Question

In this part of the Java EE 5 tutorials, we will install NetBeans 6.0.

The NetBeans IDE is an open-source integrated development environment. It is entirely written in Java. In NetBeans, we can develop applications for all Java platforms. We can create mobile, enterprise and desktop applications. All this is available out of the box. Don't forget about the System requirements. For Ubuntu Linux, this is at least 800 MHz processor, 512 MB memory and 650 MB free disk space. Recommended hardware configuration is 2.6 GHz processor, 1 GB memory and 1 GB free disk space.

Steps

First we navigate to the netbeans.org website and download the bundled package. There are 6 various bundles available for us to download. We only download features that we need.

This is a list of 6 bundles

• Web & Java EE
• Mobility
• Java SE
• Ruby
• C/C++
• All

I have downloaded the Web & Java EE bundle. We can choose also to install all features in All bundle if we want.

Figure: Netbeans 6 bundles

The above image clearly shows, what we are going to install in Web & Java EE. In this bundle we will install tools for creating J2SE applications as well as Java web and enterprise applications. We will also install. We will also install the Glassfish application server and Tomcat web server.

So I downloaded the latest version of the Netbeans 6 IDE for Linux. The downloaded file name is netbeans-6.0-javaee-linux.sh.

$ chmod +x netbeans-6.0-javaee-linux.sh

We make the file executable.

$ chmod +x netbeans-6.0-javaee-linux.sh

Run the install file.

Configuring the installer...
Searching for JVM on the system...
Java SE Development Kit (JDK) was not found on this computer
JDK 6 or JDK 5 is required for installing the NetBeans IDE. 
Make sure that the JDK is properly installed and run installer again.
You can specify valid JDK location using --javahome installer argument.

To download the JDK, visit http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads

We received this error message. It tells that the installer was not able to find the JDK on our computer.

$ ./netbeans-6.0-javaee-linux.sh --java-home ~/bin/jdk1.6.0_03/

In such case, we need to provide the Java home directory on the command line.

Next we work with a wizard to complete the installation process.

Figure: Wizard page

Using the wizards, we accept licence agreements, provide the NetBeans install directory, configure GlassFish properties and provide the Tomcat installation directory.

$ ./netbeans --laf javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalLookAndFeel

We launch NetBeans with metal look and feel.

In this part of the JEE tutorial, we covered NetBeans installation.