Rahul's Blog

First Program in NetBeans IDE:

This post provides step wise procedure to create first program in the NetBeans IDE through the creation of a simple “Hello World” Java console application. Once you have gone with this post, you will have a general knowledge of how to create, build, and run applications in the IDE.

Setting Up the Project

To create an IDE project:

1. Start NetBeans IDE
2. In the IDE choose File -> New Project, as shown in the screenshot below.

3. In the New Project wizard, expand the Java category and select Java Application as shown below. Then click Next.

5. In the Name and Location page of the wizard, do the following (as shown in the figure below):

• In the Project Name field, type MyFirstApplication.
• Leave the Use Dedicated Folder for Storing Libraries checkbox unselected.
• In the Create Main Class field, type myfirstapplication.MyFirstApplication.
• Leave the Set as Main Project checkbox selected.

5. Click Finish

The project is created and opened in the IDE. You should see the following components:

• The Projects window, which contains a tree view of the components of the project, including source files, libraries that your code depends on, and so on.
• The Source Editor window with a file called MyFirstApplication.java open.
• The Navigator window, which you can use to quickly navigate between elements within the selected class.

Adding Code to the Generated Source File

Because you have left the Create Main Class checkbox selected in the New Project wizard, the IDE has created a skeleton class for you. You can add the “Hello World!” message to the skeleton code by replacing the line:

// TODO code application logic here

with the line:

System.out.println(“Hello NetBeans User Group, Nagpur!”);

System.out.println(“This is my first application in NetBeans IDE”);

Save the change by choosing File > Save.

The file should look something like the following:

/*

* To change this template, choose Tools | Templates

* and open the template in the editor.

*/

package myfirstapplication;

/**

*

* @author Administrator

*/

public class MyFirstApplication {

/**

* @param args the command line arguments

*/

public static void main(String[] args) {

System.out.println(“Hello NetBeans User Group, Nagpur!”);

System.out.println(“This is my first application in NetBeans IDE”);

}

}

Compiling the Source File

To compile your source file, choose Run > Build Main Project from the IDE’s main menu or just press F11 shortcut key.

You can view the output of the build process by choosing Window > Output > Output.

The Output window opens and displays output similar to what you see in the following screen.

If the build output concludes with the statement BUILD SUCCESSFUL, congratulations! You have successfully compiled your program!

If the build output concludes with the statement BUILD FAILED, you probably have a syntax error in your code. Errors are reported in the Output window as hyper-linked text. Click such a hyper-link to navigate to the source of an error. You can then fix the error and once again compile your code.

When you build the project, the bytecode file MyFirstApplication.class is generated. You can see where the new file is generated by opening the Files window and expanding the MyFirstApplication/build/classes/myfirstapplication node as shown in the following figure:

Now that you have built the project, you can run your program.

Running the Program

From the IDE’s menu bar, choose Run > Run Main Project or press the shortcut key F6.

The next figure shows what you should now see.

Congratulations! Your first program in NetBeans IDE works!