NetBeansUserFAQ
Here you find answers to frequently asked questions relating to the use
of the NetBeans IDE.
Don't see what you need here? Check the FAQ Index for a list of all available FAQs.
How To Add FAQ Entries? Only post a question if you also have an answer! If you have a question without an answer, send your question to a NetBeans Mailing List, such as nbusers@netbeans.org or nbdev@netbeans.org, or check the NetBeans Support Resources, and then share your new-found wisdom with the rest of the community here.
IMPORTANT, If you're a Community Member: Once, you're done adding a FAQ as per the above guidelines, please notify NetBeans Community Docs Team by Email
Contents
|
Installation
General
- Is there a platform-independent NetBeans installer?
- I cannot download NetBeans. Is the NetBeans installer available on CD-ROM/DVD too?
- The JavaDoc popup in the editor remains empty, how do I install documentation?
- How to solve problems with exceptions in unpack200 during NetBeans installation?
- How do I perform a silent installation of NetBeans IDE?
- How to install the IDE of the same version several times ?
- How can I access installation log files?
- Is it possible to upgrade from one release to another?
- Do I need to install the JUnit plugin?
- How to make sample project templates unreachable in the installation?
MS Windows:
- When I download the NetBeans installer for Windows, the file lacks the "exe" extension and won't run. How can I run the installer?
- Vista: What if you face problems with installation of NetBeans IDE
- Vista: How to avoid problems when installing plugins?
- Vista: Why did the installer report success but did not install NetBeans?
- How do I install NetBeans and packs on 64-bit Windows?
- What to do when NetBeans fails on Win XP with "IllegalStateException: Out of bounds"?
- Does the NetBeans installer run on Windows 98SE / Windows ME?
- Can I use UNC paths in the NetBeans IDE?
- Output window always empty on my 64bit Win7 installation
Linux
- How do I run the graphical installer on Linux?
- How to install NetBeans on Ubuntu?
- Fedora: How to install the NetBeans software?
Mac OS
- How do I uninstall NetBeans in Mac OS X?
Bundles:
- Unable to prepare bundled JVM when running NetBeans & JDK installer. What does it mean?
Configuration
The NetBeans userdir (.netbeans)
- What is the .netbeans directory? What is the userdir and where can I find it?
- Can I move the .netbeans directory? Can I run NetBeans with an alternate userdir?
- How can I run multiple instances of the IDE simultaneously?
- What are the NetBeans startup parameters (a.k.a. command-line options)?
- What are the NetBeans command-line properties and options?
- How do I make my custom startup parameters permanent?
JDK/JRE settings
- Can I specify which Java Development Kit (JDK) NetBeans uses?
- Can I run NetBeans using only the Java Runtime (JRE)?
Look and Feel
- The default font size used in menus, dialogs, views, etc. is too small. Can I make it bigger?
- Can I run NetBeans with a custom look and feel?
Arguments and Properties
- How can I have two or more main classes with different arguments in one project?
- How can I run/debug a program in NetBeans with certain Java system properties set to certain values?
- How can I run/debug a program in NetBeans with certain environment variables set to necessary values?
Templates
- How do I use Templates? What substitutions can be made in Templates?
Mac OS
- How to improve graphics of drag&drop actions on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)?
- How to invoke a popup menu from the keyboard on Mac OS X?
Miscellaneous
- Can I associate a file type with NetBeans to open files of that type from the File Explorer?
- I have multiple monitors, why are context menus displayed on the wrong screen?
- Can I run an annotation processor from my project?
- How can I setup the NetBeans working environment to be completely portable? (e.g. on a USB drive)
- When scrolling large files under Linux the text becomes garbled, how to solve this?
- How can I incorporate Cobertura code coverage into my Ant script?
- Can I suppress the Master Password dialog?
Migration -- Moving to NetBeans
- Is there any information available which would help me decide whether I should switch to NetBeans?
- Can I import an Eclipse project into NetBeans?
- Can I import a JBuilder project into NetBeans?
- How can I import projects from other IDEs?
- Where can I find plug-ins for NetBeans?
- Is there a functionality similar to 'Generate Element Comment' (Alt+Shift+J) from Eclipse?
- Does NetBeans support Eclipse key mapping?
Performance
- My NetBeans IDE is slow. What can I do?
- How to make scanning/indexing/Go To Type faster?
- What are the memory requirements of Netbeans IDE?
- How do I set the JVM's heap size?
- I get an OutOfMemoryError while building a project having more than 6000 source files. What do I do?
- How to decrease startup time of NetBeans (Disabling Netbeans modules)?
- Can I eliminate pauses caused by garbage collection?
- Can I have my files on network drives?
- What can I do if Netbeans IDE runs out of file descriptors?
- Why is browsing for a file from within any Open Dialog so slow?
- Can I improve performance by changing the look and feel?
- How to create a CPU profiling snapshot if I want to report a performance problem?
- How to create a memory snapshot if I want to report OutOfMemoryError?
- NetBeans IDE is scanning/parsing/indexing for ages? Yes, it's a bug!
- My NetBeans IDE consumes a lot of memory, especially on 64 bits. What can I do?
- Visual Designer for J2ME applications is very slow. How can I change the slow routing? (Netbeans 6.9.1 only)
Project System (General)
- How can I package and distribute my executable Java application?
- Broken References: Why aren't my projects referring to each other using relative paths?
- Why are some project categories missing from the New Project dialog?
- How do I set or modify the language encoding for a project?
- Why can't two projects share a source root?
Ant
Do not forget the Apache Ant FAQ for questions not specific to NetBeans.
- Can I pass parameters into the Ant Script?
- My build script has lots of "private targets", can I prevent these from appearing in the Run Target menu?
- How Do I Define a Shortcut for an Ant Target?
- I am using an optional task such as FTP and it says it cannot create a task definition, and to check my classpath. What did I do wrong?
- My script works fine from the command line, after I set my CLASSPATH, but I cannot compile inside NetBeans. Why?
- ...but what if the classpath needed to compile with changes?
- ...but the script is not even mine, I just want to run it.
- My entity includes do not work. I just get a red "X" on the build script.
- Can I open a web browser on an HTML page generated by an Ant script?
- Does NetBeans improve the performance of Ant in any respect?
Freeform Projects
- Is there any documentation on freeform projects, or samples?
- Can I have multiple source roots in a freeform project?
- Why can't I add a library to the classpath of my freeform project?
- How can I set which JDK to use for my freeform project?
- Are there some diagnostics I can use for configuration problems in my freeform project?
You may also be interested in trying AutomaticProjects.
Maven
- Can I use the Nexus repository manager with the IDE?
- Can I debug Maven builds (mojo code) from the IDE?
- How do I specify Maven proxy settings?
Navigation
- How Can I Quickly Navigate to Methods and Fields?
- I want to view/edit a file on my disk, but I don't want to set up a project for it. Is there a way to open random files?
- Can I view the package structure of my project as a tree?
- How do I quickly find the current file in Projects/Files/Favorites view?
- Why there is no "places bar" on right side of Open Project on Windows?
Editing
- I cannot type some characters or they appear in an unusual way.
- The code completion shortcut (Ctrl-Space) doesn't work or causes problems. Is there an alternative?
- The code completion shortcut produces a beep in files known to allow code completion and the code completion window disappears without warning while typing. What can I do?
- Scrolling in editor under Linux is slow. Is there any possibility to make it faster?
- Can I use back references when using regular expressions in the Find/Replace dialog?
- Where can I find a printable Keyboard Shortcut Card?
- Is it possible to split the editor and edit one file in two editor windows?
- What is hyperlinking and how can I use it?
- What are macros and how can I use them?
- Can I compare (diff) two files outside version control?
- Can I Create Custom Code Folds?
- How various line separators (EOLs) are handled?
- Removing CRLF from all the java files of a project (Converting to Unix format)
- I want to use UTF-8 and multibyte characters in Netbeans.
- How can I insert newline characters using the 'search & replace' dialog?
- How do I set or modify the language encoding for a project?
- How are file templates defined in NetBeans IDE 6? What is FreeMarker?
- Is there a list of all the predefined variables for templates, like ${user} and ${date}?
- How to globally change the user name that is used in file templates?
- How can I distribute my file templates to my users?
- I want to fine-tune font rendering settings.
Database Connectivity
- When I connect to my database, I can't see my tables, but if I use another tool, I can see them fine. Where are they?
- I built a database application using an embedded database (Java DB or HSQL), but when I run it, none of the tables or data I created are there!
- "What is .netbeans-derby dir, what does it store, and how can I change its location?
- How do I install the NetBeans sample databases or the Sakila sample database for MySQL?
- How do I start/stop the MySQL Server from NetBeans IDE?
- How do I secure my database password?
- How do I secure my MySQL password?
Compiling and Building Projects
- I get an OutOfMemoryError while building a project having more than 6000 source files. What do I do?
- After I make an incompatible change to one class, do I need to do a Clean and Build to see what it broke?
- How can I customize what goes into my project's JAR file?
- Can I exclude some classes or packages from compilation?
- How can I have two or more main classes with different arguments in one project?
- I get "Failed to load Main-Class manifest attribute" when trying to run a JAR file
- I want to use my own keystore when signing a Java project for Java WebStart deployment
- How can I use the NetBeans Visual Library in my own project?
- How do I set or modify the language encoding for a project?
- Is there support for the Java Remote Method Invocation API (RMI)?
- How does Compile on Save (CoS) work?
Debugging
- While debugging, how can I back up and repeat a step without starting over?
- Can I step into the JDK code during debugging?
- How do I attach NetBeans debugger to a running application?
- How do I debug NetBeans?
- How do I debug an applet remotely?
- I'm running into problems when trying to debug. What can I do?
- Why can't I step into my source code when using the Ant debug target that I generated in the IDE for my free-form project?
- Printing debug messages
- How to use Method breakpoints?
- How to use Field breakpoints?
- Conditional Breakpoints
- Stack Operations
- Debugging in AWT hangs X-Windows
- Debugger log
GUI Editor (Matisse)
- Can I edit the blue, guarded blocks of code when developing a GUI?
- Components unexpectedly moved in container during design
- What is the .form file?
- Can I generate the .form file for an existing class?
- What is the Swing Layout Extensions library (org.jdesktop.layout) and do I need it?
- How can I set the GUI builder to generate javax.swing.GroupLayout instead of org.jdesktop.layout.GroupLayout?
- How to run/distribute my GUI application created in NetBeans?
- How to package the swing-layout-<version>.jar library into my application JAR?
- Can I distribute NetBeans layout libraries with my application?
- How can I design forms with GridBagLayout?
- How do I create a custom container bean?
- Can I create forms by extending other forms?
- How can I use a custom subclass of a Swing component? Do I need to install it to the palette?
- How can I define a baseline rules for my custom component?
- Can I define my own spacing scheme (default gaps between components)?
- I installed my component to the palette, but get some error message when trying to use it!
- How can I define an icon for my component added to the palette?
- Is there a way to restore the default palette?
- How do I create a radio button group?
- How do I set tab names in a JTabbedPane?
- Can I change the type of already created forms?
- How do I add several GUI components in one go?
- How do I create array of GUI controls?
- How can I dynamically create a variable number of GUI components?
- What are Generate Mnemonics Code options for and how do they work?
- How to use a Master/Detail panel as a component in other GUI forms?
- How do I use an IDENTITY column in a Java Desktop Application?
- Why does my Java Desktop Application fail to launch?
Java EE Development
- How do I change the web browser for JSP and web module execution?
- Are the Enterprise Resource Wizards (e.g., Call EJB), available from JSPs as well as servlets?
- Is there support for using a tag library in a web application?
Web Services Development
- How to customize generated schema for WSDL file
- How to use WSDL Customizer in NetBeans
- JAX-WS Web services on JBoss in NetBeans IDE
- Can I define a WSDL SOAP binding as RPC style binding?
- Can I access RPC/encopded web service by using JAX-WS client?
- How to change Web Ser