Advanced NetBeans Platform Training Course
The focus of the advanced NetBeans Platform training is a real-life porting scenario. Typically, the students on the course provide their own application to be ported to the NetBeans Platform. If no such application is provided, the trainers will bring their own. During the course, the application is moved step by step to the NetBeans Platform. The students are expected to be comfortable with Java, Swing, and the NetBeans Platform. Preferably, they will have followed the basic NetBeans Platform training.
Day 1
Overview of the NetBeans Platform.
A brief overview of the NetBeans Platform is given, focusing on the latest changes in particular, as a refresher and introduction to the course.
Analysis of the Application.
The application-to-be-ported is analyzed, focusing on technical specifications, requirement analysis, and usability. Future plans for the application are also taken into consideration. During this session, the NetBeans Platform is not mentioned at all, the focus is purely onthe application-to-be-ported.
Mapping of Application to NetBeans Platform.
The features of the NetBeans Platform are explored, in so far as they relate to the application-to-be-ported. Priorities are set, making sure that the tasks set for the course are doable in the given time.
Workshop.
A small porting exercise is done, where the students start with a very simple application and port it step by step to the NetBeans Platform
Porting Stage 1.
In the first stage, the new application is set up. This includes wrapping all the third party JARs into library wrapper modules and making them available to the application.
Porting Stage 2.
A simple prototype is created. Depending on the application, some business objects are wrapped into nodes and displayed in a window in the application.
Day 2
Porting Stage 3.
Now that the application is up and running, the priorities set at the end of Day 1 are examined. The class then tackles these priorities.
Workshop.
In the workshop, some of the more advanced features desired in the application are examined and small exercises are done to ensure that the main concepts are grasped. For example, the OutlineView is examined, or testing frameworks, or the Visual Library, or debugging.
Optional Topics.
Depending on the requirements that have been identified, the third day is spent focusing on these and applying them to the application.
Wrap Up
The course is wrapped up with an overview of what happened during the previous days and any unanswered questions are discussed. A set of priorities for steps to be taken after the course are drawn up and the course concludes with a list of resources that apply to the desired scenarios.
