Bugs And Desired Features

Updated 3,185 Days AgoPublic

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A list of bugs and desired features for NetBeans that we may decide to report/request at some point.

Bug

General slowness

http://statistics.netbeans.org/analytics/exception.do?id=792372

Box-cursor typing bug

Control+Shift+R to create a tall and zero-character-width text cursor types in "reverse".

Starting text:

example
text
et cetera

Press Control+Shift+R and then drag the mouse to select the beginning of the first three lines such that the box-cursor is 0 characters wide (the | below represents the cursor):

|example
|text
|et cetera

Type 1 and then 2.

Expected final text:

12example
12text
12et cetera

Actual final text:

21example
21text
21et cetera

I see why this is happening but I view this as counterintuitive. Notepad++ has the correct behaviour.

The NetBeans issue is here: https://netbeans.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=254763

Comment action doesn't follow comment style rules in formatting settings

Our keymap is set up for two shortcuts, one for "Comment" and the other for "Uncomment". These are Ctrl+K Ctrl+C and Ctrl+K Ctrl+U respectively. When performing these actions the comment style formatting is using a default for the language rather than what is configured in Options -> Editor -> Formatting under "Other -> Toggle block comment".

For C++ source files line comment style is being used, but for C source files the block comment style is being used. This is especially an issue when trying to comment out large sections of code where there is a block comment as not all of the code is commented out.

To reproduce. Selecting multiple lines of code then pressing the Comment shortcut causes:
In C++ source files:

//int a=10;
//float b=0.1f;
//Foo();

In C source files:

/*
int a=10;
float b=0.1f;
Foo();
*/

This is a problem when you have something like the following:

int a=10;
float b=0.1f; /* For some reason I decided to use a block comment here rather than a line comment */
Foo();

Which results in Foo() not being commented out:

/*
int a=10;
float b=0.1f; /* For some reason I decided to use a block comment here rather than a line comment */
Foo();
*/

I realise the formatting option says "the toggle comment action" but the problem is that there isn't an option (that I have found) that applies to commenting source using the "comment" action.

A work around would be to make the comment action the toggle comment action.

Desired Features

Do not build all tests when trying to run a single test

We have a library with a suite of tests. Often we will want to be working on a new feature or fix and will use a test to test the code changes.

Currently: If you make a change to the library then attempt to run a single test all tests will relink against the library which takes along time when you have lots of tests.

Desired: After the library is modified, only build and run the one test when "Run Test" or "Debug Test" is chosen on a single test.

Request link

Cppcheck analyse project button

The NetBeans issue is here: https://netbeans.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=201680

Ability to show whitespace (tabs and spaces) but not other non-printing characters

The NetBeans issue is here: https://netbeans.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=254740

Script in run command

The run command seems to only be a one liner at the moment. It would be good if you could enter a full script here. The way we work around it at the moment is to write a script and execute it in the run command via a "./InstallAndRun.sh" script.

The NetBeans issue is here: https://netbeans.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=254762

Marked local settings and option to switch settings

There are two configurations.xml files that NetBeans loads. nbproject/configurations.xml and nbproject/private/configurations.xml. I assume the latter is designed for local only settings. We don't check in anything in the private folder to our VCS for this reason.

It seems that nbproject/private/configurations.xml contains the run command section in the private properties. This makes sense if each developer is to have a different environment they want to configure. However it does add overhead and make projects harder to maintain if a runtime parameter change needs to be made on all development machines. We have deliberately set our environments up so that the run commands do not need to be modified between developers.

I tried moving the run settings from nbproject/private/configurations.xml to nbproject/configurations.xml but it seems as though NetBeans doesn't load those settings in this case.

Request 1: It would be good if project configurations that are local only are marked as such in the configuration window. This would have saved us a lot frustration trying to determine why settings weren't being transferred between developers.
Request 2: Make it possible to choose where settings are configured if they were originally intended to be local only. For example - the run command. If a slider (or check box) on the left of the option allowed us to switch whether the setting is stored in shared or local settings.

Shared configuration files

Like visual studio property sheets. A project configuration should be able to inherit settings from a set of other configuration files. This will allow for easy mass updating of project configurations.

Request: Add shared configuration support.

Pre-build and post-build scripts per configuration

At the moment pre and post build scripts need to be executed in the Makefile. If you need a configuration specific post build script to be executed you need to check the configuration name. This is cumbersome as can be trying to write a script in the Makefile.

Request: Allow a script to be entered in the configuration window for pre and post build events, including support for the configuration to contain the script.

Fixed

Inconsistent white space

In C++ code when typing /** then pressing enter will automatically create a comment block and populate it with parameters if you're documenting a method.

Bug: The white space generated is incorrectly using spaces when it should be using tabs. See the following:

This is produced:

		/**
		 * 
         * @param node blah blah
         */

That is:

TABS/**
TABS+ONE_SPACE* 
SPACES* @param node
SPACES*/

Expected:

TABS/**
TABS+ONE_SPACE* 
TABS+ONE_SPACE* @param node
TABS+ONE_SPACE*/

Note: The settings are set to use tabs and not spaces for tabs.

The NetBeans issue is here: https://netbeans.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=254739
Should be fixed in NetBeans release: http://bits.netbeans.org/dev/nightly/2015-09-05_00-02-28/