Netbeans 4.1 and JUnit
Someone must have fixed what I think was a bug in Netbeans 4.0 where, if you set a project up as a web project, you could not run Junit tests from within the IDE. There was simply no way of running them. I even posted a question about this over at Java Ranch and never received an answer.
However, I have been using Netbeans 4.1 for a project I am working on and they seemed to have corrected this little bug. I can now run Junit tests from right within the IDE. WooHoo. I am not sure if I have any reason to go back to Eclipse now. So far I really like what I see with Netbeans 4.1. I can’t wait to see what the final version will be like. I am hoping they release a few RC versions before the final to give everyone a taste and to help work out the last few bugs (of which I have not really found any).
Way to go to the Netbeans team for taking what was an ailing IDE and turning it into a solid, fast, intuitive first rate IDE that can easily compete head-to-head with Eclipse. The only thing really missing is the top notch refactoring found in Eclipse and IDEA.
“The only thing really missing is the top notch refactoring found in Eclipse and IDEA.”
But it *does* have refactoring support right? I don’t know if I could live w/o the refactoring support in Eclipse and IDEA. IDEA is much better than Eclipse when it comes to refactoring - it renames classes and such in XML files too.
FYI - Eclipse also supports “renaming of classes and such in XML files”.
Yes, Netbeans does support refactoring. However, it does not support as many options as either Eclipse or IDEA, at the moment. From what I understand, this is something that is being worked on either through plug-ins or through direct support.
For me, I am only starting to use refactoring so any lack of the full toolset in Netbeans is not a problem. I expect though that this is one area where Netbeans will definitely improve over the next little while (I hope at least).
Netbeans 4.1 is better, but it’s still got ground to cover to reach Eclipse — and I say this as a **fan** of Netbeans.
1. JUnit integration needs to be better, including the abiliy to “split” production code from the unit tests which exercise them. Eclipse does this naturally, and running the tests is easy — and the outcome is easy to analyze and remedy.
2. Refactoring is very weak. Yeah, at least it’s on the menu, but we need at least some of the heavily used items that Eclipse supports.
3. “Quick fixes”. When Netbeans highlights a code error, why can’t it offer to fix the problem with a context mouse click?
I really hope that Netbeans leaps ahead — and I’ll probably try to continue to use it. Here’s hoping…
D. Litwiller
I have seen a demo of some of the editor improvements that will be integrated into 4.2 and it looks like quick fixes will be amongst them. I even heard a rumour that they may be made available as a beta update for 4.1. If you want to compile the code from scratch, you can get the new editor features in the 4.2 cvs code.
Roumen has some info and a flash demo on his website.
Just an update: editor hints (known as quick fixes) will be placed on 4.2 development update center in few weeks.
Cool