Perl on NetBeans IDE Beta 2

" perl on netbeans " is intended for perl programmers who want the intuitiveness of a great editor with the ease of being able to execute the program without having to do it through a command interpreter. also, it has the capability to inspect the austerity of your perl programs, and format the same in accordance to the best practices and conventions.

features of beta 2 release

1. perl editor
   1. perl file support
   2. perl module support
   3. syntax highlighting
   4. brace matching
   5. export code as html
2. perl project
   1. create project with new sources
   2. create project with existing sources
   3. open existing project
   4. add new file to project
   5. add existing file to project
3. code execution
   1. code execution
   2. code execution with command line arguments
4. syntax checking
5. source code formatting (using perl::tidy)
6. source code analysis (using perl::critic)
7. integrated perl-doc
8. configuration using the options panel
   1. templates
   2. general options
   3. perl tidy
   4. perl critic
9. integrated versioning system (svn/git/hg)

pre-requisites

this ide requires the following to be installed on your system for the ide to work properly:

1. active-perl v5.16 (or perl::critic and perl-doc installed with your existing perl installation)
2. java 6

supported platform

1. windows xp/7/8
2. linux
3. mac os

installation

the installation of "perl on netbeans" can be summarized in the following steps:

1. download: http://code.google.com/p/perl-on-netbeans
2. extracting and run the binary.

the curtain raiser

once the project is downloaded and extracted, you need to go to the folder perlonnetbeans/bin and use the perl_on_netbeans executable. the start-up screen is as shown below:

features

the ide currently has the following features.

editor

perl file support. any perl file can be opened in the editor and all available features would be available.

perl module support. any perl module file can be opened in the editor and all available features would be available.

syntax highlighting. as shown above, perl files and modules are displayed with syntax highlighting in the editor. you also get the option of customizing the highlighted colors to your preference. go to tools -> options -> fonts and colors. from the dropdown, select perl and then customize as much as you want.

brace matching. this feature lets you understand the brace completion. if you create a brace mismatch, it would be highlighted in “red” in the editor. else, clicking on a brace will highlight the corresponding “opening/closing” brace.

export code as html. you can export perl code to html format, using the bundled perl::tidy module. to do that, just open any file in the editor and click on the generate html button. the output html can be configured from the options panel.

project

a perl project can be defined as a collection of perl files that can be logically grouped together. the basic operations on a perl project are outlined below.

create new project. to create a new project, click on the “new project” icon on the toolbar or select “file -> new project”. the following screen is displayed:

select “perl” in the category and “perl project” under “projects”. the subsequent screen will ask for the location where you want the project to be saved and will create a folder by that name with the project sources. the ide will also open the project for further activities.

create project with existing sources. assuming a scenario where you have a few files that you want to create a project with and then use them. here you can create a project with existing files using the newly available project type. please note that all the selected files are imported to the project location and all modification would be done to the copy inside the project location.

open project. to open an already existing project, select the “open project” icon in the toolbar or go to “file -> open project”. this opens up the project selection dialog box and enable you to select am existing perl project to be opened. perl project have been assigned a different icon to distinguish them from other kinds of projects, as shown below.

add new file to project. a new file can be added to any project by right click on the project node and then by selecting “new ->other” as shown below:

this opens-up the subsequent window for selecting the file type and locations. select the “perl” category and then select “sampleperlfile.pl” as the file type. the subsequent windows will ask for the location where the files should be saved. this should be ideally left on the ide to decide as it selects the code folder automatically.

add existing file. to add an existing file to a project, select the project node and then click on the “add existing file” icon as shown below. this will present you with another dialog window where you can select the files. once the files are selected, they would be copied over to your project and be available under the project for all purposes.

check files for syntax errors

this feature enables you to check the syntax of the file that is currently selected in the editor. to execute any specific file that is currently selected in the editor, click on the "syntax check" button on the toolbar as shown below. this checking happens based on the version of the perl compiler that is currently installed on your system.

more information, about source code analysis, integrated perldoc support, and the options panel, see http://code.google.com/p/perl-on-netbeans .