NetBeans User FAQ

This User FAQ for NetBeans IDE 6.0 and previous versions provides 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 more listings.

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 into NetBeans Support Resources, and then share your new-found wisdom with the rest of the community here.

Here's How To Add FAQ Entries

Table of Contents

Installation

• When I download the NetBeans installer for Windows, the file lacks the "exe" extension and won't run. How can I run the installer?
• I cannot download NetBeans. Is the NetBeans installer available on CD-ROM/DVD too?
• Is there a platform-independent NetBeans installer?
• How do I run the graphical installer on Linux?
• Why does the NetBeans installer fail saying "No Java Development Kit (JDK) was found on this system"?
• I do have a suitable JDK installed correctly. How can I make the installer use it?
• What to do when the installer fails saying "The wizard cannot continue... could not load wizard specified in /wizard.inf (104)"?
• What to do if installation of AppServer fails on Mac OS X 10.4. w/ JDK 1.5.x?
• What is the admin username/password of the built-in Tomcat?
• Does the NetBeans installer run on Windows 98SE / Windows ME?
• 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"?
• What are the right combinations of NetBeans and Packs (Profiler/Mobility Pack/C/C++ Pack/...) ?
• How do I uninstall NetBeans in Mac OS X?
• How to install the IDE of the same version several times ?
• How to solve problems with exceptions in unpack200 during NetBeans 6.x installation?
• How to install NetBeans on Ubuntu?
• The JavaDoc popup remains empty, how do I install documentation?
• How to avoid problems with installation of plugins on Windows Vista
• How do I perform a silent installation of NetBeans IDE?
• When I installed on Vista, why did it not install NetBeans?

Configuration

• What is the ".netbeans" directory? What is a ''userdir'' and where can I find it?
• Can I run NetBeans with an alternate ''userdir''? How can I move the ".netbeans" directory?
• Can I run multiple IDE instances simultaneously?
• What are the NetBeans startup parameters?
• How do I make my custom startup parameters permanent?
• Can I specify which Java Development Kit (JDK) NetBeans uses?
• Can I run NetBeans using only the Java Runtime (JRE)?
• The default font size used in menus, dialogs, views, etc. is too small. Can I make it bigger?
• Asian characters are garbled (shown as rectangle) on my Linux box, how can I fix this?
• Does NetBeans support bi-directional text?
• How can I use UTF-8 encoding in Java source files and JavaScript files in my project?
• Can I run NetBeans with a custom look and feel?
• Can I associate a file type with NetBeans to open files of that type from File Explorer?
• I have multiple monitors, why are context menus displayed on the wrong screen?
• Can I use JUnit 4 to run tests in my project?
• Can I use GCJ instead of the Sun JDK for a project?
• Can I use JDK 1.1 for my project?
• I have a Xalan under jre/lib and the IDE refuses to start. Why?
• 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?
• Can I use Ivy to download libraries for my project from a Maven repository?
• Can I use Maven Ant tasks to download libraries for my project from a Maven repository?
• How can I have two or more main classes with different arguments in one project?
• How do I create own update center?
• How can I get a new module from the Update Center?
• How can I download a module from the Update Center manually?
• How do I use the Update Center through a (company etc) firewall?
• How can I add new Update Center in the IDE?
• What is the difference between individual NetBeans Update Centers?
• How do I verify that a module was staged correctly on the NetBeans Update Center?
• Can I publish my own module on the NetBeans Update Center?
• Can I run an annotation processor from my project?
• Can I register Oracle's Application Server with this IDE?
• I have downloaded a localized netbeans; how can I run in that locale but see messages in English ?
• How can I setup the NetBeans working environment to be completely portable? (e.g. on a USB drive)
• How to run web application in NetBeans IDE, with in the bundeled Tomcat?
• How to improve graphics of DnD on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) with Quartz switch?
• How do I set or modify the language encoding for a project?
• How to customize Plugin Manager?
• How do I use Templates? What substitutions can be made in Templates?

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?
• What can I do if Netbeans IDE runs out of memory (OutOfMemoryError is thrown)?
• 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)?
• What are memory requirements of Netbeans IDE?
• What is the usual memory usage of Netbeans IDE?
• How do I set the JVM's heap size to be smaller?
• 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?
• Editor does not reparse my source file fast enough to highligh errors when I am typing.
• Can I improve performance by changing the look and feel?
• Why is browsing for a file from within any Open Dialog so slow?

Project System (General)

• Why aren't my projects referring to each other using relative paths?
• How can I package and distribute my executable?
• Why are some project categories missing from the New Project dialog?
• How do I create a package using Netbeans IDE 5.5?
• How do I set or modify the language encoding for a project?
• On Mac OS, why do I get an error when creating a project?

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 like to edit my build script directly in the source editor as text; is there any code completion available?
• 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.
• My script really does not work inside NetBeans, and it does from the command line.
• Can I start the NetBeans debugger from an Ant script?
• Can I open a web browser on an HTML page generated by an Ant script?
• Can NetBeans write my build script for me?

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?

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?

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?
• Is it possible to split editor and edit one file in two editor windows?
• What is hyperlinking and how can I use it?
• 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)
• NetBeans 3.x used to remind me about methods to be added when implementing an interface. Is this feature gone in 4.x and 5.0?
• I want to use UTF-8 and multibyte characters in Netbeans.
• How can I insert newline characters using the 'search & replace' dialog?
• Where can I get an overview of keyboard shortcut changes from 5.5 to 6.0?
• How do I set or modify the language encoding for a project?
• How are file templates defined in NetBeans IDE 6? What is FreeMarker?
• Can you give me 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?
• I'd like to distribute my file templates to my users. What must I do?

Database Connectivity

• My database driver is in WEB-INF/lib but I still can't access the database. What do I do?
• "Cannot create JDBC driver of class '' for connect URL 'null'". What do I do?
• "Cannot load JDBC driver class 'org.gjt.mm.mysql.Driver'". What do I do?
• "Unable to read the data structure, connection is broken: Unsupported feature". What do I do?
• "How to connect to Java DB from JDK 1.6.0 with Netbeans 5.5
• "What is .netbeans-derby dir, what does it store, and how can I change its location?
• How to connect a MySQL database to an application using NetBeans IDE 5.5?
• How do I enable the sample Travel database for MySQL in NetBeans IDE 6.0?
• How do I start/stop the MySQL Server from NetBeans IDE?
• How do I connect to a table element?
• How do I secure my database password?
• How do I secure my MySQL password?
• Cannot select tables from ms sql 2000 because it says (no primary key) next to each table but the tables DO have a primary key! What do i do?

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)?

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
• Run Into Method
• 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)

• How can I edit the JTree
• Can I edit the blue, guarded blocks of code when developing a GUI?
• What is the .form file?
• Why can't I open this old .form file?
• Can I generate the .form file for an existing class?
• What is the Swing Layout Extensions library (swing-layout) and why do I need it?
• 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?
• Can I design my GUI without using the ''swing-layout'' library?
• 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?
• New Record on detailTable is not working
• Why can't I run my Java Desktop Application with Postgress database?
• How to instantiate Master/Detail Form in NetBeans 6.0
• How do I use an IDENTITY column in a Java Desktop Application?
• Why does my Java Desktop Application fail to launch?

Java EE Development

• Why do I get the 404 error message "The requested resource is not available"?
• 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?
• How do I create CMP bean that uses automaticaly PK generation feature
• 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 6.0/6.1
• 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 Service location at runtime
• How to set up endorsed dir for Tomcat

• JAXB Wizard FAQ

SOA

• What are JBI, OpenESB, and NetBeans SOA?
• What does the Composite Applicaiton project do?
• What does the CASA editor do?
• How do I create a custom SE Service Unit project type?
• What is the BPEL Designer?
• How can I have both the BPEL Mapper and the Diagram displayed on the screen at the same moment?
• What do the left and right swimlanes of the Design View stand for?
• Why the warning and/or error marks are still displayed on the diagram even after corrections are made and the document is valid?
• Can I see how a sample BPEL process works?
• What are dynamic partner link used for?
• What is the BPEL Mapper used for?

Version Control Systems

• Which version control systems do you support?
• How to add the ''VCS generic'' profiles (VSS, ClearCase, TeamWare support) to NetBeans 6.0?

CVS

• What's new in NetBeans 6.0 CVS Support?
• Which CVS support implementation am I using?
• How can I set up and access local CVS repositories?
• How do I configure CVS connection settings?
• How to set up CVS public key SSH authentication?
• How can I connect through firewall?
• How does CVS integrate with projects?
• Can I version my private project settings?
• How can I view differences between two specific revisions?
• Why am I getting a "cvs is not recognized" error?
• Why won't the IDE allow me to commit changes into trunk/branch?
• How can I change customization of status labels?
• How can I make other protocols provided by CVSNT work?

Subversion

• How do I install and use Subversion (in NetBeans 5.0)?
• What are the main features of NetBeans Subversion Support?
• What do I need for NetBeans Subversion Support?
• Are JavaHL and JavaSVN supported?
• What versions of working copies are supported?
• Why does NetBeans complain about missing Subversion client?
• How do I set up SSH with Subversion?
• How to connect to an svn repository with user-certificated authentication?
• How do I display Subversion branch/tag annotations?
• How to customize the Subversion branch/tag annotations?
• How to customize the status coloring for Subversion?
• How to exclude new files by default from a commit?
• How can a file be added as binary?
• How can I avoid checking out the top folder from the repository? Can I use another name for it?
• Why does it take such a long time when opening a versioned folder?
• Character encoding problem with Netbeans Subversion on Mac

ClearCase

• How do i get and install the Netbeans ClearCase support?
• Do you support any Unified Change Management features?
• Do you support CC Web configurations, CC Remote client or a similar approach?
• How do i find all existing checkouts in my project?
• How do I switch between different views?
• I always get this annoying yet harmless error messages?
• Browse History, Browse Revision Tree or Show Properties don't work?

Mercurial

• What do I need for NetBeans Mercurial Support?
• What are the recommended Mercurial extensions?
• How do I set up SSH with Mercurial?

Profiler

• Do you have any profiling tips?
• Which JDK releases can be used with the Profiler?
• Will the Profiler run on Mac?
• What exactly does the Profiler Calibration mean?
• How do I run the calibration process on a remote machine?
• Can I save and later retrieve the results of profiling?
• How can I compare memory snapshots?
• How do I find who prevents certain objects in memory from being garbage collected?
• How do I read the data on garbage collection?
• I can't attach the Profiler to a running application. What did I do wrong?
• Can I use dynamic attach for standard JDK?
• If I want to attach the Profiler to a running application, why do I need to give the Profiler the "working directory" for this application? How do I find out what this directory is (say if my application is really an Applicaiton Server, launched by a complex script)?
• On Windows, if I attach to the running application using its PID, and then detach from it, my subsequent attempts to attach to it fail. What's the problem?
• When I attach to a running application, and want to do "Analyze Performance - Entire Application", why does it say it can give me profiling results only for threads started after I attached the Profiler to the application?
• When selecting part of an application to profile, is it possible to set the filter at the package level (rather than at the method level)?
• Why is the total memory not equal to the sum of live bytes?
• How does profiling via root methods work?
• How is object liveness tracked?
• How is object allocation data collected?
• How do I use different timers when profiling an application?
• How do I select an instrumentation scheme?
• How can I profile all threads in a multi-threaded application?
• How do I instrument/not instrument special Java methods?
• Which method of tracking methods should I use, exact or sampled?

Java ME/Mobility

• Where should I report issues about Mobility Pack?
• How do I specify a MIDlet icon?
• Why doesn't NetBeans Mobility support Solaris and Mac OS X?
• How can I develop mobile applications with NetBeans using MacOS?
• Where can I find emulators that I can use with the Mobility Pack?
• How should I structure my project in NetBeans if I am using both Java ME and Java SE elements?
• How can I create two libraries from the same source code, one to be used in J2ME projects and the other one in J2SE projects?
• Can I change my MIDlet project's ''dist'' destination, so it puts the jar and jad straight onto a server rather than in my local ''dist'' directory?
• Does the IDE generate the necessary Ant targets to launch my J2ME app in the various configured emulators?
• How do I add BouncyCastle crypto libraries to my J2ME project?
• How do I specify resource files (images, sounds) to be added to the JAR build?
• Why can't I open existing source files in the Visual Designer?
• While using Visual Mobile Designer, can I test the developed form without creating build and starting my application on WTK emulator?
• When I develop form, new element is added to inspector view, but I don't see it edited on screen (in visual form). Changes are only visible after I create build and start emulator. Is this proper behavior?
• How can I develop MIDP 1.0-compliant application when my emulator only supports MIDP 2.0?
• How can I add Nokia SDKs if NetBeans Platform Manager does not recognize these SDKs as valid ones?
• How can I create block active only for NokiaAPI AND NokiaSound abilities (both active together)?
• How can I use the Sony Ericsson SDK to remotely manage Java ME resources from within NetBeans?
• Why cannot I remove an ability from 'Add Ability' dialog?
• When my application tries to access network I get a message from emulator where it asks for permission to use air time. None of the buttons work though. What is going on?
• How to increase debugger timeout?
• Change the colors of TableItem when it appears as black on device
• Why Midlet clients for Webservices / Web applications are not generated automatically?
• Execute Through OTA does not show previously deployed midlets
• Why Mobility Pack is not able to detect NetBeans install folder automatically?
• I developed J2ME application in NetBeans. When running it as .prc on my Palm Tungsten C, I get message "Alert does not accept commands - java.lang.IllegalStateException." What is going on?
• How can I change behavior of Build Targets in Ant Build Script
• How Should I use SVG Menu in My Application
• How Can I make Web Services (JSR 172) work in my CDC project?
• How do I install the Sun Java Toolkit for CDC in NetBeans?
• What version of Proguard obfuscator is used by the IDE?
• Where can I find out more about Java ME development using Mobility pack?
• Mobility pack doesn't run on Ubuntu 7.10?

NetBeans C/C++ Development Pack

PHP

• How do I start PHP development?
• How do I use the MySQL database server with the NetBeans IDE for PHP?
• How do I set up a PHP project?
• Can I set up a PHP project with already existing sources?
• How to debug PHP projects?
• What are all-in-one packages?

UML

See also

• Can I use NetBeans UML Modelling on Mac OS too?
• How does reverse enginer handle data members and parameters that are Java 5 collections?
• I get a "Cannot create image:Java Heap space" error when I try to save my Class Diagram. Why?
• I get "Increase Heap Space Error" while Reverse Engineering large Java project to UML. Why?
• How can several developers collaborate with one UML project?
• UML Printing Issues with some JDK 1.6.0 before update 2

NetBeans Community

• I can't find answer to my question in this FAQ. What can I do?
• Where can I find a NetBeans user chat?
• Where can I meet users who speak Japanese, Chinese, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian... ?
• I found some nice tricks, how can I share them?
• Can I add new or update existing entry in this FAQ?
• How can I contribute to the NetBeans project?
• Why do I need to register to submit a bug?
• Why is the bug reporting process so difficult? It should be quick and easy to submit a bug!
• I registered but never got an email with my password, Or, I forgot my Password
• How to Generate a Thread Dump after an error?
• I cannot use the public Developer Collaboration server, how do I set up my own?

Mailing Lists

• Why should I join a mailing list?
• How do I subscribe?
• There are so many lists - which do I subscribe to?
• How do I unsubscribe?
• I can't unsubscribe!
• How do I find out which of my email addresses is subscribed?
• How do I update my subscription address?
• How do I send a message to the list?
• Is there a NetBeans Forum? Can I post messages via the web?
• Are there NetBeans newsgroups? Can I access the lists via Usenet/NNTP?
• My message didn't show up on the list!
• My messages sometimes take hours or days to show up on the list!
• I use GMail and I don't get a copy of my own posts, why ?
• I'd like to help out - can I help moderate a list?
• I posted my question but nobody answered!

Plugin Portal

• Where can I search for NetBeans Plugins, or publish my own?
• How do I install a plugin module into NetBeans?
• How do I log on to the Portal?
• How do I add my own Plugins?
• How do I update or delete my own Plugins?
• Which are the best and most popular Plugins? (Rating)
• Why can't I rate this plugin?
• What categories are there? And what is a tag cloud?
• Why is my module owned by "nbadmin"?
• What if I have a problem using the Plugin Portal or would like to suggest a change?
• How does publishing on Plugin Portal Update Center work?
• How to get my plugin on Plugin Portal Update Center?
• How to check plugin Verification status?
• How to cancel verification request of my plugin?
• How do I verify a plugin?

License and Legal Questions

• Can I use NetBeans to create a commercial application?
• Can my contribution to NetBeans.org be included in a commercial product?
• Can I modify NetBeans source code files and distribute the IDE for free or sell it?
• Why is NetBeans dual licensed both under CDDL and GPLv2?
• What is the Classpath exception?
• Why is the Classpath exception necessary?
• Does adding GPL v2 affect current distributions?
• Do I need anything besides NetBeans source code to be able to compile and run the NetBeans IDE?
• Can I sell the IDE with my custom modules added without disclosing my source code?
• Can I distribute the NetBeans IDE on a CD-ROM that I sell?
• Can I redistribute the Java Software Development Kit (SDK), any version, royalty-free with the NetBeans IDE?
• Is NetBeans configured only for the Sun SDK, or are there any other SDKs or compilers that NetBeans can work with?
• Can I use NetBeans images ( like play.png, pause.gif or refresh.png ) in my programs ?
• There are a lot of tutorials that can be found on NetBeans.org (under "Docs and support"). Can we use those materials in our Java course?
• What does 'entitlement' mean??

Support and Training

• Would NetBeans consider a commercial support agreement with us for a particular version of the IDE?
• NetBeans Support Resources
• NetBeans Training Resources

Contributor Agreement

• What is the Contributor Agreement ("CA")?
• Do I have to fill out a CA?
• How do I file a completed CA?
• Can I file my completed CA by e-mail?
• I've already signed a JCA; do I still have to sign the CA?
• I've already signed a CA for another Sun project, do I need to sign another one for NetBeans?
• I've already signed a recent version of the CA, do I need to sign the newest version?
• Do I have to file a CA for every contribution?
• Once I have a CA on file, can I change my mind and cancel?
• I tried to make a contribution to netbeans.org and signed a CA, but my contribution was not accepted. What is the result?
• Why does NetBeans request a CA?
• I have a CA or JCA on file and I have made a code contribution to netbeans.org. Can I get listed on the copyright notice?
• If my company wants me to contribute changes, who should sign the CA, me or my company?
• Can my company sign a blanket JCA for all its employees?

Other Languages

• Where can I meet users who speak Japanese, Chinese, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, ... ?
• I have downloaded a localized netbeans; how can I run in that locale but see messages in English ?
• Why are Asian characters garbled (shown as rectangles) when running NetBeans on some Linux systems ?
• Can I see Japanese translations of these User FAQ?