by Larry Arnoldy

Double click the desktop icon or click on the Start button and navigate to the program name.

Click on the menu item Project and then click on Project Manager in the drop down list.

If you have created previous projects they will be listed on the left side of the Project Manager dialog box. Project Default will always be listed. Click on New for a new project.

A dialog box will appear in which you can enter the name of your project. Type over the default name and give the project a meaningful name and then click OK. For assignments, it is a good idea to include the chapter and exercise number in the name. This is an example for exercise 9 from chapter 2.

 

NetBeans uses the term Filesystem for the directories in which the files for your project are located. In order to tell NetBeans which directories that you need, you must first mount them as a Filesystem.
Right click on Filesystems in the left hand window, then on Mount, then on Local Directory. Make sure that you used a right mouse click on Filesystems.

A file system dialog box will appear. Navigate to the directory where you wish to store your files. It is a good idea to put each exercise in a separate directory. If the directory does not already exist click on the New Directory icon and give the new folder an appropriate name by typing over the default New Folder name. When doing exercises from the text book, it is a good idea to include the chapter and exercise numbers in the directory name. The name does not have to be the same as the project name, but can be if you wish. If the directory already exists, simply click on the directory name.

After you have chosen the directory, click the Finish button to return.

The basic IDE window should now be displayed. On the left is the list of mounted file systems. If the Runtime window is showing on the left hand side, then click on Filesystems. In some cases there may be more then one filesystem that is displayed. In the example here, there is only one. The right side is the editor window. We have not told NetBeans yet that we wish to edit a file, so it is empty.
To create a new Java source file, right click on the name of the filesystem in the left hand window. Make sure that you use the right mouse button..

In the drop down boxes that then appear, click on New then on Java Main Class.

Replace the <default name> with the name of your class. For exercises from the textbook, it is a good idea to include the chapter and exercise number in the class name. This example uses Ch2_9_Main as the name of the class. Do not add the .java extension. NetBeans adds the .java extension automatically for you. By convention, Java class names start with a capital letter, so make sure that the first character is a letter. They may include letters, numbers, and underscores. After clicking Finish, you are ready to edit your source file.

Because we requested a Java main class, NetBeans uses this template for creating a Java main class. The source file is displayed in the right hand editor window. This template saves some typing, because it already includes some of the standard code that is usually included in a Java source file. You can now modify this source file as needed.

Depending upon your project, you may need more than one source Java file. If so, proceed as in steps 8 through 10, except in step 9, choose "Java Class". You will then see the new file in the Filesystem tree and its tab in the editor window. Click on the appropriate tab to display the source file.

More information can be found in Edit, compile, and execute the source file.