NetBeans 7.0's first release candidate appears

The NetBeans developers at Oracle have announced the first release candidate for version 7.0 of the NetBeans Java IDE. The major feature of 7.0 will be the support for Java 7 features in JDK 7; this includes handling the Project Coin language enhancements and extending code completion and hinting appropriately. Other improvements include 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.

The RC1 release sees Java 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.

Full details of the new release candidate are available in it's release notes which also identifies current known issues. Installation instructions which cover Windows, Solaris, Linux and Mac OS X installations are also available. JDK 6 Update 24 or later is required for installation. NetBeans 7.0 RC1 is available to download, but as with all pre-release software, is not recommended for production use. It is dual licensed under the CDDL and GPLv2.

(djwm)