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| <title>What's New in NetBeans 3.6?</title> |
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| <body> |
| <h1>What's New in NetBeans 3.6?</h1> |
| <p><i>Thanks to several members of the NetBeans community who contributed this |
| page.</i></p> |
| <h2>Window Navigation</h2> |
| <table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="10"> |
| <tbody> |
| <tr> |
| <td valign="top"> |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Arrange windows with drag and drop. </b>Drag any window to anywhere |
| in the IDE except the Source Editor and release. A red preview box shows |
| you the window's target destination.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| <td align="center" rowspan="2"><img src="../../../images_www/screenshots/3.6release/whats_new/drag_window.png" width="263" height="177" alt="screenshot of a window being moved by drag and drop"></td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td valign="top" > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Easy window navigation.</b> Press Ctrl-` to toggle through the |
| open IDE windows and documents. This feature is like using Alt-Tab on |
| most operating system window managers.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td valign="top"> |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Integrated task-related windows.</b> Workspaces from NetBeans IDE |
| 3.5 have been replaced with task-related windows that display automatically |
| when you perform certain tasks. For example, the Debugger windows appear |
| automatically when you start a debugging session and hide when you finish |
| the session. </li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| <td align="center"><img src="../../../images_www/screenshots/3.6release/whats_new/debug_windows.png" width="356" height="149" alt="screenshot of debugger windows with the Local Variables window fronted"></td> |
| </tr> |
| </tbody> |
| </table> |
| <h2>Appearance and LookAndFeel</h2> |
| <table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="10"> |
| <tbody> |
| <tr> |
| <td valign="top"> |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>IDE uses the native LookAndFeel for Windows and MacOS. </b>The |
| IDE uses Aqua on MacOS, Classic on Windows 2000, and the desktop theme |
| on Windows XP. On all other platforms, the IDE uses the Java (Metal) |
| LookAndFeel. You can set a different LookAndFeel by starting the IDE |
| with the <code>--laf <i>LaF_class_name</i></code> switch.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| <td rowspan="2"><img src="../../../images_www/screenshots/3.6release/whats_new/propsheet.png" width="355" height="229" alt="screenshot of the redesigned property sheet"></td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td valign="top" > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Redesigned property sheet. </b>The new property sheet is more compact, |
| runs faster, and allows one-click editing of all properties. There's |
| also a description area that displays information about the selected |
| property. </li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| </tbody> |
| </table> |
| <h2>Editor Improvements</h2> |
| <table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="10"> |
| <tbody> |
| <tr> |
| <td valign="top"> |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Code folding. </b>You can hide method bodies, comments, import |
| statements, and other blocks of code by folding them in the Source Editor.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| <td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top"><img src="../../../images_www/screenshots/3.6release/whats_new/code_fold.png" width="356" height="102" alt="screenshot of an expanded block of code and a collapsed block of code in the Source Editor"></td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td valign="top" > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Overriding methods. </b>The Source Editor marks all inherited methods |
| in the the left margin. Hold your mouse over the icon to see which class |
| or interface the method is inherited from.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td valign="top" > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>To Do window. </b>You can easily track your tasks and TODO comments |
| using the To Do window. You can view all tasks in a single file or in |
| a selected directory.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| <td valign="top" rowspan="2" align="center" ><img src="../../../images_www/screenshots/3.6release/whats_new/todo.png" width="347" height="145" alt="screenshot of the TODO window listing all of the TODO comments in an open file"></td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td valign="top" > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Automatic insertion of closing bracket/quotes/parentheses. </b>The |
| Source Editor now automatically closes all open parentheses, brackets, |
| and quotes. For example, type <tt>System.out.println(</tt> and the IDE |
| automatically enters the closing <tt>)</tt>. </li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td valign="top" > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Form Editor integration.</b> The Form Editor has been integrated |
| as a tab in the Source Editor. The GUI Editing workspace has been replaced |
| with with Palette, Inspector, and Properties windows that appear automatically |
| whenever a Form Editor tab is selected. </li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| <td rowspan="4" align="center" valign="top"><img src="../../../images_www/screenshots/3.6release/whats_new/form.png" width="353" height="250" alt="screenshot of the newly designed form editor windows"></td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td valign="top" > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Print as HTML.</b> You can take any Java file and output it to |
| formatted HTML for publishing on the web.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td valign="top" > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Tooltip error description. </b>Hold the mouse over any text containing |
| compilation errors to view the error in a tooltip.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td valign="top" > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Easy splitting of the Source Editor. </b>Drag and drop any open |
| document tab to the bottom or left margin of the Source Editor to view |
| multiple documents at once.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| </tbody> |
| </table> |
| <h2>Web/J2EE Development</h2> |
| <table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="10"> |
| <tbody> |
| <tr> |
| <td> |
| <ul> |
| <li> <b>Servlet 2.4 & JSP 2.0.</b> The parser database has been upgraded |
| to support Servlet 2.4 and JSP 2.0 specifications.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| <td rowspan="3" align="center" valign="top"><img src="../../../images_www/screenshots/3.6release/whats_new/html_complete.png" width="358" height="186" alt="screenshot of case-sensitive code completion"></td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Tomcat 5.</b> You can deploy and debug two-tier J2EE 1.4 and 1.3 |
| applications to Tomcat 5 in the IDE.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Case-sensitive HTML code completion.</b> HTML code completion now |
| enters the tags in uppercase or lowercase instead of in uppercase only.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Opening/closing tag matching. </b>Put your text caret in any tag |
| to highlight its closing tag.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| <td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top"><img src="../../../images_www/screenshots/3.6release/whats_new/match_tag.png" width="354" height="111" alt="screenshot an HTML file in the source editor. The cursor is on a closing tag and the source editor is highlighting the matching opening tag"></td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Validate JSP. </b>The IDE provides a Validate action for JSPs instead |
| of a Compile action. The Validate action detects all syntax problems |
| except for syntax errors that occur at translation time. These types |
| of errors are usually limited to files that contain embedded scriptlets.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| </tbody> |
| </table> |
| <h2>Ant Support</h2> |
| <table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="10"> |
| <tbody> |
| <tr> |
| <td> |
| <ul> |
| <li> <b>Ant 1.6.1 integration. </b>The IDE now comes bundled with Ant |
| 1.6.1.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| <td rowspan="3" align="center" valign="top"><img src="../../../images_www/screenshots/3.6release/whats_new/ant.png" width="353" height="192" alt="screenshot of the new Ant Properties in the Options window with properties for managing the classpath and Ant versions"></td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Easy management of the Ant classpath. </b>Go to Ant Settings in |
| the Options window and add any additional directories or libraries to |
| Ant's classpath using the Additional Classpath property.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td > |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Easy management of Ant versions. </b>Go to Ant Settings in the |
| Options window and choose any Ant installation in the Ant Home property.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| </tbody> |
| </table> |
| <h2>JUnit Support</h2> |
| <table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="10"> |
| <tbody> |
| <tr> |
| <td> |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>JUnit 3.8.1 support.</b> JUnit 3.8.1 comes bundled with NetBeans |
| IDE. You can automatically generate tests and test suites in both text |
| and GUI mode. </li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| <td> </td> |
| </tr> |
| </tbody> |
| </table> |
| <h2>Version Control Integration</h2> |
| <table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="10"> |
| <tbody> |
| <tr> |
| <td> |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Streamlined CVS design.</b> Both the built-in CVS client and command-line |
| CVS support have been harmonized to use the same wizards, property editors, |
| and command dialog boxes. </li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| <td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top"><img src="../../../images_www/screenshots/3.6release/whats_new/vcs.png" width="363" height="143" alt="screenshot of the new VCS Output window displaying the output from a CVS Update command"></td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td> |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Improved display of VCS command output.</b> The output for all |
| VCS commands are now displayed as tabs in the VCS Output window. You |
| can view the command's progress and stop any running command.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| </tbody> |
| </table> |
| <h2>Help System Improvements</h2> |
| <table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="10"> |
| <tbody> |
| <tr> |
| <td> |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Unified Help system.</b> NetBeans IDE merges the help for all modules |
| into a single table of contents and index for easier navigation.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| <td> </td> |
| </tr> |
| </tbody> |
| </table> |
| <h2>Other Changes</h2> |
| <table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="10"> |
| <tbody> |
| <tr> |
| <td rowspan="7"> |
| <ul> |
| <li>The IDE is no longer runs on v. 1.3.1 of the Java<sup class="tmtext">TM</sup> |
| 2 SDK, Standard Edition and is no longer tested on v. 1.4.0 and 1.4.1. |
| The recommended JDK version is 1.4.2.</li> |
| <li>File Size and Modification Time added to the property sheets for some |
| nodes.</li> |
| <li>There is no longer a filter toolbar in the Debugger window. You can |
| access all debugger windows in the Windows > Debugger menu. <!--37886--> |
| </li> |
| <li>The Startup folder was removed from the Options window, so there is |
| no longer a way in the user interface to specify classes that are run |
| in the IDE at IDE startup.</li> |
| <li>Apache's regular expression library is no longer included in the IDE. |
| The IDE now uses the <tt>java.util.regex</tt> package for regular expression |
| support. Non-standard POSIX-like character classes (<tt>[:javastart:] |
| and [:javapart:]</tt>) are no longer supported.</li> |
| <li>It is no longer possible to have more than one instance of the IDE |
| run simultaneously on the same user directory.</li> |
| <li>IDE command-line switches can now be entered in GNU style, meaning |
| they are preceeded with two dashes (for example,<tt> --jdkhome</tt>) |
| rather than one. Single letter switches like <tt>-h</tt> and JVM flags |
| are still entered with one dash.</li> |
| </ul> |
| </td> |
| <td> </td> |
| </tr> |
| </tbody> |
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