NetBeans 72 NewAndNoteworthy
Contents |
Editor
Background Indexing
The indexes and indexing infrastructure were rewritten to use transactions. The project scanning and up to date check do not block editor features nor navigation. These features see the previous committed index. Also the write transaction are suspended by read transactions, so the background indexing has lower priority than user actions.
Parallel Indexers
The binary indexers run in parallel which makes indexing of java project faster.
Projects
Main Project
The "main project" GUI has been largely removed; no main project will be set by default when creating or opening projects. Users who wish to set a main project, mainly for the benefit of global toolbar buttons and corresponding keyboard accelerators, may still do so via the Run > Set Main Project submenu.
Project Actions
Project-wide actions, such as Clean & Build, may now be run when multiple projects are selected.
The buttons for such actions are also disabled while running, to guard against accidentally building the same project twice in parallel due to "mouse bounce".
For convenience, Run > Repeat Build/Run is now bound to Ctrl-F11 by default.
Import/Export ZIP
New items under the File menu let you save a project (or tree of projects) as a ZIP file - excluding build products - and conversely unpack a ZIP and open any projects found inside.
Collapse All
The blank area in the Projects and Files tab now has a context menu item to collapse all nodes.
Java
Package View
You can now view Java packages in "reduced tree" mode. (A third option in the submenu available when right-clicking the empty space in the Projects tab.) This mode differs from plain "tree" mode in that multiple package components with no other children (for example "com.mycorp.mydept") are collapsed into one node for easier navigation.
Refactoring
Refactoring Undo Integrated with Editor Undo
There is no more separate Refactoring | Undo action. Refactoring can be undone directly by Ctrl-Z from the Editor.
Replace Constructor With Factory
New refactoring Replace Constructor With Factory
Replace Constructor With Builder
New refactoring Replace Constructor With Builder
Invert Boolean
New refactoring Invert Boolean
Move Members (Method/Field)
New refactoring Move Members
Introduce Local Extension
New refactoring Introduce Local Extension
Background Find Usages
Find Usages can be performed on background.
Improved Java Beans Support
Generate getters and setters now supports "encapsulate fields" option to invoke encapsulate fields refactoring.
Encapsulate Fields refactoring has new option "property change support"
Code Generation
You can now customize order of the generated class members via a new panel added to 'Tools -> Options -> Editor -> Formatting -> Java'.
Remove Surrounding Code
Now you can quickly remove the enclosing parts of a nested statement by placing the caret on the particular statement and invoking the 'Source > Remove Surrounding Code' action from the main menu or by pressing 'Alt+Delete'. A pop-up window is shown displaying all the surrounding statement parts that are available and can be removed in the current context.
Move Code Element Up and Down
Now you can quickly move entire code elements (statements and class members) up or down using the 'Source > Move Code Element Up/Down' actions from the main menu or by pressing 'Alt+Shift+PageUp/Alt+Shift+PageDown'.
Hints
Generate Implementing/Extending Class
When you put the cursor in a class declaration header, a new hint should appear.
or
When the hint is invoked, the new class, with all its required methods, is automatically generated, as a separate class (a dialog pops up letting you specify the name of the class and the package where the class should be created).
Ant
Bundled version
The bundled version of Ant was upgraded to 1.8.3.
Command-line equivalent
When running an Ant process, the closest equivalent command line is displayed at the top of the Output Window for convenience.
Debug target
You can now run the Ant debugger from the context menu of a target node.
Maven
Bundled version
The bundled version of Maven was upgraded to 3.0.4.
Compile on Save
Compile on Save is now on by default for application execution. This means that Java classes produced by the IDE's background parser can be used to make Run Project much faster. If you prefer to use exec-maven-plugin to run programs (slower but more flexible), adjust your preferences in the Compile tab of project properties.
("Deploy on Save", in the Run tab, was already enabled by default for Java EE application projects in which Compile on Save was also enabled.)
Compile on Save is off by default for running (single) tests, since many users were confused by behavioral differences from certain configurations of maven-surefire-plugin. Now Test File always runs Maven by default, just like Test Project, though you may reenable Compile on Save for tests if you prefer its speed and it works on your project.
Repository browser
The list of repositories has been moved under the Services tab rather than needing its own window.
The actions available on artifact version nodes has been expanded and made more consistent, notably including the ability to download sources and Javadoc.
Quick Search hits for Maven artifacts now select the version node here, rather than opening the multiview. You can still open the multiview by double-clicking the node if you want.
The multiview now includes a tab displaying the text of the POM.
Dependency display
Non-classpath dependencies are now shown under their own nodes.
Show Dependency Graph has been replaced with Open POM; the graph is shown as a tab in the pom.xml editor window.
New archetype wizard
The wizard panel for selecting an archetype (to create a new project) has been rewritten and now features a search field.
Source/Javadoc attachment
Automatic attachment of Source/Javadoc will now search the Maven repository for matches if your binary JAR is identical to one in the Maven repository, even if it is somewhere else on disk (say, in a library directory of an Ant-based project).
Plugin handling
<annotationProcessors> from maven-compiler-plugin is now considered by the Java editor.
POM editor
Expressions in POM files allow hyperlinks, jumping to the location in current or parent file where the property is defined. Works both for the ${foo} and ${project.foo} expressions. While hyperlink the action, the tooltip shows the value of the expression as it resolves in the current project.
Scanning performance
Scanning large Maven projects, especially those with many binary dependencies, is faster than in 7.1.
Hudson
View config.xml
A new action on a job lets you view its raw configuration data quickly.
Quick-search provider
You can now jump to the node for a Hudson job from the Quick Search toolbar.
Java EE
JPA Support
JPQL and named queries support
JPQL validation is added for named queries.
JPQL completion support is added, supported for "query" attribute of NamedQuery annotation and withing createQuery("") method.
Named query name is linked to named query declaration if used in "createNamedQuery".
Named query name code completion is added to createNamedQuery method
Generation options
New mapping options are added for entities from database:
'Use defaults if possible' is used to use fewer annotations in generated code and 'Generate fields for unresolved relationships' is used to generate usual fields if relationship can't be coded (for example opposite side of relationship isn't generated or mossed for any other reason).
Persistence.xml
Properties completion is added to persistence.xml, main support is provided for ecipselink jpa 2.0 provider. Support jdbc url value completion.
<class>, <jta-data-source>, <provider>, <exclude-unlisted-classes> content completion is added.
CDI Warnings for non-portable behavior
See details at Enhancements for 7.2
Amazon Beanstalk support
Register your Amazon Beanstalk account in the IDE and deploy your Web Applications directly to Amazon cloud. There is new Cloud node in Services panel where your cloud accounts can be registered. Right click the node and start wizard for Amazon Beanstalk:
Finish wizard and IDE will automatically mount your Amazon Beanstalk environments under IDE Servers node as running Tomcat servers which are ready for deployment:
If you are creating a new Web Application, which is going to be deployed to Amazon Beanstalk, the IDE can setup everything necessary. Just follow "Add Server" wizard and name your Amazon Beanstalk application and environment:
which will result into new environment creation on Amazon Beanstalk:
Once that's finished you can just press F6 on your project to build it, deploy it and open it in browser:
Java FX
Project Auto-Update
On opening a JavaFX 2.0+ project from older NB version in newer NB version the project build scripts are auto-updated to ensure correct functionality.
Editor
- CSS code completion for FX-specific elements.
- FXML goto support for Java Controller and CSS file.
Templates
- New FXML File Templates including creation of Java Controller and CSS file.
Version Control
Search History redesigned
Search history view in Git, Mercurial and Subversion version control systems is now more intuitive and individual revisions are easier to inspect.
Mercurial
Queues support
The IDE now supports Mercurial Queues, you can now create, refresh and finish patches, switch between individual patches in a queue and review patch diffs directly from the IDE.
Debugger
Breakpoints have a possibility to enable/disable other breakpoints when hit
Breakpoint Properties have two new options ("Enable Group" and "Disable Group"), that allow to specify a name of a group containing breakpoints, that are enabled or disabled, when the breakpoint is hit.
The associated combo-box pop-up menu lists all user defined breakpoint groups (go to Breakpoints window to move breakpoints into user-defined groups) and also automatic grouping by file names, projects or breakpoint types.
Source scanning does not block debugger stepping
Stepping through the source code is no longer blocked by source scanning task. The step was analyzing where specifically is the program suspended on the given line. Now this analysis does not prevent from issuing a next step.
Zoom of the debugger GUI snapshot
The GUI snapshot of an application created under a debugger, can be zoomed to fit comfortably into the window area.
PHP
PHP 5.4
- Traits added
- Short array syntax added
- Array dereferencing added
- Built-in web server added
- Related hints added
- Callable type hint added
- Anonymous object variable added
- Binary notation for integers added
- Static method call with an expression added
(S)FTP Support
Remote synchronization added.
Editor
- Code folding for if, do, while, for, foreach, switch added - issue 186731
- Fix Uses... (Fix Imports...) added - issue 186928
PHP Annotations
Support for PHP annotations added:
- for PHPUnit, ApiGen/PHPDoc, Doctrine2, Symfony2 - TODO add link to blog
- for annotations defined by user - TODO add link to blog
PHPUnit
- Support for Skeleton Generator added
- Support for PHPUnit annotations added - TODO add link to blog
- PHPUnit per project can be specified
- Support for running tests only from selected folder added - TODO add link to blog
Hudson
Hudson support added.
Symfony2
- Symfony2 support added
- Support for Symfony2 annotations added - TODO add link to blog
Twig
Twig support added
Doctrine2
- Doctrine2 support added
- Support for Doctrine2 annotations added - TODO add link to blog
ApiGen
ApiGen support added
Neon
Neon files support added.
Apache Config file
Apache config files support added
New Hints
- Identical comparisons added
- Immutable variables added
- Unsed uses added
Groovy
Groovy version
- Currently we have updated the Groovy version from 1.6.4 to 1.9-beta-4. At the moment it's not possible to tell if Groovy 2.0-final will be released before NetBeans IDE 7.2. If it is, we will try to integrate Groovy 2.0-final to the NetBeans IDE 7.2 release. Otherwise, we will use Groovy 1.8.6, since it is the last stable release.
Code Completion improvements
- Code completion should be more reliable and accurate now - issue 151985
- CamelCase code completion has been implemented and works in a similar way as for java files
Hints
- Fix import hint added - issue 155569
Options
Options Window Redesign
- "Ant", "GUI Builder", "Java Card", "Java Debugger", "Java ME", "Maven" and "Profiler" sub-categories have been moved to the newly created Java category
- "Appearance" sub-category was renamed to "Windows" and now the Miscellaneous category contains
"Diff", "Files", "Groovy", "Issue Tracking", "JavaScript", "SVG", "Tasks", "Terminal", "Versioning" and "Windows" sub-categories
- Fonts and color part of "Terminal" sub-category of Miscellaneous category now look similar to other color management UI elements under the "Fonts and Colors" category
- the "Spellchecker" sub-category was moved under the Editor category
Platform
Window System
It is possible to have multiple rows of editor tabs and to change the tab placement (top/bottom/left/right). See menu Tools - Options - Miscellaneous - Windows.
A window header can have (animated) notification that it is currently busy, e.g. it's content is being loaded.
The popup window that shows when pressing Ctrl+TAB keys now includes non-document windows (Projects, Navigator etc) and also inner tabs in document windows (Source/Design/History).
Changed location of userdir and cachedir
The default location of NetBeans userdir and cachedir was changed to system specific paths. More information in UserdirAndCachedirFoldersInSystemSpecificPaths.
Maven-based module development
Archetypes using the 3.7 version of the plugin are now offered.
The major feature in this version is integral support for creating installers (NBI); this goal is suggested in the application archetype in -Pdeployment. The old Ant-based context menu item "Build Installers" is available only for earlier plugin versions and is deprecated.
OSGi 4.3, Felix 4.0.2 and Equinox 3.7.1
OSGi support in the platform has been upgraded to version 4.3. Read more...
Utilities
Search
- New layout of Find in Projects dialog.
- New options:
- Search in archives,
- Search in generated sources - e.g. build directory, code generated by wsimport.
- Customizable list of ignored files and folders.
- New search scope Browse...
- File name pattern can be specified as regular expression for the whole path.
- Helper windows for testing regular expressions.
- Find results are sortable by file name, path, number of matches or last modification date.
- New button for expanding/collapsing of the result tree.
- New button for switching to directory-tree view.
- When an error occurs, informative message is shown under the list of results.
- Lengthy "Preparing search" stage abolished. More helpful progress messages shown.
- Button for replacing is more intuitive, bigger and dynamic (shows number of selected matches to be replaced).
- New module api.search contains API and SPI for custom search providers.
C/C++
Debugging improvements
- gdb pretty printing support (see STLSupport)
- gdb watchpoints and catchpoint support. Use new breakpoint types: variable, exception and system call.
