NetBeans 6.5 M1: GlassFish v3 + Rails

NetBeans IDE 6.5 Milestone 1 is now available. The New and Noteworthy feature list certainly makes it worthy for the install - comprehensive PHP support (Editor Screencast and PHP Learning Trail), JavaScript Debugger, Groovy Editor, Grails support and Numerous improvements in other areas are some of them.

Let's get started!

 

1. Download NetBeans 6.5 M1. Installation is pretty straight-forward and I customized it with the following options:
   
   
   
   After a simple installation process, check the "About" box as:
   
   
2. GlassFish v3 plug-in and TP2 is baked into the main release and so it is pre-configured for you. No need to install the additional plugin.
   
   This article walks you through creating a simple Rails app and shows the nice improvements along the way.
3. Let's create a simple Rails app:
   
   
   
   Notice, GlassFish v3 is chosen as the default Server.
4. Specify the database connection as:
   
   
   
   and click on "Finish". NetBeans is bundled with JRuby 1.1.2 and Rails 2.1.0.
5. Start MySQL as "sudo mysqld_safe --user root".
6. Running Rake commands from within is more natural now. Right-click on the project and select "Run/Debug Rake Task ..."
   
   
   
   The dialog shows all the Rails rake tasks available. Typing the Rake command prunes the list matching
   the pattern and shows:
   
   
   
   Type "db:create" and select "Run".
7. Create a new Scaffold by right-clicking on "Project" and selecting "Generate..." and entering the value as shown:
   
   
   
   and clicking on "OK".
8. Migrate the database by invoking Rake command as shown:
   
   
   
   and selecting "Run".
9. Right-select the project and select "Run" as shown:
   
   
   
   The default App Server page at "http://localhost:8080" is shown. This will be updated to "http://localhost:8080/RailsApplication19" which is the default Rails page for the final release.
10. After adding couple of entries the final output looks like:
    
    

With NetBeans 6.5, you can easily run your Rails applications on GlassFish v3 by taking most of the defaults. Rails powered by the GlassFish Application Server explains the reasons to do so.

 

Subsequent articles will highlight other aspects of NetBeans IDE 6.5 M1.