Introduction

What do the Dates Mean?

The supplied dates indicate when the API change was made, on the CVS trunk. From this you can generally tell whether the change should be present in a given build or not; for trunk builds, simply whether it was made before or after the change; for builds on a stabilization branch, whether the branch was made before or after the given date. In some cases corresponding API changes have been made both in the trunk and in an in-progress stabilization branch, if they were needed for a bug fix; this ought to be marked in this list.

The release41 branch was made on Apr 03 '05 for use in the NetBeans 4.1 release. Specification versions: 6.0 begins after this point.
The release40 branch was made on Nov 01 '04 for use in the NetBeans 4.0 release. Specification versions: 5.0 begins after this point.

Index of APIs

Dialogs API

Incompatible changes by date

Fuller descriptions of all changes can be found below (follow links).

Not all deprecations are listed here, assuming that the deprecated APIs continue to essentially work. For a full deprecation list, please consult the Javadoc.

(Feb 6 '07) Method notifyLater improved to work before main window is opened

All changes by date

(Nov 28 '08) Simplify handling error/warning/info messages in dialogs
(Jul 3 '08) New WizardDescriptor constants introduced for info and warning messages
(Jul 3 '08) Wizard Descriptor properties changed to constants, two new constants introduced
(Jun 15 '07) Generics-friendly constructor added for WizardDescriptor.ArrayIterator
(Apr 30 '07) New WizardDescriptor constructor.
(Feb 8 '07) New method getProperties added to WizardDescriptor
(Feb 6 '07) Method notifyLater improved to work before main window is opened
(Feb 2 '07) Generified WizardDescriptor.Panel
(Jun 20 '06) New method to asynchronously show messages
(Apr 8 '06) Interface ProgressInstantiatingIterator added
(Dec 6 '05) Interface AsynchronousInstantiatingIterator added
(May 16 '05) Interface AsynchronousValidationgPanel added
(Mar 28 '05) Add method NotifyDescriptor.getDefaultValue()
(Jan 8 '05) Added paramater leaf to DialogDescriptor
(Jul 2 '04) Added WizardDescriptor.getInstantiatedObjects
(May 4 '04) Made instantiating iterator
(Mar 29 '04) Allow dynamically enable/disable Finish button
(Mar 29 '04) Allow vetoable Next/Finish validation in wizard

Changes by version

These API specification versions may be used to indicate that a module requires a certain API feature in order to function. For example, if you see here a feature you need which is labelled 1.20, your manifest should contain in its main attributes the line:

OpenIDE-Module-Module-Dependencies: org.openide.dialogs > 1.20

(7.10) Simplify handling error/warning/info messages in dialogs
(7.8) New WizardDescriptor constants introduced for info and warning messages
(7.8) Wizard Descriptor properties changed to constants, two new constants introduced
(7.5) Generics-friendly constructor added for WizardDescriptor.ArrayIterator
(7.4) New WizardDescriptor constructor.
(7.3) Method notifyLater improved to work before main window is opened
(7.3) New method getProperties added to WizardDescriptor
(7.2) Generified WizardDescriptor.Panel
(7.1) Interface ProgressInstantiatingIterator added
(7.0) New method to asynchronously show messages
(6.5) Interface AsynchronousInstantiatingIterator added
(6.2) Interface AsynchronousValidationgPanel added
(5.9) Add method NotifyDescriptor.getDefaultValue()
(5.5) Added paramater leaf to DialogDescriptor
(4.41) Added WizardDescriptor.getInstantiatedObjects
(4.33) Made instantiating iterator
(4.28) Allow dynamically enable/disable Finish button
(4.28) Allow vetoable Next/Finish validation in wizard

Changes by affected class

`org.openide.DialogDescriptor`

(Jan 8 '05) Added paramater leaf to DialogDescriptor

`org.openide.DialogDisplayer`

(Feb 6 '07) Method notifyLater improved to work before main window is opened
(Jun 20 '06) New method to asynchronously show messages

`org.openide.NotificationLineSupport`

(Nov 28 '08) Simplify handling error/warning/info messages in dialogs

`org.openide.NotifyDescriptor`

(Nov 28 '08) Simplify handling error/warning/info messages in dialogs
(Mar 28 '05) Add method NotifyDescriptor.getDefaultValue()

`org.openide.WizardDescriptor`

(Jul 3 '08) New WizardDescriptor constants introduced for info and warning messages
(Jul 3 '08) Wizard Descriptor properties changed to constants, two new constants introduced
(Jun 15 '07) Generics-friendly constructor added for WizardDescriptor.ArrayIterator
(Apr 30 '07) New WizardDescriptor constructor.
(Feb 8 '07) New method getProperties added to WizardDescriptor
(Feb 2 '07) Generified WizardDescriptor.Panel
(Apr 8 '06) Interface ProgressInstantiatingIterator added
(Dec 6 '05) Interface AsynchronousInstantiatingIterator added
(May 16 '05) Interface AsynchronousValidationgPanel added
(Jul 2 '04) Added WizardDescriptor.getInstantiatedObjects
(May 4 '04) Made instantiating iterator
(Mar 29 '04) Allow dynamically enable/disable Finish button
(Mar 29 '04) Allow vetoable Next/Finish validation in wizard

`org.openide.WizardValidationException`

(Mar 29 '04) Allow vetoable Next/Finish validation in wizard

Details of all changes by API and date

Dialogs API

Simplify handling error/warning/info messages in dialogs

Nov 28 '08; API spec. version: 7.10; affected top-level classes: NotifyDescriptor NotificationLineSupport; made by: jrechtacek; issues: #148730
Two new methods in NotifyDescriptor were added to allow API client to create NotificationLineSupport which allow handling error/warning/info messages in dialogs. If a dialog descriptor creates this support, DialogDisplayer allocates necessary space at the bottom of dialog where API clients can set info/warning/error messages with appropriate icons.

New WizardDescriptor constants introduced for info and warning messages

Jul 3 '08; API spec. version: 7.8; affected top-level classes: WizardDescriptor; made by: mkubec; issues: #137737
Two new constants for warning and info messages were introduced. Info message is annotated by blue info icon and warning message is annotated by orange warning icon with exclamation mark. Message foreground color is set to Label foreground standard color.

Wizard Descriptor properties changed to constants, two new constants introduced

Jul 3 '08; API spec. version: 7.8; affected top-level classes: WizardDescriptor; made by: mkubec; issues: #138128
Freeform property strings are replaced by public constants.

Generics-friendly constructor added for `WizardDescriptor.ArrayIterator`

Jun 15 '07; API spec. version: 7.5; affected top-level classes: WizardDescriptor; made by: jglick; issues: #106208
A constructor accepting List<Panel<Data>> was added to ArrayIterator to avoid the need for generic array construction by client code.

New `WizardDescriptor` constructor.

Apr 30 '07; API spec. version: 7.4; affected top-level classes: WizardDescriptor; made by: jtulach; issues: #102261
New WizardDescriptor constructor for subclasses. It allows to eliminate unchecked warnings.

New method `getProperties` added to `WizardDescriptor`

Feb 8 '07; API spec. version: 7.3; affected top-level classes: WizardDescriptor; made by: jtulach
New method to get list of all properties of the WizardDescriptor added to the class.

Method notifyLater improved to work before main window is opened

Feb 6 '07; API spec. version: 7.3; affected top-level classes: DialogDisplayer; made by: dsimonek; issues: #92570
Implementation of method notifyLater improved to work before main window is opened. For example: When method is called from ModuleInstall.restored, then modal dialog is opened and blocks main window until dialog is closed. Typical use case is login dialog.
Binary-compatible

Generified `WizardDescriptor.Panel`

Feb 2 '07; API spec. version: 7.2; affected top-level classes: WizardDescriptor; made by: jtulach; issues: #92762
WizardDescriptor.Panel and WizardDescriptor.Iterator has been generified to take generic type for data passed into readSettings and storeSettings objects.

New method to asynchronously show messages

Jun 20 '06; API spec. version: 7.0; affected top-level classes: DialogDisplayer; made by: jtulach; issues: #35067
Now it is simple to display a message box described by NotifyDescriptor asynchronously using DialogDisplayer.notifyLater .

Interface `ProgressInstantiatingIterator` added

Apr 8 '06; API spec. version: 7.1; affected top-level classes: WizardDescriptor; made by: jrechtacek; issues: #58889
The ProgressInstantiatingIterator notifies users while instantiate is running by a progress bar, this progress bar is integrated into wizard panel. Instantiating of newly created objects is invoked asynchronously.

Interface `AsynchronousInstantiatingIterator` added

Dec 6 '05; API spec. version: 6.5; affected top-level classes: WizardDescriptor; made by: jrechtacek; issues: #62161
The AsynchronousInstantiatingIterator allows to implement asynchronous instantating of newly created objects. Wizard's framework esures that the method AsynchronousInstantiatingIterator.instantiate() will be called ouside of an event queue.

Interface `AsynchronousValidationgPanel` added

May 16 '05; API spec. version: 6.2; affected top-level classes: WizardDescriptor; made by: pkuzel; issues: #58530
The AsynchronousValidatingPanel allows to implement background validation that does not block UI thread. I.e. UI thread can be used to render validation progress.

Add method `NotifyDescriptor.getDefaultValue()`

Mar 28 '05; API spec. version: 5.9; affected top-level classes: NotifyDescriptor; made by: jrechtacek; issues: #56878
The NotifyDescriptor.getDefaultValue() returns object which represents the default value. This default value is introduced in the constructor of NotifyDescriptor.

Added paramater `leaf` to `DialogDescriptor`

Jan 8 '05; API spec. version: 5.5; affected top-level classes: DialogDescriptor; made by: jrechtacek

Added the parameter leaf in constructor of the DialogDescriptor. The parameter is not mandatory and can be set manually. If this parameter is false (as default), all works as before. If the parameter leaf is true, then a dialog which is created by this descriptor cannot own any other windows.

Added WizardDescriptor.getInstantiatedObjects

Jul 2 '04; API spec. version: 4.41; affected top-level classes: WizardDescriptor; made by: jrechtacek; issues: #44513
Added the new method Set getInstantiatedObjects. This method returns set of newly instantiated objects if the wizard has been correctly finished. The empty set is returned as default, if the wizard uses the InstantiatingIterator then returns a set of Object as same as InstantiatingIterator.instantiate() does. The method throws the exception IllegalStateException if this method is called on the unfinished wizard.

Made instantiating iterator

May 4 '04; API spec. version: 4.33; affected top-level classes: WizardDescriptor; made by: jrechtacek; issues: #42192
Added a special interface for a wizard that needs to controll instantiating new objects. This interface can replace TemplateWizard.Iterator in template's declaration. New WizardDescriptor.InstantiatingIterator extends WizardDescriptor.Iterator and contains the methods for initialize/uninitialize the iterator and the central method instantiate which returns a set on instantiated objects.

Allow dynamically enable/disable Finish button

Mar 29 '04; API spec. version: 4.28; affected top-level classes: WizardDescriptor; made by: jrechtacek; issues: #7706
Added a special interface for a panel that needs to dynamically enabled Finish button. This interface WizardDescriptor.FinishablePanel extends WizardDescriptor.Panel and adds a method isFinishPanel() which returns if Finish button could be enabled. WizardDescriptor.FinishPanel is now deprecated, the preferred way is using FinishablePanel instead.

Allow vetoable Next/Finish validation in wizard

Mar 29 '04; API spec. version: 4.28; affected top-level classes: WizardDescriptor WizardValidationException; made by: jrechtacek; issues: #23116
Added a special interface for panels that need to do additional validation when Next or Finish button is clicked. This interface WizardDescriptor.ValidatingPanel extends WizardDescriptor.Panel and adds a method validate() which is called when un user clicked Next or Finish button. If validation fails the wizard doesn't move to next panel nor finish, the WizardValidationException is thrown and it returns which component fails (in a wizard's panel) and provides a error message to notify the user about.