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From my message ("refactoring so constrained it becomes useless") on nbdev@netbeans.org: ... 4.) string manipulation should be improved: if I have a class mytestpackage.MyClass which I want to rename to com.mycompany.myproduct.some.package.SensibleClassName, the refactoring algorithm should e.g. notice that there are strings in the file like "mytestpackage.MyClass" (in, say, a Class.forName() statement) and transform it into "com/mycompany/myproduct/some/package/SensibleClassName" 5.) the same goes for moving/renaming packages: the refactoring algorithm should detect strings in the file like "mytestpackage/an_image.jpg" and transform it into "com/mycompany/myproduct/some/package/an_image.jpg" Some of these are probably implemented and only the first two ideas are an exact science (the rest can't be guaranteed to be correct without intelligent supervision on a case by case base), but refactoring - through no fault of it's own - is basically severely undercut. ... Basically, I suggest dividing changes into "certainly necessary" and something like "probably should be done, but it's your call". The above examples fall into the second category. Jesse Glick had the following idea: "The simplest approach is to assume that any string constant matching the name should be changed; this should get most or all references but may change something it shouldn't." I believe that 90+% of refactoring suggestions made this way would be good so it's a good idea, as long as the user can pick and choose the changes he/she wants done. There's room for improovement in the before/after comparison frame as well: in this respect, using the eclipse code comparison dialog might not be a bad idea.
*** Bug 212160 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
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