NetBeans IDE 7.1 Window Layout Designer

http://blogs.oracle.com/geertjan/entry/netbeans_ide_7_1_window

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In 7.1, you'll see this in the New File dialog:

 

 I.e., as you can see, there'll be two new file templates. One for creating & registering a new layer file (hurray!), which you'll not be able to create when you create a new module. That's good, because you'll only have a layer file when you actually need it.

Secondly, you'll see the "Layout of Windows" wizard, which will be very useful when you're creating your own modes. When you step through the wizard, this dialog will appear, where you're able to create new modes:

 

For example, as you can see below, I have added two new modes ("banner1" and "banner2") and positioned them (using drag and drop) within the frame of the application:

 

When I close the window that you see above, the wizard recognizes that there are two new modes, as you can see below:

 

 Then, when you click Next above, you can see that two new mode files will be created, and that the layer file will be changed, i.e., those two new mode files will be registered in the layer file when the wizard completes:

 

 And, here you can see what is found in my module when the wizard completes:

 

Therefore, when I create new windows, I can now choose the new modes I designed above:

 

That should take some of the pain away when designing the layout of your applications on the NetBeans Platform.