[Bluej-discuss] [Netbeans-bluej] No Object bench in NetBeans BlueJ edition

[Ian Utting]

Ioanis Gaviotis wrote:
> I was disappointed to see that NetBeans BlueJ edition does not
> support object interaction as Objectbench did in BlueJ.

That's right, and it was a deliberate decision on our part. NB/BJ is not
meant to replace BlueJ as an initial IDE, and just as BlueJ doesn't
attempt to implement all the useful features of NetBeans, so NB/BJ isn't
just the union of the feature sets of its two base systems.

> So, I will continue to use BlueJ for the first 4 weeks of the
> semester and then change to JBuilder or NetBeans.

There are three advantages of using NB/BJ as an aid to help your
students make the transition from BlueJ into full-blown NetBeans:

. NB/BJ has a number of the features of NetBeans (that you probably
   won't be using straight away) disabled or hidden, so your students
   won't have to wade through too many menus wondering if they are
   relevant.

. NB/BJ understands BlueJ projects directly (with no translation
   necessary), so that your students can continue to develop the same
   project in BlueJ and NB/BJ. Edits made in one IDE are visible in the
   other. This means that they can continue to use the features they
   miss from BlueJ while still getting to grips with NB/BJs richer
   feature set.

. NB/BJ knows how to convert BlueJ projects into "standard" NetBeans
   projects so that you can really move take them well beyond what BlueJ
   supports. See Brian Leonard's excellent "Zuul Everywhere" extended
   tutorial at http://www.netbeans.org/kb/55/zuul-server.html for a
   look at how far you can go!

Ian.