Sun Microsystems releases NetBeans IDE 6.8

SANTA CLARA, USA: Sun Microsystems Inc. and the NetBeans developer community announced the availability of the NetBeans Integrated Development Environment (IDE) 6.8, the first IDE to provide complete support for the Java Platform Enterprise Edition 6 (Java EE 6) and Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v3, as well as other innovative new features. Developers can download the NetBeans IDE 6.8 at www.netbeans.org.

With complete Java EE 6 and GlassFish v3 support, the NetBeans IDE 6.8 makes language and platform improvements easily available to developers and helps accelerate application development.

The NetBeans IDE 6.8 enables developers to take advantage of the latest Java EE 6 language features that simplify Java application creation, including POJO-like development, more annotations and less XML configuration. Additionally, developers can easily target and deploy to GlassFish v3, including the new lightweight GlassFish v3 Web Profile.

“With this new NetBeans release, Sun continues its commitment to delivering open source developer tools,” said Jim Parkinson, vice president of Developer Products and Programs, Sun Microsystems. “Java EE 6 and GlassFish v3 enable developers to create enterprise applications more easily and with less code, significantly speeding application development and deployment.”

Along with support for Java EE 6 and GlassFish v3, the NetBeans IDE 6.8 offers other new features and improvements including:

Expanded PHP Support: Expands support of dynamic languages with support for PHP 5.3 and the Symfony framework speeds development of PHP Web applications

Tighter Integration with Project Kenai: Project Kenai, a collaborative environment for hosting open-source projects, now delivers full support for JIRA and improved instant messenger and issue tracker integration.

Improved C/C ++ Profiling: Profile and tune C/C++ applications with the new Microstate Accounting indicator and I/O usage monitor.

JavaFX: Improved code completion, hints and navigation for JavaFX in the NetBeans editor

The NetBeans 6.8 IDE also provides improved support for JSF 2.0/Facelets, Java Persistence 2.0, EJB 3.1 including using EJBs in Web applications and RESTful Web services, as well as improvements to the NetBeans Platform.

The NetBeans platform is a Rich Client Platform that developers use to shave years off of development time by reusing the modular NetBeans architecture. The platform uses Swing, which is the standard UI toolkit, enabling applications to have a consistent look and feel.

The NetBeans IDE is a free, open-source Integrated Development Environment for software developers. It provides all the tools needed to create professional desktop, enterprise, web, and mobile applications with the Java language, JavaFX, C/C++, and dynamic languages such as PHP, JavaScript, Groovy, and Ruby. The NetBeans IDE is easy to install and use straight out of the box and runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and Solaris.

In addition to the various features in the NetBeans IDE, developers also have access to a wide range of plugins provided by NetBeans partners and the community that supports NetBeans IDE 6.8. Jaspersoft is a leading provider of business intelligence solutions.

"With the launch of NetBeans IDE 6.8, we are pleased to continue serving the NetBeans community with the leading open source business intelligence solution," said Jose Morales, vice president of Business Development, Jaspersoft. "With the iReport visual report designer, available as a standalone NetBeans platform rich client or as the most downloaded plug-in for NetBeans, developers today can easily incorporate business intelligence solutions into their enterprise applications."

The NetBeans platform, used by developers around the world to develop a wide variety of rich clients, continues to garner the attention of the developer community.

Microchip is a leading provider of microcontrollers, analog semiconductors, and development tools for embedded designs.

“Microchip sees great potential for the embedded developer base in the new NetBeans IDE 6.8 release,” said Derek Carlson, vice president, Development Tools, Microchip Technology. “While other open source IDE frameworks have grown cumbersome and required significant customization for the embedded market over the past 2+ decades, NetBeans 6.8 delivers a fully capable, modern, lightweight and flexible platform for future embedded IDEs.”