Creating a Project and Mounting Directories

After the Setup Wizard is complete, other configuration steps are necessary before the IDE can be used to develop software. The most important of these steps is creating a project and mounting directories that contain the project's files.

A NetBeans Project is a collection of directories, files, resources and a configuration that are grouped together and given a unique name. Different application development efforts are typically assigned their own projects for the sake of coherent organization. If a new project is not created, NetBeans provides a default one called Project Default.

To create a new project:

1. Select Project | Project Manager from the main menu to open the Project Manager dialog.

2. Select the New button.

3. Enter the unique name for the new project and select the OK button. The new project will be added to the list of existing projects and will be opened in the IDE with default settings.

The IDE is only able to work with directories and files that have been mounted in the Explorer. Any shared filesystem on your network that is available to your computer can be mounted and browsed in the Explorer. Once mounted, the IDE will remember them from session to session as part of the project.

To mount a filesystem:

1. Select File | Mount Filesystem from the main menu. Alternatively, go to the Explorer itself and select Filesystems, then press the right mouse button to open a popup menu. Select Mount and then Local Directory.

2. Follow the steps in the New Wizard.