The NetBeans IDE 4.1 has been released and includes Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) development capabilities. "This new release allows developers to not only develop applications in the web tier but also includes Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs) and web service development capabilities," according to www.netbeans.org.

NetBeans IDE 4.1 is a single platform with out-of-the-box development capabilities and support for enterprise (J2EE 1.4) applications and web services, mobile/wireless Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) applications and services and desktop Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) applications. The robust open source Java IDE, has everything that Java Software Developers need to develop cross-platform desktop, web and mobile applications straight out of the box.

The long list of NetBeans IDE 4.1 highlighted capabilities enables developers to perform the following tasks, according to NetBeans.org:

• Easily browse and navigate around your classes using the new Navigator component.
• Browse and configure project classpath using the Libraries node in the Projects View.
• Use automatically generated Debug and Compile Single File actions for projects with existing build scripts.
• Import projects with multiple source roots as standard projects.
• Create a J2EE application, automatically add EJB modules and Web modules, and deploy the application.
• Create an EJB module and deploy it as a stand-alone module or packaged in a J2EE application.
• Create Session Beans, Entity Beans and Message-Driven Beans.
• Create Entity Beans using an existing database schema.
• Create a Web module, generate calls to EJBs, and deploy the Web module either as a stand-alone Web application or packaged in a J2EE application.
• Create, register, and test Web services.
• Try out the sample applications to learn and understand the J2EE technology.
• Import your existing J2EE projects.
• Validate your applications using the J2EE Verifier.
• Visually configure your EJBs, Web Services and Web Components.
• Add multiple source folders to EJB module or Web module, create Unit tests as a part of the project.
• Visually lay out your MIDlet's workflow, and design and code the GUI using drag and drop elements (available in NetBeans Mobility Pack).
• End-to-end support for enterprise applications. Wizard support for creating J2ME-J2EE applications. Enables you to quickly create J2ME client/server applications (available in NetBeans Mobility Pack).

More information on the NetBeans IDE 4.1 release can be found at:

• NetBeans 4.1 Tutorials, Guides, and Articles
• NetBeans Profiler Milestone 6

Developers can get started with the NetBeans IDE 4.1 release by joining a community mailing list either for support, news or other project interest.

NetBeans started as a student project in the Czech Republic (originally called Xelfi), in 1996. The goal was to write a Delphi-like Java IDE in Java. A company was formed around this project, called NetBeans. There were two commercial versions of NetBeans, called Developer 2.0 and 2.1. Around May of 1999, NetBeans released a beta of what was to be Developer 3.0. Some months later, in October 1999, NetBeans was acquired by Sun Microsystems. After some additional development time, Sun released the Forte for Java Community Edition IDE, the same IDE that had been in beta as NetBeans Developer 3.0.