Step by Step Instructions for Creating Your First Applet in NetBeans

 

  1. Choose File /  New Project. Under Categories, select General.  Under Projects, select Java Class Library. Click Next.
  2. Under Project Name, enter the name of your application.  Change the Project Location to any folder on your computer.
  3. Click Finish. The IDE creates the project folder.
  4. Right-click the project node in the Projects window or  Files window and select New > Other. Under Categories, select Swing GUI Forms. Under File Types, select JApplet Form. Click Next.
  5. Under Class Name, enter the name of your applet. Leave Package blank for now (default package).
  6. Click Finish. The IDE creates the applet in the specified package. The applet opens in the Source editor.
  7. Add several components (click component, click on design panel; OR right-click on design panel and choose Add>).
  8. Repeat steps 8 & 9 as necessary (see below for instructions for specific components).
  9. To build project: Right click the project node in the Projects window and choose Build from the contextual menu.
  10. To Run - Right click on Projects.../<appletname>.java  select Run File (or SHIFT-F6)
  11. To post to web server as JAR file (1 archive for all source):
    1. Make sure you have just Run the project (step #10 above).
    2. Copy JAR file (should be in <projdir>\dist\<projname>.jar) to web server (contains code and images).
    3. Copy then edit automatically generated HTML test file (should be in <projdir>\build\<projname>.html )(NOTE: every time you Run step #10 NetBeans re-creates this file!)

1.      remove 'codebase="..."' property in APPLET tag

2.      add 'archive="<projname>.jar"' property to APPLET tag

Component-specific Instructions

 

to add icon images to buttons or labels (to get automatically bundled in the JAR file)

1.      Copy GIF or JPG to \src directory.

2.      Select icon... property of component and select Classpath radio button option

3.      Click Select File and pick image file from src directory

 

to populate a JComboBox

1.      First add the combo box to the panel. Then edit the 'model' property.

 

to add a Menu

1.      First add a MenuBar to the JApplet.

2.      Right click on the JMenuBar object in the Inspector, and select Add Menu (to add another menu.  

3.  To add items to a menu, expland the JMenuBar object in the Inpector, right click on the JMenu, choose Add From Palette > Menu Item

 

to add a nested JPanel

1.      Add the Panel to Display.

2.      Add contained components. Note that the Panel will appear very small until you start adding things into it.