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Bug 245567 - it would be great if Project Groups could be opened via browsing -- when using multiple computers with shared files
Summary: it would be great if Project Groups could be opened via browsing -- when usin...
Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: projects
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Generic Projects UI (show other bugs)
Version: 8.0
Hardware: PC Linux
: P3 normal (vote)
Assignee: Tomas Stupka
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2014-07-10 19:03 UTC by codeslinger_compsalot
Modified: 2016-07-07 08:38 UTC (History)
0 users

See Also:
Issue Type: ENHANCEMENT
Exception Reporter:

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Description codeslinger_compsalot 2014-07-10 19:03:32 UTC 
Product Version = NetBeans IDE 8.0 (Build 201403101706)
Operating System = Linux version 3.13.0-30-generic running on amd64
Java; VM; Vendor = 1.7.0_55
Runtime = OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM 24.51-b03


Since you are doing a total redesign of the Project Groups anyway, here is an enhancement that I'd love to see.

Currently, the information for Project Groups is stored in a private config folder in the users home directory.

The default action of netbeans is to store the Project files in the nbproject folder.  There are some minor downsides to this, but is also has a couple of major advantages too.

When you are working on multiple computers, with the same set of files, either by network access, or vcs replication; when setting up netbeans on that computer it is easy to browse
to a project folder and open the Project.

But you can't do this with Project Groups because that information does not get saved anywhere that is accessible.

It would be very nice if there was a way to store the Project Group information such that a Group could be added to netbeans by browsing to it''s config file.

Naturally, it would have to use relative paths to the Projects in order for this to work easily on different computers.

Since developers typically put all of their related projects into one or more subfolders having a common parent, the Project Group config file could live in the parent folder.

This way when setting up a new dev computer it would be an easy task to browse to the Projets Groups config file and have all of your predefined Project Groups available and ready to be added to your instance of netbeans.   

This would primarily be a teamwork feature, but it's also great for devs who use multiple machines for different test environments.
Comment 1 codeslinger_compsalot 2014-07-10 19:17:15 UTC 
probably the best way to approach this would be to add an Export and Import function for the Project Groups config.  that way the dev can place the config file wherever makes the most sense to them.

the thing about Import though is that it should not just blindly Import everything, it should allow the dev to choose which Project Groups they want to add to their instance of netbeans.
I suppose a method to specify the base path for the projects would also be needed.

---------------

Oh and also, Please Stop Resolving my SymLinks into Absolute Paths, I use SymLinks for a reason....   It's because via SymLinks I can make all of my paths be the same, even on different computers, and when you insist on using absolute paths it breaks this functionality.
Comment 2 Martin Balin 2016-07-07 08:38:05 UTC 
This old bug may not be relevant anymore. If you can still reproduce it in 8.2 development builds please reopen this issue.

Thanks for your cooperation,
NetBeans IDE 8.2 Release Boss