The NetBeans community has announced the release of NetBeans IDE 7.1, the latest version of the popular open-source Java integrated development environment.
According to Oracle’s The Java Source blog, the 7.1 release introduces support for JavaFX 2.0 by enabling the full compile/debug/profile development cycle for JavaFX 2.0 applications. NetBeans IDE 7.1 also provides significant Swing GUI Builder enhancements, CSS3 support, and tools for visual debugging of Swing and JavaFX user interfaces. Additional highlights include Git support integrated into the IDE, new PHP debugging features, various Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) and Maven improvements and more. NetBeans 7.1 is available for download here.
The NetBeans 7.1 release is an important and significant release aimed at providing new and improved client development support, which includes support for the new JavaFX 2.0 specification, new visual debugging of UIs, along with improvements and enhancements to existing features in areas such as Java EE, version control and Bug Tracking among others.
“The latest NetBeans IDE release provides the Java developer community with many new features to help them create leading-edge Web, mobile and enterprise applications,” Ted Farrell, chief architect and senior vice president of the Tools and Middleware unit at Oracle, said in a statement. “As the first IDE to support JavaFX 2.0, NetBeans IDE 7.1 not only gives developers rich support for developing JavaFX 2.0 applications, but also ensures they have access to all of the advances delivered in the latest Java platform releases.”
“There is a bit of everything in this release,” Al Hilwa, an analyst with IDC, told eWEEK. “Probably the most work was done to support the restructured JavaFX 2.0, which now loses the scripting language but gains a lower-friction way to develop Web user interfaces. Beyond that, I would rank the Visual Debugger as a tool that will be broadly useful. Finally, NetBeans shows that it is not just about Java, and so a fair amount of work has gone to better support PHP, CSS3 and C/C++. Overall, it is great to see that Oracle keeps investing in NetBeans, and even using it to support its flagship WebLogic 12c server.”
As Hilwa stated, the JavaFX 2.0 release aligns more tightly with Java developers by dropping FX Script and instead being based purely in Java. NetBeans will support the new release of JavaFX by enabling its use in regular Java projects, with the full support of NetBeans compile/debug/profile capabilities available.
JavaFX is a software platform for creating and delivering rich Internet applications that can run across a wide variety of connected devices, including desktops, browser and mobile phones, TV set-top boxes, gaming consoles, Blu-ray players and other platforms.
NetBeans IDE 7.1 is a free, open-source IDE available for Windows, Mac, Solaris and Linux that enables developers to rapidly create Web, enterprise, desktop and mobile applications for the Java platform.