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CS163 NetBeans Tutorial

NetBeans is a free computer program (developed by Sun and currently owned by Oracle) that

helps programmers create and manage computer programs, including programs written in C++ or

Java. NetBeans is an example of an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), where the C++

program that you're developing is integrated (embedded) into a larger computer program

(NetBeans) that includes many additional tools to help you organize, test, and repair any

problems with your program.

We'll be using NetBeans to develop our CS163 programs this semester. So to prepare for writing

your own computer programs, you'll need to learn the basics of how to create and run a simple

pre-written C++ program using NetBeans.

NetBeans is a large and somewhat complicated-looking program because it has a lot of features

that professional computer programmers can use. But fortunately we'll be able to ignore most of

that complexity, because as beginners we only need to use a few of the features of NetBeans. So

don't be intimidated by the way NetBeans looks at first.

This tutorial will show you how to use NetBeans to enter, compile, and run a simple "Hello

World" program written in C++. That C++ program (shown below) simply displays the phrase

“Hello, world!” in a display window called the "console".

For this tutorial, you don't need to understand all the details of the "Hello World" program. The

main thing right now is to learn how to use NetBeans to do the basic things you'll need to

do to create and save any computer program, including future programs that you will write. So

in this tutorial, you will:

Log into a CS lab computer,

Start NetBeans,

Enter the “Hello World” program that appears below into NetBeans,

Save your “Hello World” program,

Run the “Hello World” program,

If necessary, fix any typographical errors in your program, re-save it, and re-run it until

you get it working and your program displays the message “Hello, world!”.

Print it (so you can turn it in for grading).

Log out of the CS lab computer.

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First, here is the "Hello World" program that you'll be entering and running. If you enter it

exactly as shown, it will run properly. Please note that at the end of the line that begins with the

word cout, the final letter before the semicolon is a lowercase letter L, not the number one.

/*

* File: main.cpp

* Author: [Put your name here]

* Program Name: Hello, World

* Course: CS163

* Created on [creation date here]

*/

#include <iostream.h>

int main() {

cout << “Hello, world!” << endl;

return (0);

}

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How to log into a CS Lab computer

1. Go to one of the Computer Science labs such as P115 (“The Dungeon”) or P107 (“The

Interrogation Room”) and sit down at any available computer.

2. The computer and monitor should already be turned on. If the screen is black, move the

mouse to wake up the computer and display the Windows log-on message, which says:

Press CTRL + ALT + DELETE to log on

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3. Do that, and log into Windows. Enter your email name as your user name. For example, if

your email address were JONESJJJ@uwec.edu, you would enter JONESJJJ as your user

name. Then enter your UWEC password.

4. You'll see the word “Welcome” for a while, then perhaps the message “Preparing your

Desktop”. It takes a while for Windows to “prepare your desktop”; please be patient.

If you come back and work at that same computer within the next three days, your desktop

remains prepared on that computer, so it will save you some time if you can get the same

computer each time. But after three days, your desktop becomes “unprepared” again and

you'll need to wait for it to be “prepared” again, no matter what computer you're using.

5. Finally you'll be presented with an empty blue Windows 7 desktop. So now it's time to start

NetBeans and write a C++ program.

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How to Start NetBeans

1. To start NetBeans, in the lower left corner of the screen, on the taskbar, click the Windows 7

Start button (round and blue, with the four-colored Windows logo in it).

A mostly-empty Start menu pops up. Near the bottom is a bar that says “All Programs”.

2. Click:

All Programs → Departmental → Computer Science → NetBeans IDE

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After a few seconds, the system will display the NetBeans IDE splash screen. NetBeans will

then spend some time loading some things that it needs into RAM.

NOTE: If a window then appears that says “Register your NetBeans IDE”, click “Never

Register”. The UWEC campus has already done so.

NOTE: If a window then appears that says “Help us improve the NetBeans IDE by

providing anonymous usage data.”, click “No, thank you”.

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A wide “Start Page” may appear that has two large areas labeled “Get Started” and “Extend

your IDE”. If so, at the lower center of that area is a checkbox labeled “Show On Startup”.

a) Remove the checkmark next to “Show On Startup”.

b) In the upper left corner of the entire NetBeans window is a light-blue tab labeled “Start

Page” with an X next to it. Click that X to close this Start Page.

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3. A mostly-blank NetBeans work area window then appears (see below). That's OK.

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4. Pull down the File menu and choose "New Project" to create a NetBeans “project” (a

collection of programming files and folders) into which you can enter your first C++

program.

The NetBeans “New Project” window appears. Under “Choose Project” is a Categories list

that shows many folders with names of programming languages next to them. Near the

bottom, locate the folder labeled “C/C++” and click it once to select it.

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5. Now look at the next panel to the right, the Projects panel. It now shows a list of several

kinds of C/C++ software that NetBeans is capable of creating. You're about to create a C++

program, which is also called an “application”. So locate the line that says “C/C++

Application”.

6. Click the icon labeled C/C++ Application, then at the bottom, click Next.

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7. NetBeans will show a “Finding Feature” progress bar briefly, then display a window that

asks you to give your project a name and location.

Next to “Project Name:” it already says “CppApplication_1”, but that sample name is

already highlighted so that you can change it to a meaningful name for your project.

8. Next to “Project Name:”, type the name of your first C++ program (with no spaces):

HelloWorld

9. Below that you'll see a “Project Location”, “Project Folder”, and “Project Makefile Name:”.

Leave those filled in exactly as they are.

10. Below those are two checkboxes labeled “Create Main File: main” and “Set as Main

Project”. We'll also leave these exactly as they are for now, but in the future we may want

to change them. So ignore them for now, but remember that they're here.

11. At the bottom of this window, click the Finish button. NetBeans will now create your

HelloWorld project.

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Entering, Saving, and Running the Hello World Program 1. You're back at the work window, but now there's something new in it. At the left, in a

“Project” pane at the left, you can see that NetBeans has created the necessary parts of your

HelloWorld project for you in four folders:

Header Files

Resource Files

Source Files

Important Files

For now, you can ignore all of them except Source Files, which is where your program will

be stored, because the C++ code that you are about to enter is called source code. In fact,

NetBeans has already written part of it for you!

2. Click the plus sign next to the Source Files folder to see what NetBeans has already created

for you.

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3. You should see a document named “main.cpp”. Doubleclick that “main.cpp” document to

open it and edit your program.

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4. In the large panel to the right, a “main.cpp” top panel appears with some C++ program code

already in it, and a “Tasks” panel below that.

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5. You'll notice that NetBeans has already provided a “skeleton” of what it thinks every C++

main program should look like. There's a light-gray “comment” area at the top that already

has the program name, author, and creation date in it. That's nice, but NetBeans is simply

making a guess here as to what you might want. If you don't like what's there, you're free to

make changes.

In fact, edit the program so that it looks exactly like the program shown on page 1 of this

document. It should end up looking like this, with your name instead of CSTEST:

6. Next, SAVE your hard work! Below the NetBeans menus is a toolbar that shows many

icons. The fourth icon from the left is a pair of blue overlapped floppy disks. Clicking that

icon saves your work. Click that NOW if you haven't already done so earlier.

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7. Finally it's time to run your program and see it work! To do that, click the green triangle to

the right of the two hammers.

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8. In the Tasks panel at the bottom, many cryptic messages will scroll by. Ignore all but the

last. The last message should say “BUILD SUCCESSFUL”, indicating the the C++

compiler (the C++ translating program) successfully translated your program into machine

language that the computer can run. If it doesn't say “BUILD SUCCESSFUL”, there are

errors in your program that you need to fix. Do so, then try running it again until you get

“BUILD SUCCESSFUL.”

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9. After it says BUILD SUCCESSFUL in the Tasks panel, in a few seconds more, the output

of your program will be displayed in the console at the bottom of NetBeans.

Hello, world!

That's the message that your C++ program produced. It works!

Congratulations! You have just successfully used a commercial-quality Interactive

Development Environment (NetBeans) to create your first working C++ program! That's a

huge first step. Reward yourself with something nice! But before you do...

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How To Print Your Program

1. From the File menu, choose Print.

A Print Preview window appears.

2. At the bottom of the Print Preview window, click Print.

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2. This dialog shows that you’re printing to the P115 lab printer. Click OK.

Your document will be printed on the lab printer. Be sure to walk over and get it

immediately! Some students forget their printouts and leave them in the printer. Don't be

one of them!

Quitting NetBeans To quit NetBeans, click the double-floppy-disk icon again to make sure your work is saved. (If

the floppy disk icons are dark gray, that means you've already saved your work, so there's no

need to do it again.) Then click the big white-on-red X in the upper right corner of the NetBeans

window to exit NetBeans.

The next time you use NetBeans, if you want to open and run your project again, instead of

choosing File > New Project to create a new project, choose File > Open Project to open an

existing one (your HelloWorld project). Then choose the name of your project, HelloWorld, and

NetBeans will open it again. Now that it's working, you can run it as many times as you like by

simply clicking the green Run triangle.

Keep these instructions handy and follow them again to create your follow-up programming

assignments. Practice creating and running this program (or others like it) over and over until

you can create C++ programs using NetBeans from memory, without using these instructions.

When you've learned that, then you're ready for the next step: Creating and running your

own C++ programs from scratch!

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How to Log Out From a CS Lab Computer 1. In the Windows 7 taskbar, at the bottom left corner of the screen, click the Start button.

2. Click Log Off.

3. Clean up your area before you go, and remember to reward yourself with something nice!