The JDK package must be installed first.
Windows systems come with the JRE (i.e., java and
support executables), but not the compiler structure,
(i.e., javac and others).
These packages and other related ones are available
from the respective home sites below.
The Java site provides a cobundle
version with JDK and NetBeans, but I prefer separate installations.
The Java Documentation is not strictly necessary, but
it is needed to provide online Javadoc reference in Netbeans.
Before you get going, tell Windows to stop treating you like a baby.
Make it show you file extensions as well as other "hidden" features.
Open any folder, such as My Computer or My Documents
Go to ToolsFolder Options
Select the View tab.
Then, make these changes (most importantly, the first one):
Uncheck the box "Hide file extensions for known file types".
Check the "Show hidden files and folders" radio button in
"Hidden files and folders".
Uncheck the "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)" check box.
JDK Installation
Before installing a newer version, you have to decide whether to remove
or retain older versions of JDK and/or JRE (Java Runtime Environment).
I tend to favor removing them,
but if you're unsure, keep the older versions.
Java self-installs into the directory
(assuming C:\ is the system drive root):
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_14
The freely-distributable JRE is also installed in the adjacent directory:
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_14
From the Java site, you can alternatively choose between online and
offline installations. The former
downloads only a stub to your computer, and
the more significant downloads occur during installation.
Shell Execution
If you want to run the Java applications
from a command shell, you will probably need to set
the PATH and CLASSPATHenvironment variables.
The PATH specifies the list of folders searched
for executables. The CLASSPATH specifies the
list of folders and archives containing Java classes.
The environment variables can be manipulated
through this access method:
Control Panel System Advanced Environment Variables
You want the PATH variable to contain
the following directory
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_14\bin
When you edit the PATH variable,
scroll to the far left append to the front this syntax:
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_14\bin;
You probably want the
CLASSPATH environment variable to be unset,
or cleared.
Installed software packages may have automatically
set this variable, leaving it unusable for shell execution.
You may want to record CLASSPATH's current
value so that you can restore it if something else goes wrong later.
If you're unsuccessful in either compilation or execution
of a Java application from
a shell, you should double-check the values of these two
important environment variables
by typing:
set PATH
set CLASSPATH
You can unset the CLASSPATH for this current
shell invocation by doing
set CLASSPATH=
(with no blanks or other whitespace following the "=").
Netbeans Installation
NetBeans is SUN Microsystems' community-based
Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for a variety of software
development interests including Java, Php, C/C++, etc.
The download site
offers a bewildering array of choices of Netbeans, they are differentiated
by a "download-type" term embedded in the download file.
I generally prefer
to be minimalistic and augment the features as needed. Other features can easily
be added through Netbean's plugin facility or by separate downloads.
The download type I'm using is javase as seen in the file:
netbeans-6.7.1-ml-javase-windows.exe
Install by executing and following the installation wizard.
A NetBeans shortcut is created on the Desktop.
Configuration
You'll want to double-check that Java 1.6 is the platform being used by
Netbeans. Open
Tools Java Platforms
and make sure the default is JDK1.6.
Most configuration settings are done by activating
Tools Options through the menu system.
If this is not the case, and you've confirmed that you JDK1.6
is the "main" JDK on your system (Mac users, see above),
then reinstall NetBeans — it should be able to
pick up the 1.6 installation.
Line-height correction
Certain
modifiable features may not be accessible through this configurator.
For example, the editor's default line height has been known to be
too large. To change this, you'll need to edit the file
NetBeans creates directories called src which consist of
one or more package of Java source files along with other types
of support files. The compiled classes are kept in a
separate build directory.
To create a simple "Hello World" program, start up
NetBeans and follow the steps below.
Select File New Project
In the New Project window,
select the Java category,
and choose Java Application, then Next.
Choose the project name HelloWorld.
The other settings have default values which you probably
want to use.
The project location cannot be an existing directory.
NetBeans also pre-checks the boxes Set As Main Project
and Create Main Class.
Leave these checked.
Click Finish.
In the left-hand window there you can observe three views of
the netbeans contents: Projects, Files,
Services.
For the most part you can work from the
Projects view.
In the Projects window you will
see the file Main.java as part of the
automatically-created helloworld package.
Go to the Files view and observe the structure which
NetBeans creates.
The Main.java file is in a package directory
helloworld
within the src directory,
meant to hold all the source packages.
Within the public static void main function
(not the Main constructor), type
System.out.println("Hello World");
Observe the various syntactic assists which the editor offers
when you pause after typing a ".".
Select File Save (or Ctrl-S) to save.
There are several ways to compile and run this application.
One way is to right-click on Main.java
and select Run File from
the popup menu. Look for
the output in the Output window at the bottom.
Another way to build and run the project is by selecting
Build Build Main Project
or F11. This operation goes a step further and archives the compiled
classes into the jar file Hello_World.jar
found in the newly created dist directory.
Afterwards,
select Run Run Main Project or F6.
Shell Execution
NetBeans makes it easy to run its applications through
the shell, assuming that
your java executable is accessible.
First of all, you have to execute "Clean and Build"
to create the JAR file.
The output of this operation indicates what should be done.
After doing so, open a shell
and navigate to the dist folder in the
HelloWorld. From this folder run:
java -jar HelloWorld.jar
The dist folder is meant to be for "distribution."
NetBeans will put all relevant libraries in this
folder as well so that this can act as a standalone
executable which can run on any system which has JRE
installed. All Windows systems will have it installed;
the only hitch is making sure that the version is up
to a suitable level.
Install Javadoc Documentation
Choose a permanent location in your system for the documentation
zip file jdk-6u10-docs.zip. For the sake of specificity, let's
say it is this:
My Documents\docs\jdk-6u10-docs.zip
In Netbeans, open Tools Java Platforms
and select the Javadoc tab from the Java Platform Manager.
Click the Add ZIP/Folder ... button and navigate to select
the above zip archive.
To see what effect this has, right-click on the "println"
portion of the statement
System.out.println("Hello World")
in the Main.java file. From the popup menu, select
Show Javadoc.
Folder Options