100 NetBeans IDE Tips and Tricks

One Minute Bottom Line

Review

 I was mainly interested in tricks for editor support, like code completion and keyboard shortcuts, and time saving techniques in general.

Here are some useful examples:

1. Tip 62: Making use of templates and abbreviations for common code snippets: For example in a Java editor, typing sout then pressing tab to expands to System.out.println("");. There are a bunch more and these are totally customizable.


2. Tip 73: Closing a line with a semi-colon: When using the editor's code completion (Ctrl-Space), instead of choosing an option by clicking with the mouse or pressing Enter, press the semicolon key instead.


3. Tip 19: Opening a resource in the editor: Using the Go To File dialog to open a project file in the editor. If you're working in a large project, this saves you from having to drill into a monolithic project tree to manually find a file.


4. Tip 9: Comparing two files line by line: You can select any two files in the Projects, Files, or Favorites windows, and compare them line by line using the IDE's visual Diff Viewer. Highlight the two files, and choose Tools > Diff from the right-click menu.