NetBeans 7.0 arrives with Java 7 support

Oracle has announced the availability of NetBeans 7.0.The major feature of 7.0 is the support for the Java 7 features in JDK 7; this includes handling the Project Coin language enhancements and appropriately extending code completion and hinting. JDK 7 is currently being released as early access snapshots and, once released in late July, the NetBeans developers will release a NetBeans 7.0.1 which will synchronise with the final version of the JDK, and then NetBeans 7.1 in October.

The 7.0 release of NetBeans will allow Java developers to use a familiar IDE while testing Java 7's new features, such as support for string constants in case statements, improved type inference and language support for Collections and JSR292 (Dynamic Typed Language support in the JVM).

For Java developers who are not using Java 7, there are still a wide range of improvements in NetBeans 7. For example, better integration with Oracle WebLogic server and support for Oracle Database, with a simpler connection wizard, and Glassfish 3.1, with management for remote instances and deployed applications should make NetBeans 7.0 work more smoothly with those popular application platforms.

The NetBeans 7.0 release also sees other Java related improvements, with support for Maven 3, the integration of JUnit 4.8.2, the ability to follow remote HTTP URLs in Javadoc and a new visual customiser for the GridBagLayout. Java EE developers will find better support for Contexts and Dependency Injection (CDI), REST services and the Java Persistence API; new support for Bean Validation and for JSF component libraries (including PrimeFaces) has also been incorporated.

For web developers, HTML5 editing and JSON formatting has been added, while PHP developers will find support for PhpDoc generation, rename and safe delete refactoring and support for PHP 5.3's aliases. There are also some improvements in the C/C++ support and performance enhancements for the NetBeans Platform's Profiler. Finally, changes to the detection of file changes on the native file system should make NetBeans more aware of external modifications to project files.

The full release notes for NetBeans 7.0 are available, and NetBeans 7.0 can be downloaded in packages for Java SE, EE, C/C++, PHP or all supported languages to run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, or Solaris (on x86 or SPARC). What is missing is the Ruby on Rails support in NetBeans; Oracle pulled support for that in January.

(djwm)