Update 1
http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/javatools/jscreator/reference/techart/2/migration2u1.html

To migrate to Java Studio Creator 2 applications developed with earlier versions of the IDE
http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/javatools/jscreator/reference/faqs/configuration/jsc2_migration.html

Posted at 09:15AM May 02, 2006 by radhika in Creator  |  Comments[2]