Reviews : IDE Wars: Has NetBeans 4.1 Eclipsed Eclipse? :

Using NetBeans

Form Editor
NetBeans' Form Editor is cool (Figure 1 ). Simply click on the Swing element you wish to create, then edit any properties. Or, click the source button to edit the source.

The Runtime Window
The Runtime Window (Figure 2 ) allows you to see what's going on: currently running processes, external services, debugging sessions, etc.

Figure 2

J2EE Features
As a J2EE developer, I always look for ways to simplify the development of Web and Enterprise applications. NetBeans helps. Wizards shorten the time to develop EJBs and allow for visual linking. JSPs can be edited internally. Deployment is easy (at least to the embedded Sun application server). Modification of deployment descriptors is fast. The HTTP Monitor rocks, allowing for watching the interaction with the Web server, and displaying cookie information, session parameters, request parameters and the like. I think the time spent learning all of this will easily be returned in productivity gains.

Mobility Features
J2ME development with NetBeans requires installation of the Mobility Pack. It's a simple process—and well worth it. When you reload NetBeans, simply create a new mobile project. You will then get the Flow Design screen, which shows the flow of your mobile application (Figure 3 ).

Figure 3

You can edit the source directly or create new MIDlets and Java classes to use in your development. The Screen Design interface (Figure 4 ) allows you to see what will output to the mobile screen. Very cool.

Figure 4

Web Services Features
As Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) continues to allow for remote application integration, it is increasingly necessary to have solid Web services integration. NetBeans allows for simplified creation and consumption of Web services. Web services are consumed by importing a WSDL file, which creates a stub that invokes that Web service. Everything worked as planned when I tested by consuming a Web service from an online Web services directory. Creating is almost as simple—you create a new Web service as you would any other project element, then either point it to an existing Java class and expose the methods you wish. Or, you can create a Web service from a WSDL file or even create one from scratch.

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