develop GWT application with Netbeans on Ubuntu (How To Set Up)

As I am writing this, the recent versions of GWT, Netbeans and Ubuntu are GWT2.0, Netbeans6.8 and Ubuntu 9.10

I have been using Ubuntu linux for 6 months as I am writing this, so far I love it especially the 9.10 release. Below is the image that I just took when working on dual monitors with Netbeans6.8 open on the right side. As you can see, the fancy theme + bottom panel + linux system really make ubuntu the best operating system to my tast.

Netbeans is an IDE which was originally built for java development; because of the great work of the developers from Sun Microsystem, Netbeans has been compatible for many kinds of development such as python, ruby, php and c++ and so on. Do not doubt about its portability, because it is written in Java. Some other IDEs are also great choices eg. Eclipse, but since I have been using Netbeans for a while on windows systems, I would like to stick with something that I am used to.

GWT stands for google web toolkits. It is a web development toolkits written in Java by google. It complies java source code to javaScript and HTML. It makes web application development much easier for developers who are used to desktop applications. I will skip the details how GWT works and leave it for you to find out at code.google.com/webtoolkit/

First thing you will do is to download Netbeans, GWT SDK and GWT4NB(GWT plugin for Netbeans users).

• Netbeans can be downloaded at http://netbeans.org/ (choose the java version)
• GWT SDK can be found at code.google.com/webtoolkit/download.html
• and the GWT plugin for Netbeans users can be downloaded at this link (choose the right version to use, at the time I am writing this post, the correct version to use was 2.6.16).

Install Java SDK (if not already installed, there are instructions everywhere on the internet, or can follow ubuntu help at this link),Netbeans, GWT SDK and GWT4NB.

• Netbeans installation instruction can be found at your netbeans download page, it is easy to follow.
• GWT SDK installation can be found at the GetStarted section on google's gwt web page.

Next you will do is to add GWT4NB to Netbeans:

• Open Netbeans
• select "Tools"(on the top tool bar) --> "Plugins";
• at the currently opened window, select the "Downloaded" tab,
• click on "Add Plugins", find the place where you downloaded GWT4NB to then "open" it
• click on "Install" at the window,

now you are done with it.

How to configure servers or anything that you need for working with Netbeans can be found on the internet. You can work with GWT's development mode when your application is under development. It is easier for debugging procedures