Building C/C++ Applications in the Sun Cloud with Project Speedway

Project Speedway and the Project Speedway plugin for the NetBeans IDE are still under development and subject to change. This tutorial reflects the current state of these projects during the initial Preview release.

This tutorial demonstrates how to use the Sun Cloud to develop your C/C++ projects. You can run NetBeans IDE 6.7 locally on your own machine running any of the supported platforms, but use the Sun Cloud as your "development host". Your create and modify your code on your machine, then build it in the cloud without leaving the local IDE.

Note that you must be located in the United States to use the Project Speedway service.

1. Download NetBeans IDE 6.7 with the C/C++ bundle from http://www.netbeans.org/downloads/index.html
2. Install NetBeans IDE 6.7 as described in the NetBeans IDE 6.7 Installation Instructions
3. Start NetBeans IDE 6.7
4. On the NetBeans Start page, click Install Plugins. You can also use the NetBeans menu bar to select Tools > Plugins
5. Select the Speedway plugin and click the Install button.
6. In the Plugin Installer, click Next, accept the terms and conditions by clicking the checkbox, and click Install.
7. When the IDE prompts you to restart, select Restart IDE Now, and click Finish.
8. After the restart, create a new project based on the "Pi" sample application by selecting File > New Project > Samples > C/C++ > Pi.
9. In the New Sample Project wizard, accept the defaults, and click Finish.
10. In the Projects tab, right-click the Pi_1 project and select Set Remote Development Host, and choose Sun Cloud (SPARC). Note that no connection attempt it made at this point.
11. Run the project by clicking the run button in the toolbar or right-clicking the project node and selecting Run.
12. When you are prompted to connect to the Sun Cloud, click Yes.
13. Enter your SDN username and password and select the checkbox to assert that you are located in the United States. If you are not located in the US, you must click Cancel.
14. Click Login to connect to the cloud, and accept the terms and conditions when prompted. The IDE prepares to build the project on the Sun Cloud.
15. Check the Output tab to watch as the build progresses and finishes, and then see the run begin. Notice the Run Monitor tab that opens to show profiling information for the program's run. This profiling information is a new feature of NetBeans IDE 6.7, and only works on Solaris and Linux platforms.
16. Try debugging the program by opening one of the files in the Source Files folder. Select the file whose name is highlighted.
17. Insert a breakpoint in the file by clicking in the left margin of the editor window.
18. Click the Debug icon in the toolbar or right click the project node and select Debug. The IDE prepares to build the project on the Sun Cloud.
19. When the build is complete, the Debugger Console window opens, showing the breakpoint hits.
20. Click the Continue button in the toolbar to continue running the program after each breakpoint hit.
21. When the program run is finished, click the Finish Debugger icon.