NetBeans™ IDE Field Guide: Developing Desktop, Web, Enterprise, and Mobile Applications (2nd Edition) [Paperback]

Patrick Keegan (Author), Ludovic Champenois (Author), Gregory Crawley (Author), Charlie Hunt (Author), Christopher Webster (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0132395525 | ISBN-13: 978-0132395526 | Publication Date: May 19, 2006 | Edition: 2

The Only Complete Guide and Reference for NetBeans™ IDE 5.0

The award-winning NetBeans™ IDE eases all aspects of Java application development, incorporating a wide range of powerful features into one well-designed package. NetBeans IDE is consistently first in supporting the latest Java technologies for developing desktop, web, enterprise, and mobile applications.

NetBeans™ IDE Field Guide provides an introduction to the IDE and an extensive range of topics to help you with both everyday and advanced programming tasks, including

• Taking advantage of the Ant-based project system to create easily deployable projects
• Developing web applications with the built-in Apache Tomcat web server
• Constructing, assembling, and verifying large-scale Java EE applications
• Managing the Sun Java System Application Server through NetBeans IDE
• Developing mobile applications with the NetBeans Mobility Pack
• In this expanded second edition, you can also learn how to
• Build powerful and attractive desktop applications with the Matisse GUI Builder
• Profile your applications for performance issues
• Develop modules for NetBeans IDE and rich-client applications based on the NetBeans Platform
• Chat and share code with other developers using the NetBeans Collaboration Modules

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Only Complete Guide and Reference for NetBeans IDE 4.1!

The award-winning NetBeans integrated development environment is today's state-of-the-art Java IDE. NetBeans is the first free, open source IDE to support Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0, and it's a leader in providing advanced support for Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE), Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME), and other technologies. NetBeans IDE eases all aspects of Java application development, incorporating a wide range of powerful features into one well-designed package.

NetBeans™ IDE Field Guide is a comprehensive introductory guide and task reference--it's the fast-answers NetBeans "cookbook" for every Java developer. The authors show you how to use NetBeans to build applications for the desktop, web, enterprise, and handset. Coverage includes

• Navigating NetBeans IDE, and creating, opening, and configuring projects
• Using NetBeans' special Ant integration to work with complex existing projects
• Maximizing productivity in everyday coding, debugging, and refactoring
• Developing web applications with NetBeans' built-in Apache Tomcat Web server
• Creating and consuming web services
• Using enterprise beans to extend web applications with business logic
• Constructing, assembling, and verifying large-scale J2EE applications
• Managing the Sun Java System Application Server through NetBeans IDE
• Developing J2ME handheld applications with the NetBeans Mobility Pack

If you're new to NetBeans, this book will help you quickly leverage its power throughout the entire edit-compile-test-debug-deploy cycle. If you've worked with older versions, you'll learn how to make the most of its dramatic improvements. Whatever you're building with Java, NetBeans™ IDE Field Guide will help you build it faster, better, and more efficiently.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Patrick Keegan is one of the technical writers for NetBeans IDE. He has been writing about the IDE since May 1999, when NetBeans was a small Czech company yet to be acquired by Sun Microsystems.

Ludovic Champenois is a senior architect at Sun Microsystems. He has been with Sun for more than a decade, and is currently the tech lead and architect for NetBeans J2EE support.

Gregory Crawley conceptualized and implemented the Mobility device fragmentation solution for NetBeans IDE 4.0. He continues to be an avid NetBeans IDE user and developer of J2ME games in association with Cotopia Wireless.

Charlie Hunt is a Java Performance Engineer at Sun Microsystems. He has been working with Java since 1997 and has held many other positions at Sun, including Java Architect and NetBeans Technology Evangelist.

Christopher Webster, a member of the NetBeans Enterprise Pack development team, focuses on service-oriented architecture (SOA) development tools. Before joining Sun, Chris was a computer scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 424 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 2 edition (May 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0132395525
• ISBN-13: 978-0132395526
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,082,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Seriously Out of Date; Limited Topic Coverage, September 22, 2006

By 

Technical Reader (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: NetBeans™ IDE Field Guide: Developing Desktop, Web, Enterprise, and Mobile Applications (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

This book covers up to Netbeans 4.1; the current revision on the streets is 5.0 and the 5.5 Beta is almost ready to go live. Unfortunately there are big differences between the 4.x and 5.x versions, rendering this book useless to all but those who need the most basic NB usage info.

Seriously lacking in this book (revision issues aside) is any information on "Netbeans Platform" development. This is a serious oversight. When will we find a good, current Netbeans book that covers Platform and Module development in depth???

I returned it to Amazon after about an hour reviewing it. It simply does not meet the need for today's Netbeans Developer.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential guide learning how to use Netbeans to develop Java applications, August 4, 2005

By 

J. Bologna (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: NetBeans™ IDE Field Guide: Developing Desktop, Web, Enterprise, and Mobile Applications (Paperback)

This book was written by programmers, for programmers. As a programmer knows, learning a new editor/IDE is the bane of the profession. I still use the editor I learned in college, because I hate learning new ones. - This book makes it easy (No, I won't say how long ago I went to college :)

The field guide is a very well written book and an essential guide for learning how to develop Java applications quickly. Fully 1/4 of the book shows essential details for learning the shortcuts that reduce keystrokes and teach essential techniques for becoming a power user of the IDE. The book also contains grey boxes that address some of the history and essential concepts of Java programming. Each section is designed to fully address the myriad of activities supported by the Netbeans IDE. The beginning of each section shows a table of essential functionality and associated key combinations, making this book handy to have close by.

The Netbeans IDE has a lot of hidden functionality, which is exposed by a quick scan of the book. Code refactoring and debugging are very common activities that are covered in detail. The book also covers every type of Java application - from PC based (console) to embedded systems (J2ME) though server based systems (J2EE) and Web Services.

Coverage of how to use the Form editor is good; however the example does not show how to create form. It also does not mention that in order to drag and drop components in Windows both mouse buttons must be pressed. But these are minor oversights in otherwise excellent coverage of the material.

As I try the more sophisticated aspects of Java programming, this book helps me get started in a hands-on manner very quickly. This book is essential for anyone trying to become proficient in the world of modern Java programming.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, Practical Guide., August 24, 2005

By 

J. KAPSON (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: NetBeans™ IDE Field Guide: Developing Desktop, Web, Enterprise, and Mobile Applications (Paperback)

The NetBeans IDE is very powerful and has many features that simplify the process of creating quality Java applications ranging in scale from large (J2EE) to small (J2ME). This Field Guide is an outstanding companion book targeted for use by real-world software engineering practitioners. In a straightforward manner, it walks one through the process of familiarizing oneself with the IDE; setting up projects; and creating, debugging and deploying applications for web, desktop, enterprise, and mobile platforms.

I've developed software professionally for almost twenty years and have read my fair share of technical books - this one ranks very high on my scale for it's clarity, content, and practicality. If you work with Java, you will not be disappointed using NetBeans and this Field Guide.