Now here's a pretty cool piece of code.

Let's imagine you're populating a node hierarchy from a database. In addition, you want to populate the same node hierarchy from the filesystem because you're using @ConvertAsJavaBean to serialize a new business object whenever the user steps through a wizard to create a new customer. At that point, i.e., when Finish is clicked, the .settings file is created in the userdir because maybe the user doesn't want to save the new object as soon as it is created.

Here's a video of Ernest Lötter from ISS International (world leader in microseismological services and software for monitoring of mines) in Stellenbosch, sharing some info about the the NetBeans Platform Visual Library.

However, you need to learn Afrikaans first to understand it! In fact, this is (unless I am mistaken) the first screencast about the NetBeans Platform that is in Afrikaans!

The three day NetBeans Platform Certified Training in Stellenbosch is over and here is a group pic:

In the background you should see a sunny view of the beautiful sunny Stellenbosch surroundings.

Tim's Validation API (which is in the "ide" cluster in your NetBeans IDE installation directory), in action in an OutlineView:

And in the Properties window:

To achieve the above, you need to create an InPlaceEditor for your Property.

After last week's NetBeans Platform Certified Training in Johannesburg, the next one kicked off today, this time in Stellenbosch. (Tried some of the Spier wine yesterday, at the actual Spier wine farm. I recommend it.) The training is held at the offices of ISSI, which is world leader in providing services & software for microseismological monitoring of mines.

I did 'hg pull' on my hg clone of the NetBeans sources, then built via ant, ran it, and used the New Action wizard, with the above result.

The best thing about giving NetBeans Platform Certified Trainings is the cool challenges that students leave you with. In the process, you learn about actual business needs and you teach yourself how to implement them on the NetBeans Platform.

A great example of this during the Johannesburg training (which is now complete, after 5 days, i.e., 3 days basic training, followed by 2 day advanced course) was posed by Marcel Auret and Kobus Botha from Saab.

Yesterday was the final day of the 3-day NetBeans Platform Certified Training in Johannesburg. During the final day, two outsiders joined the course to present their work on the NetBeans Platform. But outsiders they are not really, of course. In fact, they're insiders!

Pics of the class at the latest NetBeans Platform Certified Training in Johannesburg:

Here is the completed version of the Customer Application referred to during today's class.

And this is where the slides are found and 24 Aug - 2:21am

• NetBeans

Well, the NetBeans Platform Certified Training has now started in Johannesburg, organized by Jumping Bean.

The room is as full as it could be. 16 paid students, all from various organizations. About half of them are from defense contractor Saab, who create applications for the South African National Defense Force. Part of what they're going to be doing is plugging into KITT, about which there will be a demonstration on Wednesday.

When the user clicks the Enter key in your OutlineView, you'd like the Save Action to become enabled, so that the Save button (and Save menu item) can be clicked.

Several tweaks later and the appearance of the OutlineViews is much improved, largely thanks to Toni Epple who came to visit in Amsterdam today:

The first column is removed, The small edit buttons are gone, except when you select a cell. Only the useful properties, instead of ALL the properties, are displayed in the Properties window. The tabs in the windows are removed. The selected row is highlighted. A combobox is displayed as the property editor for the city property.

I've been in touch with Robert C. Kelsey for a while. I met him on the dev mailing list, i.e., the mailing list for NetBeans Platform developers. He is the owner and programmer behind AMSWin: "AMSWin is software specifically designed for AMSOIL dealers. It allows business owners to manage their Customers, fellow Dealers, Inventory, Orders and Other Transactions in a way that ensures a manageable and efficient operation.

Yesterday and today I worked through a lot of the FAQs, mailing lists, and other random documentation on the web in order to figure out a simple procedure for setting up unit tests, functional tests, and code coverage measurement for a NetBeans Platform application. Turns out, it was really easy, since all the related frameworks are part and parcel of the NetBeans Platform build harness. Simply go to the "harness" folder in your NetBeans IDE installation and you'll see what I'm talking about.

The latest NetBeans Weekly Newsletter reveals that there are many NetBeans Platform trainings coming up. If you're about to attend one, you might be wondering how best to prepare for the event. What should be on your laptop? Are there any special plugins you need to install?

In exchange for blogging about them, I've been given a free look at the new Java Swing Components.

Continuation from yesterday's blog entry, with a more relevant sample, based on applications I've seen on the NetBeans Platform. It is very common to want to let the user click in a window causing a dialog to be displayed followed by a widget being created, with properties and the possibility of being connected to each other (via Ctrl plus left mousebutton movement):

Continuation from yesterday's blog entry, with a more relevant sample, based on applications I've seen on the NetBeans Platform.

The question of the day comes from David Smith on the dev mailing list who wants to, if I understand it correctly, click a scene, display a dialog, and then cause a widget to be created.

The question of the day comes from David Smith on the dev mailing list who wants to, if I understand it correctly, click a scene, display a dialog, and then cause a widget to be created. If that's not the problem he's trying to solve, then maybe this will help some of the way there.

What we'll do is, let the user right-click in a scene, which produces two menu items:

Upon choosing a menu item, a dialog will pop up, asking for a description of the chosen item:

YANPA (yet another NetBeans Platform application) comes from Bielefeld University in Germany. There, Nils Hoffmann is a PhD student in the area of metabolomics.

Click the download button on the Wicket page in the NetBeans Plugin Portal:

http://plugins.netbeans.org/PluginPortal/faces/PluginDetailPage.jsp?pluginid=3586

...and you should get a ZIP called "NetBeansWicket691a.zip". That contains the updated three NBMs providing support in NetBeans IDE 6.9.1 for Wicket.

It is alive! I downloaded the eBook, which is now available, and the actual book itself will now also be shipped to you:

Go here to buy yours and attain a step-by-step guide to creating a new modular Swing application on the NetBeans Platform.

It is alive! I downloaded the eBook, which is now available, and the actual book itself will now also be shipped to you:

Go here to buy yours and attain a step-by-step guide to creating a new modular Swing application on the NetBeans Platform.

As a generic application framework for large modular Swing applications, the NetBeans Platform has seen a significant number of developments recently. In order of importance, in my humble opinion:

1. Eclipse RCP/NetBeans Platform: The Real Story. Edvin Syse explains the differences as they really are, in an article that continues to stand solidly, despite those that tried to argue against it: Why I Moved from Eclipse RCP to the NetBeans Platform.

In part 1, you were introduced to an energy consumption analysis application created on the NetBeans Platform at the Universidad de Zaragoza in Spain. Today I received several more screenshots from Pablo Estrada, of the latest state of the application, which lets the designer create a residential area composed of a perimeter, plots, streets, and buildings. The streets divide the perimeter surface into different plots where the user can drag and drop buildings, after which energy consumption can be analyzed.

Missed Thursday's SkillsMatter "In The Brain" session where I talked about the NetBeans Platform in London?

YouTube movie on a competition timing application:

The application is created on top of the NetBeans Platform, p

You read the title correctly, yes, you can even start a dog daycare center on the NetBeans Platform. For, after all, dogs deserve a vacation too. (Every dog has its day.)

And, of course, you need to calculate whether it makes sense for your pocket to start a dog daycare center.

I have been an avid user of Ubuntu for a few years now, (here's a list of blogs I wrote about my experiences with Ubuntu). Over the last few weeks, I managed to experience both the very best and the very worst of what it means to be an Ubuntu user.

It all started when my Hardy Heron (8.04) installation became increasingly sluggish.