NETBEANS HELP

HOW TO USE JLEEKER VER 1.1 WITH NETBEANS

1. The Best Approach :-

           .The best approach when creating a GUI application with netbeans using Jleeker created buttons would be to have the ".java" files ,created by  jleeker, in same folder as your projects sources.

           .To be more precise lets assume your project is named "newbie" & you have a button created by jleeker named "uglyButton.java".

           .To start you'll have to put the "uglyButton.java" file on the "..\newbie\src" folder..

note ::  The best way of doing this would be to copy the file on to some other folder of the project and then move it to the src folder through netbeans. So that netbeans will know that those files are there. Otherwise some pain in the head will occur later..

2. How to get the button(s) to the palette :-

          .Now that you have the button class in your project's src folder (..\newbie\src) you'll have to get'em onto your palette to be able to use them on your application.

            .First open the palette in the design view of your gui class and right-click on the palette. And from the pop-up menu select 'Palette Manager'.

            .Then on the palette manager dialogue select the "New Category.." button and create a category with any name which i'd call "Jleeked". So that would host all the jleeked buttons used in my projects.

            .On the palette manager dialogue select "Add From Project" & using the file chooser select your project folder. Which in our case would be named "newbie". Then you'll be provided with a list of  compatible components in that project.. All you have to do is select the component named "uglyButton" and in the next frame select the folder named "jleeked".

            .Now whenever you open netbeans and select the palette you'll have the "uglyButton" you created right there in the palette under the category "jleeked". And then you can use it in any of your work.

note :: If you use that button in a project other than the one which you have the source files ("newbie") once you compile that project the newbie.jar would also appear in a folder called "lib". This is 100% safe and convenient. But in the case of Applets where you're not allowed to work with .jar s you better put some attention to this.

note :: This is not the only way of getting a jleeker created button into the netbeans palette. You'll find out more ways perhaps even more convenient as you continue to use these two products together.

warning :: In the case of some special projects and netbeans instances this procedure might not work.. In any case if you're stuck send me a mail on malith@hotpop.com . And I'll do my best to help you...

Thank you...

Your feedback is highly appreciated. Please forward them to malith@hotpop.com.

Malith Yapa.