How to Continue Working with Eclipse C Projects in NetBeans IDE

Tweaked and added my blog post to the NetBeans Zone on Dzone here: How to Continue Working with Eclipse C Projects in NetBeans IDE


If you like it, please vote for it!

Create Your NetBeans Network on my.netbeans, FaceBook & MySpace!

Check this article http://www.netbeans.org/community/articles/netbeans-social-networking.html

Importing Eclipse C projects into NetBeans: A visual guide

Softwares Used:

• NetBeans IDE 6.1 Beta
  
• Eclipse Europa
• GCC tool chain

Here are the steps:

Create a "New Project" and choose "C/C++ Project From Existing Code"



Browse to your Eclipse project and select the Makefile




Browse to the source folder in the Eclipse project. (usually the 'src' folder)




Choose Project Name, Folder










Run the project:


Output:




Please note that I have tested it for a simple "Hello World" style C-project in Eclipse Europa.

Social Networks modelled as Complex Networks

Yesterday, I attended a workshop at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur where I interacted with Prof. Niloy Ganguly who is researching various aspects of Complex Networks.

A very interesting aspect of his research is his focus on Social Networks. I asked him- "Why is it not a good practice to model the Social Networks using traditional graph theory?". According to him, Social Networks, due to the ever evolving, changing dynamic nature are best modeled as Complex Networks.

Related Current News:

• Evolution of the Social Network

The design of the GUI for Software RAID Tool

To design the GUI for the Software RAID tool, the Swing Application Framework [1] is being used which is integrated with NetBeans IDE 6.1 [2]

The GUI consists of the following major swing controls:

• jTabbedPane
• jPanel
• jFrame
• jMenu/jMenuItem

I also integrated JavaHelp [3] to provide a user guide which will explain to the users about the various features and technical background information.



References:

1. https://appframework.dev.java.net/
2. http://amitksaha.blogspot.com/2008/03/swing-application-framework-on-netbeans.html
3. http://weblogs.java.net/blog/pkeegan/archive/2007/05/javahelp_and_sw_1.html

Related:

• http://amitksaha.blogspot.com/2008/03/software-raid-on-linux-part-1.html
  

JavaHelp and Swing Application Framework on NetBeans 6.1 Beta

If you are following this doc JavaHelp and Swing Application Framework using NetBeans 6.1 (or greater) you would have run into an issue while adding the action for the menu item. I noticed it and reported to Patrick who very quickly has updated it and now you can follow the doc gleefully on NetBeans 6.0, 6.1+

Thanks Patrick for the nice tutorial!

Integrate 'JavaHelp' in your Java Applications

You might want to integrate 'JavaHelp' into your Java desktop application. Here's how:

• In case your application is a NetBeans module or NetBeans RCP, then:
• Create a module project
• Right-click on the new project.
• Choose 'other'
• Now you will see 'JavaHelp Help set' under 'File Type' under 'Modules'

• In case you are using the Swing Application Framework for your purpose, this link here will be useful

Thanks Tushar for the query!

Some NetBeans Posts around the web

Here are links to some blog posts you will enjoy:

• The easiest way to get a NetBeans t-shirt...
• SDPY - NetBeans on a diet
• Resizing Images in NetBeans IDE
• Tutorial Wisdom
• My New Favorite IDE for Compiled JavaFX Script Development

Have fun!

Sun Net Talk: Sorting Out Solaris Releases

This Net Talk titled Sorting Out Solaris Releases is available here (web cast) and the audio is available at http://nettalk.sun.com/bhive/a/1000/1221/SNTA_20071019_T10_Sorting_Solarises.mp3

Twittering all day...

I have been Twittering all day :-)

i hadn't tweet'd for a couple of weeks now, but suddenly got started once again as I had 5 followers in less than 24 hours! Wow!

Also discovered this new service Quotably which lets you follow Twitter twits in a thread-like manner.

And if you thought that this is where Twitter fun ends for me, what reason am I generating all the data for?

No output from 'pkg install'

I noticed that when I try to install a package on Indiana which already exists/installed before, like

$pkg install SUNWmercurial

I get back the shell

$

Some output would be nice.

After this discussion, i filed this bug report

Mercurial 0.9.5 on Indiana

A one-liner to install Mercurial on Indiana:

pkg install SUNWmercurial

This is made possible by the Image Packaging System

All packages available for installation are at http://pkg.opensolaris.org/status

Swing Application Framework on NetBeans 6.1

Just found out that the Swing Application Framework is now the default provider of the basic Java Desktop Application skeleton framework in NetBeans 6.1 Beta


It was available as a plugin module till NetBeans 6.0

More on the framework here at https://appframework.dev.java.net/

Export, Import your Gmail Contacts

Click on the Contacts link to go to your contacts directory and there will find an option each for Export/Import

Ian Murdock on Package Management

I am trying to learn the working of Image Packaging System (IPS). A definite read to properly assess the importance of IPS to the Open Solaris project would be Ian Murdock's How package management changed everything

No OpenOffice.org, No NetBeans, No OpenSolaris

Mentoring organizations for Google Summer of Code'08 was announced recently and none of Sun backed big-wig projects- NetBeans, OpenOffice.org, OpenSolaris featured in the list. I was surprised, especially since the last 2 featured in last year's list.

Did NetBeans apply?

Did OpenOffice.org apply?

OpenSolaris applied but was not selected (refer: http://blogs.sun.com/gheet/entry/opensolaris_not_selected_by_gsoc)

Faster NetBeans via 'tmpfs'

A cool trick to quicken your NetBeans start-up is by keeping it in 'tmpfs'. Detailed instructions here

Introduction to Solaris and opensolaris.org

I just finished the course Introduction to Solaris and opensolaris.org and also got a cool certificate:


Awesome!

Service Oriented Java Business Integration Published!

Packt Publishing has published a new book on Java Business Integration, titled, Service Oriented Java Business Integration.

The book concentrates on leveraging Java Business Integration (JBI) for addressing real world integration problems with examples. Business level integration in Java needs to address integrating multiple flavors of business components including POJO, EJB, Web Services, JMS, etc. The book explains all the above scenarios, using open source Apache ServiceMix as the ESB framework.


This book discusses:

• Assemble services and port it across containers using JBI
• Expose EJB as WSDL compliant service across firewalls
• Bind remote services onto the ESB to be consumed internally
• Expose local components in ESB like POJO as WSDL compliant services to be accessible externally.
• Provide a web service gateway for external consumers
• Access web services over reliable transport channel like JMS
• Implement web service versioning using ESB
• Implement service aggregation at ESB
• Transactions, Security, Clustering & JMS in ESB
• It is aimed at Java developers and integration architects aiming to become proficient with Java Business Integration (JBI) standard, who are expected to have some experience with Java and to have developed and deployed applications in the past, but need no previous knowledge of JBI. The book can also be useful to anyone, who has been having a hard time understanding ESB and how it differs from other architectures and to understand its position in SOA.

More information about the book can be found at: http://www.packtpub.com/service-oriented-java-business-integration/book

A sample chapter from the book can be found at:
http://www.packtpub.com/files/JBI-Bind-Web-Services-in-ESB-Gateway.pdf

The Linux Kernel is soo Yummy!

I was browsing through the Kernel source tree documentation after some time. And like a child who licks his lips at the sight of his candy, I fired up TuxPaint and the result follows:


Free to use it as your wallpaper :-)

News item on NetBeans 6.1 Beta

A news item titled "NetBeans 6.1 IDE Beta Supports Wide Range of Open Source Scripting Technologies and Offers Tighter MySQL Database Integration" summarizes the yummy features of NetBeans 6.1 Beta :-)

Installing Ruby gems in NetBeans 6.0 on Ubuntu

Hello all,

The newest contribution to the NetBeans Community docs is titled "Installing Ruby gems in NetBeans 6.0 on Ubuntu" which shows you a easy work-around to the problems that you might face to install Ruby Gems on Linux.


This is a handy doc for the Ruby developers!

Make sure you check it out and let us know your comments!

Facebook, Effect of the Web on Journalism

Couple of stories around the web:

• Hey, Facebook, just let go of me
• Web Has Unexpected Effect on Journalism

How to integrate Java DB into a NetBeans RCP?

This 3-part blog posts show you how you can integrate Java DB into a NetBeans Rich Client Platform application:

1. Part 1
2. Part 2
3. Part 3

NB Communtiy Docs: Troubleshooting NetBeans Startup

What if you have accidentally deleted or lost your JDK installation? You cannot ofcourse continue using NetBeans without the JDK. So what to do?

Uninstall and re-install? Nooooo! There is an easy way out and Varun Nischal shows you how in his doc at http://wiki.netbeans.org/TaT_TroubleShootNBStartUp

I am sure you will find it very useful!

How about sharing a cool tip with us?

See you!

Creating Web Services with NetBeans 6

In this doc titled Creating Web Services with NetBeans 6, the author, Siegfried Bolz demonstrates how easy it is to create Web-Services with NetBeans 6!

Go ahead and check it out!

Accomplished something cool with NetBeans? How about telling us? Write back to me!

See you!

The Best of Visualization Tools

Here is a nice article titled "The Best Tools for Visualization"

Visualization is a technique to graphically represent sets of data. When data is large or abstract, visualization can help make the data easier to read or understand. There are visualization tools for search, music, networks, online communities, and almost anything else you can think of. Whether you want a desktop application or a web-based tool, there are many specific tools are available on the web that let you visualize all kinds of data. Here are some of the best:....

Read on..

Connecting to the Internet from Indiana as the guest via NAT

After installing Indiana on Ubuntu 7.04 using Virtual Box I wanted to access the Internet from Indiana. I use a PPP connection to connect to the Internet on my host machine. All I had to do is:

1. Enable NAT in the Virtual Box settings for the Indiana virtual machine
2. Enable DHCP for the virtual network interface on Indiana and enable it so as to activate at boot time

..and it works!

NB Community Docs: Package Templates Tutorial, Javadoc Templates Tutorial

Hi all!

We have 2 new contributions to the NetBeans Community Docs.

The first, Package Templates Tutorial is a user guide to using the Package-template plugin


The second Javadoc Templates Tutorial is a user guide to the javadoc-template plugin

Thank you bernhard!

How about writing a doc for us? Its fun.. See you!

Software RAID on Linux- Part 1

This is the first post in a series of posts listing my experiments with Software RAID on Linux. I am using Ubuntu 7.10 with the generic kernel for my experiments. The test machine has the following hardware specs- 80 GB SATA HDD, 512 MB RAM, Pentium Dual core processor.

Installing RAID support

check whether the RAID support is enabled

cat /proc/mdtstat

if you get a message saying "File is missing" or something alike, go ahead and install RAID support first. This can be done by installing the tool 'mdadm' which is a tool to work with RAID devices and it also installs the RAID support

amit@amit-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install mdadm
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree  
Reading state information... Done
Recommended packages:
mail-transport-agent
The following NEW packages will be installed:
mdadm
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 220kB of archives.
After unpacking 627kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com gutsy/main mdadm 2.6.2-1ubuntu2 [220kB]
Fetched 220kB in 48s (4515B/s)                                            
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously deselected package mdadm.
(Reading database ... 88932 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking mdadm (from .../mdadm_2.6.2-1ubuntu2_i386.deb) ...
Setting up mdadm (2.6.2-1ubuntu2) ...
Generating array device nodes... done.
Generating mdadm.conf... done.
Removing any system startup links for /etc/init.d/mdadm-raid ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
* Starting MD monitoring service mdadm --monitor                        [ OK ]

Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic

Now verify whether RAID support has been installed:

amit@amit-desktop:~$ cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [linear] [multipath] [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10]
unused devices: 

This means that now we have RAID support in the kernel.

Creating a RAID device

My Disk setup now is as follows:

 Name               Flags            Part Type        FS Type                   [Label]                Size (MB)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    sda1               Boot              Primary         NTFS                      []                      20612.56      
    sda5                                 Logical         W95 FAT32                                         20579.66
    sda6                                 Logical         W95 FAT32                                         20587.88
    sda7                                 Logical         Linux ext3                                        12000.69
    sda8                                 Logical         Linux swap / Solaris                               1019.94
    sda9                                 Logical         Linux                                              2048.10
    sda10                                Logical         Linux                                              2048.10
    sda11                                Logical         Linux                                              3446.40

We shall now combine sda9, sda10 to form one large logical device to form a RAID.

Creating a Level-0 RAID

amit@amit-desktop:~$ sudo mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=0 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda9 /dev/sda10
[sudo] password for amit:
mdadm: chunk size defaults to 64K
mdadm: array /dev/md0 started.

Let us now check the RAID array we just created:

amit@amit-desktop:~$ cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [linear] [multipath] [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10]
md0 : active raid0 sda10[1] sda9[0]
     3999872 blocks 64k chunks
    
unused devices: 

Now, create a filesystem on the RAID device we just created:

amit@amit-desktop:~$ sudo mkfs -t ext3 /dev/md0
[sudo] password for amit:
mke2fs 1.40.2 (12-Jul-2007)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
500960 inodes, 999968 blocks
49998 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=1027604480
31 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16160 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
       32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736

Writing inode tables: done                           
Creating journal (16384 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

This filesystem will be automatically checked every 33 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first.  Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.

Mount the RAID device:

amit@amit-desktop:~$ mkdir /media/RAID0
mkdir: cannot create directory `/media/RAID0': Permission denied
amit@amit-desktop:~$ sudo mkdir /media/RAID0
amit@amit-desktop:~$ mount /dev/md0 /media/RAID0/
mount: only root can do that
amit@amit-desktop:~$ sudo mount /dev/md0 /media/RAID0/

amit@amit-desktop:~$ df

Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
.
.

/dev/md0               3936940     73440   3663508   2% /media/RAID0

let us now use 'mdadm' to get some details on the RAID array:

amit@amit-desktop:~$ sudo mdadm --query /dev/md0 --detail
/dev/md0: 3.81GiB raid0 2 devices, 0 spares. Use mdadm --detail for more detail.

amit@amit-desktop:~$ sudo mdadm --detail /dev/md0
/dev/md0:
       Version : 00.90.03
 Creation Time : Tue Mar 11 13:05:22 2008
    Raid Level : raid0
    Array Size : 3999872 (3.81 GiB 4.10 GB)
  Raid Devices : 2
 Total Devices : 2
Preferred Minor : 0
   Persistence : Superblock is persistent

   Update Time : Tue Mar 11 13:05:22 2008
         State : clean
Active Devices : 2
Working Devices : 2
Failed Devices : 0
 Spare Devices : 0

    Chunk Size : 64K

          UUID : f77bd177:706b589c:2a7af8c6:cbd32339 (local to host amit-desktop)
        Events : 0.1

   Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State
      0       8        9        0      active sync   /dev/sda9
      1       8       10        1      active sync   /dev/sda10

Conclusion

In this post, I have shown you how to create a RAID 0 device, creating a filesystem on it and mounting it as any other block device.

Stay tuned for more!

References:

• Software RAID How-To
• 'mdadm' manual page

NetBeans 6.1 Beta is out!

I installed the NetBeans 6.1 Beta and here are some features I personally have found working or am looking forward to play with them:

• Performance Enhancements
  

• Up to 40% faster startup

• Smarter parsing so that code completion is faster

• Less memory consumption
• New MySQL Support in Database Explorer

• Register MySQL servers

• View, create, and delete databases

• Easy launch of the administration tool for MySQL
• Java Beans Support
  • Bean Patterns in Navigator
  • Generate Bean Property
  • BeanInfo Editor

For a complete list of all the new features, visit http://www.netbeans.org/community/releases/61/

Download the beta from here at http://download.netbeans.org/netbeans/6.1/beta/

Introducing Android Development with NetBeans

The NetBeans Community Docs contribution Introducing Android Development with NetBeans is now updated so as to work properly with Android SDK release m5-rc14.

Thanks Abhrajit for the quick hack!

Google Web Toolkit GWT Java AJAX Programming

I received a review copy of this book

Google Web Toolkit GWT Java AJAX Programming from Packt Publishing a couple of days back

Read the full Table of Contents for GWT Java AJAX Programming

Stay tuned for the review!

Basic Understanding of The NetBeans Nodes API

Hi all,

"Basic Understanding of The NetBeans Nodes API" is a NetBeans communtity docs contribution in which the contributors- Kunal Modi & Anil Raju have shared their experience in using the NetBeans Nodes API

This doc is very helpful as it follows a hands-on style and mixes the right amount of code with theory!

See you there!

NetBeans: Introductions to the Open-Source Project, More Than an IDE

Here is a multi-part article I came across titled "NetBeans: Introductions to the Open-Source Project, More Than an IDE"

The author looks at NetBeans- the Open-Source project discussing the community, IRC channel, participating and miscellany.

Business Process Management with JBoss jBPM

Manage your business process with JBoss jBPM

Packt Publishing has published a new book on Business Process Management using JBoss jBPM. The book titled, Business Process Management with JBoss jBPM, shows business analysts how to model business processes in JBoss jBPM and use these models to generate a fully-functioning workflow application. The book shows how business analysts can use the tools to build a solution without the need for Java coding expertise. It also introduces more advanced functionality that can be implemented by Java developers in partnership with the BA.

JBoss jBPM is a free, open-source, business process management solution. It enables users to create business processes that coordinate people, applications, and services.

A business process is a sequence of activities triggered by a certain input that results in a valuable output. Business Process Management is about analyzing those activities in a structured way and eventually supporting their execution with a workflow application. This allows for the following results:

• Better management visibility of their business: improved decision making

• Low cost of inputs: de-skilled labor requirements, less waste, standardized components

• Better outputs: consistent quality, more customer satisfaction

Businesses have always tried to manage their processes, but software such as jBPM brings the methodology and management theory to practical life.

This book will teach business analysts:

• What a business process is and why you would want to manage it

• How to map your business process

• Eliminating waste from the process

• How to define roles and responsibilities within the process

• Taking your process map into the jBPM toolset

• Activities/States and decision points

• How to work with process variables

• Automating activities/decisions where possible

• Setting up business rules: task assignment

• Business Activity Monitoring: analyzing process execution data, conducting ongoing process improvement

The book covers tasks that are common to all BPM implementations, but focuses on implementation in the popular and free jBPM.

More information about the book can be found at: http://www.packtpub.com/jboss-jbpm/book

Installing Indiana on Ubuntu 7.04 using Virtual Box

UPDATE: Updated with OpenSolaris 2008.11 here at http://blogs.sun.com/amitsaha/entry/open_solaris_2008_11_on

In this post, Getting Started with Indiana on Ubuntu 7.04 and Virtual Box
I described how you could get started with a "Live" session of Indiana using Virtual Box. Here I describe, how you can install Indiana using the GUI installer on your hard-disk (technically, 'virtual' HDD):

• This will give you a permanent installation of Indiana
• Since, we are using a virtual HDD, we can save ourself from the headache of the possibility to jeopardize the existing data on the other partitions

Let's get started.

• Boot into the graphical mode (please refer the earlier post)
• Start the installer

• Choose the "Use the Whole Disk"

• Configure time zone, passwords..

• Start the install process..

After the install process finishes, reboot your 'virtual' machine and you will get the GRUB menu:


Boot into your new installation, and you will get the graphical login manager:


You are now ready to play with your permanent installation of Indiana, and that also after a painless, headache-less installation!

I shall continue posting my adventures with Indiana here!


Related:

• http://blogs.sun.com/alanbur/entry/kicking_both_tyres_together_virtualbox
• http://amitksaha.blogspot.com/2008/03/connecting-to-internet-from-indiana-as.html
  

Official Google Blog: Summer of Code is back!

Looking for a summer of Coding?

Official Google Blog: Summer of Code is back!

Sun is serious about Python!

Sun has made its first attempt to fill a largely felt void in the NetBeans IDE- Python supprt by hiring two key Python developers.

Read more:

1. http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/03/03/hirings-python_1.html
2. http://blogs.sun.com/roumen/entry/sun_shines_on_jython

Getting Started with Indiana on Ubuntu 7.04 and Virtual Box

UPDATE: Updated with OpenSolaris 2008.11 here at http://blogs.sun.com/amitsaha/entry/open_solaris_2008_11_on


The Open Solaris project Indiana is now available as a developer preview

A great feature is that you can start a Live CD session either:

1. By burning the ISO to a CD, or
2. Directly boot from the ISO using Virtual Box or QEMU

Lets get started with Virtual Box:

• Install Virtual Box on Ubuntu 7.04
• Create and Configure a new Virtual Machine

Choose OS Name and Type

Choose the memory (>512 MB)


Configuring the Virtual HDD

Choose the CD/DVD-ROM Device

• Now, insert the Indiana CD into your ROM and start the Virtual Machine
• You should see the GRUB menu:

• Let us start a Text Console session

Booting...
Login with username "jack" and password "jack"

So, you are now ready to start exploring the Open Solaris command-line even without installing it!

Introducing strace - a System call tracing and Signal reporting tool

It is always fun to know how things actually work. All C programmers know that during the input-process-output cycle of their C codes, a number of System calls

are invoked. Wouldn't be cool to to actually "see" what system calls are invoked by your program? This is the topic of interest here. Let's get started.

.

.

Check this article of mine here on Linux Gazette: http://linuxgazette.net/148/saha.html

innotek Virtual Box on Ubuntu 7.04

Add the Virtual Box repository for Ubuntu 7.04

• deb http://www.virtualbox.org/debian feisty non-free

Instructions available at http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Then use Synaptic (GUI) to install Virtual Box 1.5.6. Synaptic starts downloading the package and after it is completed, starts the configuration:

1. After this, you should get a new menu entry innotek Virtual Box under System Tools
2. However, before you can start using it, you have to add your username to the vbox group. Go ahead and add your username to the vbox group
   
3. Log out and re-login
4. Virtual Box should be ready to use

NetBeans Day, Hyderabad: A token of appreciation for me!

During his introductory talk at the NetBeans Day, Hyderabad Roman presented me with a copy of Rich Client Programming: Plugging into the NetBeans platform as a token of appreciation for my contribution to the NetBeans Community Docs effort

Thank you Roman, James Branam and the community!

Sun Tech Days, Hyderabad: Ian Murdock speaks

Ian Murdock, the founder of Debian GNU/Linux and Vice President of Developer and Community Marketing at Sun Microsystems spoke on Open Solaris and Beyond..



He mainly covered the Project Indiana, its motivations and Open Solaris in general.

Sun Tech Days, Hyderabad: Talk by Rich Green

Here are some notes on the topics covered by the introductory talk given by Rich Green, Executive Vice President, Software at Sun Tech Days, Hyderabad:

1. Innovate more, code less- Building on Powerful Open Platforms
2. MySql and Sun
3. A powerful VM and enabling suport for scripting languages
4. Java SE 6 update 10
5. Java powers Blu-Ray Disc
6. JavaFX, Open JavaFX
7. Sun xVM: Delivering dynamic data centers
8. Open Source desktop virtualization
1. Innotek joins Sun
2. Type-2 desktop hypervisor
3. Virtual Box
9. Open Solaris
1. ZFS on FUSE
10. The growing world of NetBeans
11. Sun Studio 12