Code, Chat and Share: With Netbeans...coding can't be easier

There's this cool feature in Netbeans I just discovered...it is called Collaboration...it comes as a plugin. So what does it do.

First I go to the plugins page and I install the Collaboration plugin...just 4MB.
Next I see a new Menu appear on the Menu bar called Collaboration in between versioning and tools

I click on the Menu and it gives me options to Login or end my session if I am already logged in
Next I click Login and I have a side-bar where I can Manage my accounts.

I click on the Manage Accounts button and I have a new window where I can

1. Register for a new collaboration account with share.java.net
2. Register for a new collaboration account with another collaboration server
3. Access my already created account on any collaboration serve

Any one who can install netbeans should be able to follow the simple steps to create a new account

After your account has been created your side bar is update to reflect your account settings. You can change any of these when you click on Manage Accounts button. if you are satisfied..click login
By now I guess all your friends have also done the same thing...so how do I add my friends to my contact...or better still how do two developers working on the same project collaborate real time without actually having to open an Instant Messaging Application? Some times ago I wrote about how Netbeans has helped me to eliminate most of the other GUIs that floods my screen...and now I have only one unified GUI...now its helping me to eliminate multiple Instant Messengers too......life is beautiful with netbeans

Now right click on Contacts in the collaboration side bar and select Add Contact..type your friends first name and click find..if your friend is logged in...he will show on the open and you can add him..a message is sent to your friend too to add you....you have fufilled the first step to real time collaboration

Next right-click on your friend's ID and click on Start Conversation...a new tab is opened for you where you can chat, share files and even share a whole project!

Now click on a file..drag it to the window that says Drag files here to share them and blam!...you have started sharing...your friend at the other end recieves the file(s) you dropped.....this way you can drop a whole project here and the guy at the other end gets it......He can also do something really crazy at this point...he can remotely build, clean, and run this project

Go try out this cool tool...you'll be glad you did....I did something with this tool...At a time I have a server setup that I manage remotely...most times when I make changes...i do it on my development system and upload...

What I did now was to install Netbeans on my Server and upload all the project files to the server...Next I created another account for the server on Collaboration and then I do all the editing I need to do directly on the server....all I did was shared the project files and that is all...whenever I want to run the project..I connect to the server using VNC Viewer to see the output.