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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
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<title>About Distributing Rich-Client Applications</title>
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<h2>About Distributing Rich-Client Applications</h2>
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<a href="#seealso">See Also</a>
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Rich-client applications are complete,
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functioning, standalone Swing applications. The Swing libraries
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provide a rich collection of user interface elements. However, the Swing libraries
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do not provide a mechanism for joining the user interface elements together
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NetBeans provides the <a href="../about/about-netbeans-platform.html">NetBeans Platform</a>,
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which is the application framework on top
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of which you build your application. Each distinct
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part of a rich-client application is provided by a separate
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module, several of which serve to provide the user interface elements
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from the Swing libraries. For example, if your rich-client application
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is an editor, you might have one module that provides
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syntax highlighting, while another provides file templates.
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<p>Before you distribute a rich-client application,
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you need to consider whether you want to leave it resembling NetBeans.
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For example, your rich-client application uses the NetBeans splash
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screen by default. Branding, the final stage before creating distribution packages,
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involves making decisions such as what the splash screen should
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look like and whether the application will include a progress bar
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during startup. In the module suite project's Project Properties
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dialog box, you define such settings, as described in <a href="branding_plugins.html">Branding a Rich-Client Application</a>.
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<p>While branding, also consider whether your rich-client application
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needs all the modules that the IDE uses. For example, if your rich-client
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application is not an editor, you will not need the modules that relate to
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editor functionality. Similarly, it is unlikely that all of the IDE's menu items
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and toolbar buttons are needed by your application.
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<p>Once a rich-client application is branded, you can distribute it over the
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web as a web-startable JNLP application. Alternatively, you can distribute the ZIP file.
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See <a href="../build_plugin/building_jnlp.html">Building a JNLP Application</a>
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and <a href="../build_plugin/building_zip.html">Building a ZIP Distribution</a> for details.
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Updates to the modules that make up a rich-client application can be distributed
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via the Update Center.
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<dt><a name="seealso">See Also</a></dt>
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<dd> <a href="../about/nbmodule-about.html">About NetBeans Platform and Module Development</a></dd>
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<dd><a href="../about/about-netbeans-platform.html">About the NetBeans Platform</a></dd>
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<small><a href="../credits.html">Legal Notices</a></small>
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