CS102 Spring 2008

Lab # 0

Learning the NetBeans IDE

 

The main purpose of this initial laboratory exercise is to acquaint you with 


You will create a NetBeans project within the cs102 course directory of your CS account. The program you write will itself be very simple, because the goal of this lab is to learn to use your CS account to create, compile, execute, print, and submit your work electronically for grading.

How to get started

  1. Use your new CS account to login to one of the Linux-based machines in the Asprey (or Intro) Laboratory.  You will be able to create your own directory structure within this account, and you will be able to save and retrieve your work between logins.
  2. Create a new directory named cs102 in your home directory, and set the permissions so that only you can access the the contents of this directory. To do this, type the following commands at the Linux prompt ($):
    $ mkdir cs102
    $ chmod 700 cs102
  3. From the Applications menu in the upper left corner of the Gnome desktop, select Programming, then NetBeans. You may also access NetBeans by bringing up a terminal window and typing netbeans& after the command line prompt.
  4. When NetBeans loads, you will be presented with a welcome screen.  (You may wish to run through the tutorial material present here at some later convenient time.)
  5. Left-click your mouse on File at the left of the menu bar displayed at the top of the screen.  Select New Project from the drop-down menu that appears.
  6. A new window will appear with side-by-side menus labeled Categories and Projects.  The Category selection General will appear highlighted.  Move your mouse to the selection Java Application in the Projects menu and left-click.  When it is highlighted, left-click on the Next button at the bottom of the window.
  7. The next window that appears has text fields labeled Project Name, Project Location, and Project Folder.  Each of these fields will contain a default value.  
    1. Change the Project Name to Lab0.  
    2. Change the Project Location to the cs102 directory you created in step 2. 
    3. The Project Folder name will change to be consistent with the project name you select.  
    4. Below these three text fields are two choice boxes and a text field for naming the class holding the main function.  Since the first class you create in a project (and the only class in this laboratory exercise) is the class holding the main method, you will leave both of these choices set.  The default name used by NetBeans for the class holding the main method is Main.  The package and class name are shown in the text field.  You may change the class name to something else if you desire.  
    5. When you have selected a name for your project (and possibly changed the name of the application class), you will left-click on the Finish button at the bottom of the window.
  8. The main edit window will now appear.  The Projects window will appear at the upper left.  The project Lab1 will be open and will list four packages: Source Packages, Test Packages, Libraries, and Test Libraries.  Only the Source Packages will be of interest initially.  It will be open and show the package you created and the first class.  The class Main will be highlighted, and the skeleton produced by the ant build will appear in the edit window in the upper right.  The Navigation Window below the Projects window allows you to select a class or method name and move directly to that class or method in the edit window.  The window at the bottom is used for displaying compilation information, error messages, and output data directed to the console.
  9. Complete the program. In the edit window for Main.java, replace the comment in the body of the main() method (note: not the constructor for class Main) with an appropriate println() statement. The result should be a main() method that looks something like this: (feel free to customize your "Hello, World" message...)

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello, NetBeans World!");
    }
  10. Save your Lab0 project. When you have finished entering your code, save your Lab0 project (it will be saved within a directory of the same name, located with the cs102 course directory you created in step 7).

  11. Within NetBeans, you have several options to compile and run your program, but for now the simplest way to do this is to click on the green, right-pointing triangle button, third button from the right, on the button bar. Passing the mouse over this button reveals it to be the "Run Main Project" button.

  12. If all goes well, you should see the following messages appear in the bottom Output window of the NetBeans IDE:

    init:
    deps-jar:
    compile:
    run:
    Hello, NetBeans World!
    BUILD SUCCESSFUL (total time: 0 seconds)

    Notice that clicking the green triangle button causes your program to be saved, compiled and run.

  13. If there is a syntax error somewhere in your code, pressing the Run Main Project button will save it, but the compiler will generate a syntax error. To see what this looks like, remove the semicolon (;) at the end of your println() statement and try to compile your program again. Notice how the Java compiler and NetBeans IDE identify the error encountered, what was wrong, and what line the error occurred on. Go ahead and fix the error and recompile once more.

  14. When your project successfully runs, alert your lab instructor and follow the submit procedure detailed below.

 

Submitting your work

      From a terminal window, type the following commands at the Linux prompt: 

        cd
        cd cs102
        submit102 Lab0

Log out

When you are done, close NetBeans, and then locate the logout button on the menu bar. Click on the logout button (red arrow pointing through an open door).  Choose "Logout..." and then click "Yes" when prompted.  Always remember to log out when you are done using the system, to ensure that no one else uses your account.