Netbeans Projects
Like many IDEs, Netbeans uses projects to organize your programming tasks. You don't have to create a project inorder to work on a java program. A project simply stores the configuration of your files, the compile and build instructions that you use, version information, and many other things for future reference. Usually, for each application you develop, you will have one project file with many code files inside of it.
The Project Manager Window

To open the Project Manager window, click Projects -> Project Manager on the menu bar. A screen will pop up that looks like this:

To create a new project, click the New button, then enter the name of the project you want to create.

To switch projects, click on the project you want and then click the Open button.

To delete a project, click on the project you want and then click the Delete button.

File Systems

Mounting

A project is just a generic container. In order to tell Netbeans where you want to store all of you Java files, you mount a filesystem into the project. A filesystem is just a pointer to a place on your hard drive where you will store all of your files.

To mount a filesystem, click File -> Mount Filesystem on the menu bar. The following window will display:

Select the Local Filesystem option and click next. Then, navigate to find the folder you want to mount. This folder will usually be in the folder: csci/201 (or C:\Files on Windows) folder (Note that there may be many folders available, you will have to pick the right one to mount based on which project you are working on). You can create folders that you need by clicking on the Create Folder button . A new folder called New Folder will appear. Rename this new folder to the name you want. This maneuver can be difficult for even the most experienced Windows or Linux user. You must gently and patiently click the words "New Folder" until they are highlighted. Then you can edit the file name. For instance, if the lab tells you to mount the folder csci/201/lincoln , and the 201 folder doesn't contain the lincoln folder, you can click on this button and enter the name lincoln.

Once you have located the folder you want, click the finish button to add it to your project. The new filesystem will be shown in the Explorer Window

Adding the Keyboard Class

Although the Lincoln program doesn't need it, you will find that many of your homework programs need to use a class called Keyboard that is supplied by the author's of your text. In order to use that class in a program you need to include it in your project as follows:

  1. In the Explorer Window, right-click on the folder containing your java source code, the folder that you just mounted.
  2. From the pop-up menu, choose new and then folder. Name the folder cs1.
  3. Store the Keyboard class inside of the cs1 folder. (Depress the shift key while right-clicking on this link to save the file to your computer.)

Unmounting

To unmount a filesystem, right click on it in the Explorer Window and select Unmount.