Hey,

I have been blogging around for a while on hyperlinks in NetBeans IDE, what about the API’s, yeah the NetBeans API’s that helped me achieve a crucial milestone, i.e. activating the Opened panes! Also, the members of OpenIDE mailing lists, for giving accurate suggestions for making it possible.

Tricks

You must see numerous Developer FAQ’s based on Editor and Edited Files. Some of them referring to get access of relevant opened Window for editing. Still, something was missing. So, I would share what I experienced recently.

TopComponent[] comps = TopComponent.getRegistry().getOpened();
for (int i = 0; i < comps.length; i++) {
    Node[] arr = comps[i].getActivatedNodes();
    for (int j = 0; j < arr.length; j++) {
        EditorCookie ec = (EditorCookie)
arr[j].getCookie(EditorCookie.class);
        if (ec != null) {
            JEditorPane[] panes = ec.getOpenedPanes();
            if (panes != null) {
                // USE panes
            }
        }
    }
}

This has one issue, it no longers returns an array of TopComponent’s in the 1st line, in 6.0 and 6.1, I saw it returned Set<TopComponent>, so outer loop also changes like this-

Set<TopComponent> comps = TopComponent.getRegistry().getOpened();
for (TopComponent tc: comps) {
    Node[] arr = tc.getActivatedNodes();
    for (int j = 0; j < arr.length; j++) {
        EditorCookie ec = (EditorCookie)
arr[j].getCookie(EditorCookie.class);
        if (ec != null) {
            JEditorPane[] panes = ec.getOpenedPanes();
            if (panes != null) {
                // USE panes
            }
        }
    }
}

What about My Usecase?

Oh, yeah! I wanted to tell you about re-activating opened panes. After interacting with Wade on OpenIDE mailing lists. I created this method- verifyHyperlinkStatus(), please have a look, you might have to scroll a bit. So, I have commented 2 lines there-

//final int index = k;
/*
After some coding...
*/
//tc[index].requestActive();

tc[index] is a particular TopComponent instance obtained by iterating over an Array of TopComponent’s. Array? But, we have just discussed its Set<TopComponent> not an Array. You’re in for another surprise-

//To obtain an array, use this-
final TopComponent[] tc = TopComponent.getRegistry().
getOpened().toArray(new TopComponent[0]);
//As mentioned in the following reference tutorial.

Referenced Tutorial- http://wiki.netbeans.org/RevampedHyperlinkNavigation

final, but why?

Actually, when you deal with methods that required to run within a AWT Thread, invoked by various means, then the variables used, within their implemented run() method, if defined outside should be made final so as to prevent it from any modification. In Java, final modifier means that an identifier would be constant within a block of code. In this case, within a method- verifyHyperlinkStatus()

So, index was modified as final, and was used within an AWT Thread inside a if-block, which invoked tc[index].requestActive(), i.e. to activate that window, if its already opened.

Why I am doing this?

As I have to re-activate a opened editor window which was already opened by clicking a hyperlink in HTML file. So, I was earlier using setCaretPositon(), that’s why I had to requestActive(), to show that editor window again.

Tips to Remember

Vita suggested to use NbEditorUtilities instead of a combination of setCaretPosition() and requestActive(). So, I did that by commenting the following statements present in one of the setPosition() methods.

NbEditorUtilities.getLine(d, index, true).show(Line.SHOW_GOTO);
//pane[pos].setCaretPosition(index);

Here, index is found using indexOf(), and d is the document, whose contents were used to retrieve the index. This is indeed a great utility, why? Because, it opens/re-activates the opened document and places the cursor at the beginning of the line, that was searched.

Final thoughts

This time all was said and done, rather than the saying “All is said, more than done!”.

Hey,

Today, I started off working with JSF Framework, executed a series of well-described, neat tutorials which helped me go through the initial phase easily. Now, I am confident in doing what these tutorials explained.

Anyways, I came across a shortcut key, its Alt+Shift+F, used for Formatting the code present in the editor. Today, I used this key combo, in JSP using JSF Framework and Java Classes, as well.

Remember, how shortcut key’s are registered? This means this action is registered in the XML Layer of some module, as O-S-F.shadow! Anyways, that’s a different issue. Well, seriously I feel why the hell I came across this key, so late…It could have helped me save a lot of time, in many Java Projects I made using NetBeans!

eNjoy Technology…

Hi,

Few days back, I had blogged about “Tryst with MySQL“. Today, I shall move ahead and give an insight on database management with MySQL using NetBeans.

Its meant for Windows user only, rest can follow too, though just for the content and may try exploring these steps for their OS as well.

MySQL Tools -

Apart from being a popular open source database. It also has some amazing tools, which have been formed, due to years of users invaluable feedback, on their forums. Here’s what the website describes about MySQL Administrator;

MySQL Administrator is a powerful visual administration console that enables you to easily administer your MySQL environment and gain significantly better visibility into how your databases are operating

Lets understand in a simple, yet an interesting manner, how can we configure MySQL Server using it.

MySQL Community Server 5.0 -

Its free, thats why I used it! Also, its supported by NetBeans 6.0 and 6.1 FCS. Anyways, there are two methods of setting up the server, either by installing OR by not installing. Surprised! I was too, when I encountered this on their website.

So, you need to download the appropriate version and get started. if you go for installation, then just install it, by running the appropriate installer. By the way, its cross-platform, I guess you all might know this

If you go for the other, that means you are a hard working soul, who likes getting deep into the technicalities of the stuff, and if its open source then why not? So, download it and then, you could follow a long series of steps to get started (Refer to this MySQL Documentation) OR you could go my way.

I had tried the later one and it took 1-2 hours, to get things running smoothly. Now, I am going to make your life simple and easy. So, lets get rolling;

• Download the archive, if you still have not done it.
• Extract it and store it where ever you feel, but I would recommend storing it in C:/ if you are a Windows user, under a MySQL folder.
• Now, download the MySQL Admin tool, and install it.
• After installing, create a short-cut for MySQLAdministrator.exe (on the Desktop), stored under this kind of folder, C:/Program Files/MySQL/MySQL Tools for version/
  
• Run this application, it will prompt you for a connection host, port username and password.
• Just press Ctrl, don’t release it and click on Skip button, which is initially the Cancel button.
• Click on Service Control, in the left panel and then, click on Configure Service Tab. Here, you would see a button at the bottom the UI, click on Install new Service. Name it as MySQL.
• OR, you can right-click inside the Installed Services section, in left panel. A context-menu pops-up with 3 options. Select Install new Service. Name it as MySQL.
• Now, do the following entries; what I did I just made two changes there. In the Config Filename text-field, enter the path of the my.ini, its the option file.
  1. You may either create option file on your own, OR you may copy some pre-defined option files, stored in MySQL Server extracted folder.
  2. Copy any one of the files having my- as prefix and copy, paste it into the data folder in that directory, rename it to my.ini

• Now, back to the Admin, in the Path to binary field, browse to the bin folder inside the MySQL Server extracted folder.
• Then, click button - Apply Changes. Switch over to the Startup Variable Tab. Click button - Choose Option File and browse to the directory, where we had created the my.ini file.
• Check the following checkboxes -
  1. TCP Port: 3306
  2. Base Directory: C:/Program Files/MySQL/mysql-5.0.51a-win32
  3. Data Directory: C:/Program Files/MySQL/mysql-5.0.51a-win32/data
  4. Default Storage - that’s upto you, I selected InnoDB.
• Apply changes and switch to Service Control and then, Start/Stop Service. Now, press Start Service.
• You are ready to use MySQL Server. Click on File Menu and select New Instance Connection…
• Again, you would see the prompt which you had earlier came across, this time, don’t alter default values, just click OK.
• Now, it would show the Administrator with all the options, which the user must access to administer database, manage connections, add/delete users and grant/revoke privileges.
  

MySQL and NetBeans -

So, you want to use MySQL with NetBeans, I guess Java is your language of choice for development in NetBeans, as it provides such a fabulous Java Editor since 6.0 FCS and now, its really amazing in 6.1 FCS. You could try making a database application using Swing Application Framework, which lets you create a CRUD application.

Firstly, you need a JDBC driver, as we are using Java to connect to MySQL databases, then you have to go for Connector/J (IV Type Driver), there are some more available for other languages too.

Here is a fantastic tutorial, which would enable you to get started with MySQL database management using NetBeans.

Connecting to a MySQL database

Today, I tried all this and started working with MySQL, it was good, everything worked smoothly, until the following happened.

I had an issue while trying to disconnect database using the Admin tool, ran by NetBeans Database Explorer. So, I have filed a bug report, just click that link, to see more details and an attached image too, justifying my point.

eNjoy Technology…

This is being submitted for review to the blogging contest - Student Reviews NetBeans 6.1 and OpenSolaris!
Author - Varun Nischal, University - JIIT University

Hey,

Today, I started off working with MySQL after a long break. I have tried it before too, using WAMPServer, which had phpMyAdmin to manage the database for website development. I was using it for the first time then, so never really went into much technicalities.

During the past 6 months, NetBeans 6.0 FCS and 6.1 FCS were released. I am glad to use both of them, as both made my work easier than ever before. Just because of the speed which 6.1 provides, I have started shifting from 6.0!

Also, Sun acquired MySQL during this time and I was happy to see this acquisition taking place, as NetBeans would support MySQL database’s as well. It would help me to learn working with MySQL easily, yet efficiently.

NetBeans 6.1 has provided a special download bundle which bundles MySQL Community Server 5.0 and GlassFish V2 Update 2!

I never used MySQL support in NetBeans 6.0, actually didn’t do any sort of database management in NetBeans since 5.5 FCS. Now, I have to create a database application as a semester project. So, I am going to use MySQL support in NetBeans 6.1!

Lets see what happens…sTay Tuned!

Guys,

I had also once blogged about a project which I was going to do, i.e. to make a Visual Basic equivalent of Java project. Here’s the following excerpt from the other blog.

I never ever thought I would learn Visual Basic like this, but this is life! I had made a semester project coded in Java, using NetBeans IDE. A good friend of mine, wanted to do the same, not in Java, but in Visual Basic…

You may continue reading about it there itself, here I am just telling you that its finished and I didn’t get time to blog about it, though I finished it few days back and in 6 hrs. flat!

Soon, I would be detailing more about it there, so keep an eye on the other blog.

eNjoy Technology…..