NetBeans File Template Module Tutorial

This tutorial demonstrates how to create a module containing file templates. Once you have installed the module in the IDE, the file templates are available in the New File wizard. Sharing file templates is easy once you have a module that contains them—the IDE lets you create a binary that you can make available to others, who can then install it through the Update Center.

A file template consists of a template file, an HTML description file, and an icon. The HTML description file displays information about the template in the New File wizard. The icon identifies the template and distinguishes it from other templates in the New File wizard. In this tutorial, you create a new file template by copying the content of an existing file template into an empty file. Then, once you have set up a description file for the New File wizard and a distinguishing icon, you register the template, the HTML description file, and the icon in the NetBeans configuration file, the layer.xml file.

Note: If you use the New File Type wizard, a file template is automatically created for you. The manual steps described in this tutorial are not necessary when the New File Type wizard is used. The New File Type wizard also lets you select an icon and it creates an HTML description file. The New File Type wizard automatically registers the file template, the HTML description file, and the icon in the layer.xml file. Therefore, if the file template that you want to create relates to a new file type, it is better to use the New File Type wizard. For details, see NetBeans DataLoader Module Tutorial.

For more information on working with NetBeans modules, see the NetBeans Development Project home on the NetBeans website. If you have questions, visit the NetBeans Developer FAQ or use the feedback link at the top of this page.

Installing the Software

Creating the Module Project

We begin by going through the New Module Project wizard, which will create a source structure, with all the minimum requirements, for our new module.

The IDE creates the Additional File Templates project. The project contains all of your sources and project metadata, such as the project's Ant build script. The project opens in the IDE. You can view its logical structure in the Projects window (Ctrl-1) and its file structure in the Files window (Ctrl-2). For example, the Projects window should now look as follows:

Creating the File Template

A file template consists of a template file, an HTML description file, and an icon. An easy way to create a new file template is to copy the content of an existing file template into an empty file. Then, once you have set up a description file for the New File wizard and a distinguishing icon, you are ready to register the template in the layer.xml file.

Creating the Template File

Right-click the Additional File Templates node and choose New > File/Folder. In the New File wizard, under Categories, choose Other and under File Types, choose HTML. Click Next.
Type HTML in File Name. Click Browse and browse to src/org/myorg/additionalfiletemplates. Click Select Folder. Click Finish.

A new HTML file, called HTML.html, opens in the Source Editor, containing the standard HTML file's content shown below:
```
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">

<html>
  <head>
    <title></title>
  </head>
  <body>
  
  </body>
</html>
```
Change the HTML file according to your needs.

Creating the Description File

Right-click the org.myorg.additionalfiletemplates node and choose New > File/Folder. Under Categories, choose Other. Under File Types, choose HTML File. Click Next. Type HTML in File Name. Click Browse and browse to src/org/myorg/additionalfiletemplates. Click Select Folder. Click Finish.
An empty HTML file opens in the Source Editor and its node appears in the Projects window.

Type "Creates new HTML file" (without the quotation marks) between the <body> tags, so that the file looks as follows:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
   <head>
      <title></title>
   </head>
   <body>
      Creates new HTML file.
   </body>
</html>

Getting an Icon

The icon accompanies the file template in the New File wizard. It identifies it and distinguishes it from other file templates. The icon must have a dimension of 16x16 pixels.

Name the icon icon.png and add it to the org.myorg.additionalfiletemplates package.

The Projects window should now look as follows:

Final Projects window.

Registering the File Template

Once you have created the file template, you must register it in the NetBeans System Filesystem. The layer.xml file is made for this purpose.

Building and Installing the Module

The IDE uses an Ant build script to build and install your module. The build script is created for you when you create the module project.

Installing the NetBeans Module

In the Projects window, right-click the Additional File Templates project and choose Install/Reload in Target Platform.

The module is built and installed in the target IDE or Platform. The target IDE or Platform opens so that you can try out your new module. The default target IDE or Platform is the installation used by the current instance of the development IDE. Note that when you run your module, you will be using a temporary test user directory, not the development IDE's user directory.

Using the NetBeans Module

Choose File > New Project (Ctrl-Shift-N) and create a new project.
Right-click the project and choose New > File/Folder. The New File wizard opens and displays the new category with its new file type. It should look something like this, although your icon will probably be different:
Select the new file type, click Next, and create a new file. When you click Finish, the Source Editor should display the newly created template.

Creating a Shareable Module Binary

In the Projects window, right-click the Additional File Templates project and choose Create NBM.
The NBM file is created and you can view it in the Files window (Ctrl-2):
Make it available to others via, for example, e-mail.

Next Steps

For more information about creating and developing NetBeans Module, see the following resources:

Version	Date	Changes
1	26 June 2005	Initial version
2	28 June 2005	Added bold tags to descriptor file to show that Description box displays HTML tags Ordering attributes added Display names moved to Bundle.properties Screenshot in "Using the NetBeans Plug-in" changed Added ".template" as extension to the "BrandedJavaClass" file, because the `layer.xml` looks for a file called "BrandedJavaClass.template". Also changed the screenshot of the Projects window at the end of the "Creating the File Template" section to reflect the ".template" extension.
3	2 October 2005	Went through the whole tutorial with the latest build. Made several changes, mainly because the Templates replaces the Options window for templates. Added new 2nd and 3rd paragraphs to the introduction, to explain that this tutorial isn't necessary if you're creating a new file type.
4	3 October 2005	Changed templateWizard[Iterator\|URL] in layer.xml to instantiating[Iterator\|WizardURL] because templateWizard[Iterator\|URL] is going to be deprecated.
5	16 March 2006	Went through whole tutorial and tweaked line spacing a little bit, everything works fine still. Need to replace screenshots because icons are a bit different. Need to add icon to the doc, not just refer to the location. Need to show how multiple file templates can be created simultaneously from the New File wizard.
6	12 September 2006	Went through whole tutorial in NetBeans IDE 5.5 Beta 2. No problems, worked exactly as described. Updated some screenshots. Fixed indentations in code.
7	9 June 2007	Started updating to NetBeans 6.