netbeans

Because all the following information is available online in different places, I thought it might be helpful to others running Acquia Dev Desktop on Windows to have a a one-stop tutorial for setting up NetBeans/Xdebug/Drupal Development tools and templates.

Note:These instructions have been tested using Netbeans 7.2. as other use this document on other versions, please update this line. Thanks.

What is NDDT (NetBeans Drupal Development Tool)?

From its github site:

NDDT is a module for the NetBeans IDE that aides in the development of Drupal module and theme development. It provides rapid access to all the core Drupal hooks and theme override functions.

Basic Things the NetBeans IDE Drupal Plugin provides

Quickly Stub-Out Blank Module and Theme folders and files

To stub out blank module or theme folders and files under the "custom" folder:

1. Open the NetBeans Projects pane and right-click on the sites/all/modules/custom folder
2. Select New > Other > PHP > Drupal Module (or Drupal Theme)
3. Fill out the module name
4. Observe that the plugin will create a subfolder where specified, appropriately-named files, and open the files in NetBeans IDE editor for you

Drupal Code Completion

• Theme hooks
• Module hooks
• ...

Where to get the NetBeans IDE Plugins for Drupal

There exist both Drupal 6.x and 7.x plugins for NetBeans. At this time, only D6 plugin shows within the NetBeans plugin finder. To pick up the D7 NetBeans plugin, visit the plugin developer's git-hub project page:

Installation

1. Create a zip file of the content in the src directory (do not zip the src directory itself; zip up the content inside the directory).
2. Go to NetBeans > Preferences > Editor > Code Templates > Import
3. Browse the created zip file
4. Select Editor > Code Templates
5. Press OK

Usage

On the NetBeans Templates project page, you can download a file which you can easily import into NetBeans in Preferences > Editor > Code Templates..

With this template file all of the Drupal hooks can be generated with their base structure and rules.