Save yourself a lot of time and energy in rich-client application development— reuse features from the IDE's core by basing your application on the free NetBeans Platform.

Building on the NetBeans Platform

Developing applications on top of the NetBeans Platform means you are developing on top of the NetBeans IDE's core. The NetBeans Platform is a generic desktop application, and most desktop applications have common requirements - menus, document management, settings and so forth. Instead of writing the same code over and over again, write modules to implement what you need, bundle them up with the NetBeans Platform, and you have a beautiful, branded, cross-platform application.

Consistency

NetBeans-based applications are write-once, run-anywhere. You get prebuilt components for free and you solve common problems by reusing, mixing and matching them. Use the platform and the modules you develop as the basis for multiple applications that share common logic. The NetBeans Platform is a solid foundation and set of standards for clear design.

Modularity

Applications based on the NetBeans Platform can install modules dynamically, so users no longer need to download the entire application to get an upgrade or a new release. You can even assemble an application from already existing modules and benefit from the open-source work already done by others. There are lots of useful modules written by the NetBeans community (tasklist, spellchecker, etc.) that are ready to be embedded.

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