NetBeans^TM IDE 4.1 Release Notes

Last Updated: 10 June 2005

Contents

• Introduction
• What's Changed
• System Requirements
• Compatibility/Upgrading
• Known Issues
• Documentation
• More Information

Welcome to NetBeans^TM IDE 4.1. NetBeans IDE is a modular, standards-based integrated development environment (IDE), written in the Java^TM programming language. The NetBeans project consists of:

• An open source IDE written in the Java programming language.
• An application platform, which can be used as a generic framework to build any kind of application.

If you are looking for information about installing the IDE, see the NetBeans Installation Instructions.

NetBeans IDE 4.1 adds support for developing applications for the J2EE 1.4 Platform and their deployment to the Sun Java™ System Application Server 8.1 Platform Edition.

Enhancements to existing features in NetBeans include:

• Support for projects with multiple source roots.
• Automatic generation of Debug and Compile Single File actions for projects with existing build scripts.
• Streamlined configuration of project classpaths using the Libraries node in the Projects window.
• Simplified browsing of project classes using the Navigator window.

For more information about new development features in NetBeans IDE, see the NetBeans IDE 4.1 Highlights.

Operating Systems

NetBeans IDE runs on operating systems that support the Java^TM VM. Below is a list of platforms that NetBeans IDE has been tested on.

• Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2
• Solaris operating system (SPARC^® and x86 Platform Editions) versions 8, 9, and 10
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
• Java Desktop System 2
• Mac OS X 10.3

NetBeans IDE is also known to run on the following platforms:

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP3
• Various other Linux distributions
• Open VMS 7.2-1 or later
• Other UNIX^® platforms, such as HP-UX

  Note: the Sun Java System Application Server may not run on certain platforms.

Minimum Hardware Configuration

• Solaris^TM operating system:
  • Processor: 450 MHz Ultra^TM 10 workstation or equivalent
  • Memory: 384 megabytes
  • Disk space: 125 megabytes of free disk space


• Microsoft Windows operating systems:
  • Processor: 500 MHz Intel Pentium III workstation or equivalent
  • Memory: 384 megabytes
  • Disk space: 125 megabytes of free disk space


• Linux operating system:
  • Processor: 500 MHz Intel Pentium III workstation or equivalent
  • Memory: 384 megabytes
  • Disk space: 125 megabytes of free disk space


• Macintosh OS X operating system:
  • Processor: PowerPC G4
  • Memory: 512 megabytes
  • Disk space: 125 megabytes of free disk space

Recommended Hardware Configuration

• Solaris^TM operating system:
  • Processor: 500 MHz Ultra^TM 60 workstation or equivalent
  • Memory: 512 megabytes
  • Disk space: 125 megabytes of free disk space


• Microsoft Windows operating systems:
  • Processor: 780 MHz Intel Pentium III workstation or equivalent
  • Memory: 512 megabytes
  • Disk space: 125 megabytes of free disk space


• Linux operating system:
  • Processor: 800 MHz Intel Pentium III workstation or equivalent
  • Memory: 512 megabytes
  • Disk space: 125 megabytes of free disk space


• Macintosh OS X operating system:
  • Processor: PowerPC G5
  • Memory: 1 gigabyte
  • Disk space: 125 megabytes of free disk space

Required Software

NetBeans IDE runs on the J2SE JDK 5.0 (Java^TM 2 JDK, Standard Edition), which consists of the Java Runtime Environment plus developer tools for compiling, debugging, and running applications written in the Java^TM language. NetBeans IDE 4.1 also runs on J2SE SDK version 1.4.2, but it has only been tested on JDK 5.0.

Note: If you wish to run the IDE on earlier versions of the SDK or if you prefer to install the IDE manually, you can download archived versions of the IDE at http://java.sun.com/products/archive/index.html.

You can download the JDK for your platform from one of the sites listed below:

• Solaris: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.html
• Windows: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.html
• Linux: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.html
• Mac OS X: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/javaupdate142.html (Mac OS X 10.3.4 or later). Mac OS upgrades are also available via Apple's Software Update mechanism.
• Open VMS: http://h18012.www1.hp.com/java/download/index.html
• OS/2: http://www.goldencode.com/company/software/j2se/index.html or http://www.innotek.de/products/javaos2/javaos2general_e.html.
  If you get a NullPointerException when starting the IDE on OS/2, try changing the name of your JAVA_HOME/jre directory to all capital letters.

Sun Java System Application Server Requirements

In order to use the J2EE development features of NetBeans IDE 4.1, you must have the Sun Java System Application Server Platform Edition 8 2005Q1 installed on your computer. You can download it here.

Note: Because you also need the Sun Java System Application Server PE 8 2005Q1 to work with the J2EE features of NetBeans IDE 4.1, your computer must also meet the application server's minimum requirements.

When you first run the IDE, you can import a subset of the settings you used in NetBeans IDE 4.0. If you choose not to import settings from a previous release, the IDE opens using the default settings. Project-specific settings are not importable from version 3.6.

Note: The IDE only recognizes previous installations where the user directory resides in the default location. It does not recognize installations where you have specified a user directory using the --userdir switch. If you would like to import settings from an IDE that the installer does not recognize, download an archive version of the IDE instead of the installer.

Though it is possible to import settings from a previous IDE installation into NetBeans IDE 4.1, it is not possible to import settings from NetBeans IDE 4.1 into an earlier IDE release.

The unresolved issues for this release are as follows:

• General Issues

  Description:

  If you edit the Project Properties for a project that was created in NetBeans IDE 4.0 in NetBeans IDE 4.1, the project will no longer work in NetBeans IDE 4.0.

• Issue #26965

  Description:

  If you have an incompatible version of sax.jar in your JDK installation, the IDE installer crashes with the following message: "The wizard cannot continue because of the following error: could not load wizard specified in /wizard.inf (104)"

  Workaround:

  Temporarily remove jre/lib/endorsed/sax.jar from the JDK directory during IDE installation.

• Issue #32463 (Macintosh OS X only)

  Description:

  Right-click mouse behavior not emulated on multiple files.

  Workaround:

  Press and hold Control while selecting multiple files one at a time. Note that the contextual menu will appear after each mouse click and may obstruct subsequent selections.

• Issue #39449 (Macintosh OS X only)

  Description:

  Main menu appears in NetBeans window rather than standard Mac OS X location.

  Workaround:

  There is no workaround for this problem.

• Issue #45652

  Description:

  Unable to add a folder to Favorites using the Add to Favorites dialog on Linux with GTK L&F.

  Workaround:

  If this happens, enter the folder name manually in the Add to Favorites dialog File Name field and then press Add.

• Issue #47645

  Description:

  Cannot run a target with a task that has failonerror=true from within the IDE even though the same script runs outside of the IDE without problems.

  Workaround:

  If this occurs, it is recommended that you run the script from the command line. Alternately, you may rewrite the script.

• Issue #51880

  Description:

  JSPs in free-form projects unable to be debugged when attaching the debugger to a process.

  Workaround:

  Use an ant debug target as described in Writing A Debug Target for a Free-Form Web Project instead.

• Issue #52856

  Description:

  Sun Java System Application Server installation fails. Note that this problem has been known to occur both when using the NetBeans 4.1 IDE and Sun Java System Application Server Platform Edition 8 Bundle installer as well as the stand-alone Application Server installer. This happens when a previous installation of the Application Server has failed and subsequent attempts at uninstallation were also unsuccessful (i.e. some registry entries or configuration files weren't deleted).

  Workaround:

  If this happens, remove all previous installations of the Sun Java System Application Server. Then delete the installer's <USERHOME>\Local Settings\temp\ directory and the Application Server's \Application Data\Sun\tmp\ directory (note that files may also be located in <WINDIR>\Sun\). If a previous uninstallation attempt of the Application Server was unsuccessful, also delete the <SYSTEMDIR>/productregistry file. Next, create a new directory within which to install the software and ensure that the directory is empty and writable. Finally, reinstall the Application Server in the new location on your system.

• Issue #54965

  Description:

  When the WSDL operation qualifies for wrapper style and the output part's element has more than one sub element, the output element does not unwrap. This causes a conflict with JSR-109.

  Workaround:

  If this occurs, right-click the project node, choose Properties, select the Web Service Clients panel, select "donotunwrap" and deselect "strict".

• Issue #56910

  Description:

  Sun Java System Application Server is restarted in some cases after deployment. This occurs when a module that is deployed to the application server has errors in its sources, such as when a remote method does not throw a RemoteException.

  Workaround:

  If this occurs, run the integrated J2EE verifier to obtain information about why the archive can not be loaded and then edit the source file to correct any errors.

• Issue #57282 (Linux only)

  Description:

  Sun Java System Application Server is not installed on 64bit JDK on Linux/AMD64. The Application Server installer but does not run on 64bit JDK and therefore the Application Server cannot be installed using a 64bit JDK. This does not mean, however, that the Application Server itself will not RUN on 64bit JDK.

  Workaround:

  If this occurs, run the Application Server bundle installer on a 32bit JDK. After installation you should be able to run both the IDE and Application Server on a 64bit JDK.

• Issue #58221

  Description:

  Javadoc generation fails for projects created in NetBeans 4.0 when opened in NetBeans 4.1.

  Workaround:

  If this occurs, manually add the property javadoc.additionalparam= to the project.properties file using a text editor.

• Issue #58230

  Description:

  Web projects created in NetBeans 4.0 unable to use JUnit test packages when opened in NetBeans 4.1.

  Workaround:

  Create a new project using the Web Application with Existing Sources wizard instead of opening the existing 4.0 web project directly in NetBeans 4.1. Alternately, if you wish to preserve your original 4.0 web application's project settings, you can resolve the broken references by adding the necessary values to the new project's project.properties file as follows:

  build.test.classes.dir=${build.dir}/test/classes build.test.results.dir=${build.dir}/test/results debug.test.classpath=${run.test.classpath} javac.test.classpath=\ ${javac.classpath}:\ ${build.classes.dir}:\ ${libs.junit.classpath} run.test.classpath=\ ${javac.test.classpath}:\ ${build.test.classes.dir}

• Issue #58231

  Description:

  Unable to add web projects created in NetBeans 4.0 to J2EE Enterprise applications in NetBeans 4.1.

  Workaround:

  Create a new project using the Web Application with Existing Sources wizard instead of opening the existing 4.0 web project directly in NetBeans 4.1. Alternately, if you wish to preserve your original 4.0 web application's project settings, you can resolve the broken references by adding the necessary values to the new project's project.properties file as follows:

  build.ear.classes.dir=${build.ear.web.dir}/WEB-INF/classes build.ear.web.dir=${build.dir}/ear-module war.ear.name=YOUR_WAR_FILE_NAME.war

• Issue #58498

  Description:

  Free-form web project JSP file nodes are sometimes not visible in the Projects window, Files window, and Favorites window. The causes for this vary.

  Workaround:

  Right-click the web free-form project, choose Properties, and click OK on the Web Sources Classpath page. Then restart the IDE.

• Issue #58848 (Macintosh OS X only)

  Description:

  Sun Java System Application Server Platform Edition 8 installation fails on Mac OS X when using the NetBeans 4.1 IDE and Application Server bundle installer on JDK 1.5. The AppServer installer must be run on J2SE 1.4.x SDK when using OS X.

  Workaround:

  If this happens, select the J2SE 1.4.2 SDK (the default) when the installer prompts you to designate which JVM it should run on. Note that you can still develop for JDK 1.5 even though the IDE itself is running on 1.4.2.

• Issue #57697 (Windows only)

  Description:

  Sun Java System Application Server installation fails because the bundle installer cannot find the JDK.

  Workaround:

  If this happens, start the console application (cmd.exe), navigate to the directory where the installer is located, and type the installer name plus the -is:javahome <JAVA HOME DIR> switch. Create a new directory within which to install the software and ensure that the directory is empty and writable. If necessary, you can also use the -is:log <log file> parameter to generate an installer log.

  Notes:

  • If a previous uninstallation attempt of the Application Server was not successful, delete the <SYSTEMDIR>/productregistry file.
  • If one of the values specified in the silent installer statefile is invalid (i.e. it has a null value, zero length value, or its port is in use), add the appropriate values to the statefile.
  • See Issue #52856 above for additional information.

The built-in help system for NetBeans IDE 4.1 has not been completely updated to cover the J2EE development features. For information about the J2EE development features, see the following documents:

NetBeans IDE 4.1 Quick Start Guides:

• For Web Applications
• For Web Services
• For J2EE Applications

NetBeans IDE 4.1 Import Guides:

• For Web Applications
• For J2EE Applications

Complete list of NetBeans 4.1 Documentation:

• http://www.netbeans.org/kb/41/index.html

Note: If you are using the NetBeans IDE on Mac OS X, see Using NetBeans on Mac OS X for more information about keyboard equivalents, tips and tricks, and other Mac-specific topics.

You can find news, articles, additional modules, and other useful information on the NetBeans project web site. Since NetBeans is an open-source project, the web site also provides access to source code, a bug database, information on creating your own NetBeans modules, and much more.

For more information, visit http://www.netbeans.org/.

You can keep up to date on NetBeans IDE and interact with the NetBeans community by signing up for NetBeans project mailing lists at http://www.netbeans.org/community/lists/.