Updating a Woodstock Component Library in NetBeans IDE
Contributed by Winston Prakash
This tutorial describes how to update a Woodstock (JSF 1.2) Component Library in NetBeans IDE 6.0 and 6.1.
Contents
To follow this tutorial, you need the following software and resources.
| NetBeans IDE |
Web & Java EE version 6.1 or 6.0 |
| Java Developer Kit (JDK) |
Version 6 or
version 5 |
JavaServer Faces Components/
Java EE Platform |
1.2 with Java EE 5* or
1.1 with J2EE 1.4
|
| Travel Database |
Not required |
Note for NetBeans IDE 6.1 users:
- Creating a project in NetBeans 6.1 includes new options which can be left at the default. For example, the Use Dedicated Folder for Storing Libraries checkbox may be left unselected.
- NetBeans IDE 6.1 features on-demand binding. Where components require Java coding, you must now manually add the binding attribute to components in a Visual Web JSF application. To do so, right-click each component and choose Add Binding Attribute. For more information, see the On-demand Binding Attribute Wiki.
Updating the Library
The 6.0 and 6.1 versions of the NetBeans IDE bundle with Woodstock 4.1 FCS. By default, only a subset of the woodstock components (with red checks) are displayed in the palette. Notice that Grid Panel and Page Fragment Box components are not Woodstock components. If you want the rest of the components (the ones in red circles) to also be added in the palette or if you need to pick up a fix made available after Woodstock 4.1 FCS, then proceed with the following few steps.
Getting The Plugins
There are two plugins for the Woodstock components. They can be either downloaded from java.net or built by yourself.
- org-netbeans-modules-visualweb-webui-jsf-defaulttheme.jar
- org-netbeans-modules-visualweb-woodstock-webui-jsf.jar.
Downloading The Plugins
Go to the Woodstock Project on java.net. Download the NetBeans 6 Components and Theme plugins and save them to your favorite location. Important note: since there is a bug in the NetBeans plugins included in Woodstock 4.1 FCS, you have to download the ones from Woodstock release 4.1.1 or later. Now you're ready to install them.
Building the Plugins Yourself
The other way to get the plugins is to do the build yourself. First follow the instructions described on the Woodstock Project to checkout the source code. When you have all the source code ready, open the woodstock/ide-plugins/netbeans/woodstock-suite project in your NetBeans IDE. Right-click on woodstock-suite project node and select Create NBMs.
This will take a few minutes. You'll get some errors/warnings from the annotation process. Don't worry about them. After the build finishes, you'll see the two plugins are created under woodstock/ide-plugins/netbeans/woodstock-suite/build/updates. Now you're ready to install them.
Installing The Plugins
Start your NetBeans IDE. In the main menu, go to Tools > Plugins. It'll bring up the Plugin dialog. Go to the Downloaded tab and click on the Add Plugins... button. Browse to the location of your plugins and install them. Restart the IDE when finishing installing the plugins.
Checking Out the Palette
Create a new Visual Web JavaServer Faces project or open an existing one, all the Woodstock components should be shown in the palette.
Note: At the time this tutorial was written, newly added components are in the Composite catagory. This may change with time.
Rolling Back to the Previous Version
Once you have installed the new version, you can not roll back to the previous version. This is not supported in NetBeans 6. However, there is a way to get the original bundled version back.
- In the main menu, go to Tools > Plugins.
- In the Plugins dialog, go to the Installed tab. Uninstall the Visual JSF plugin and restart the IDE.
- Bring up the Plugins dialog again. Go to the Availble Plugins tab. Install the Visual JSF plugin and restart the IDE. Now you have the original Woodstock component library back.
Summary
In this tutorial, you successfully updated a Woodstock (JSF 1.2) Component Library in NetBeans IDE 6.0 or 6.1.
See Also
This page was last modified: April 15, 2008
