Datasystems Redesign

Datasystems is one of the core NetBeans APIs. Nearly everything is build around it and it is used by most modules. It is subsystem which recognizes different file types (for example, Java sources vs. HTML files); supplies basic behaviors to files (e.g. ability to be compiled, ability to be opened in the editor); permits files to be modified and saved; groups together related files in a directory; works with the Nodes API to provide the display for files in the Explorer (icon, context menu, subtrees, etc.); handles the New wizard and templates; and generally serves as a higher-level abstraction to the lower-level Filesystems API. Thus it is not surprising that lot of problems have been identified in it during the time that need to be solved.

What's new

November 26, 2003: branch 35050 merged into trunk so trunk implementation uses Convertor API (see 36297) , doesn't use DataSystems and provide backward compatibility for current instances and settings files with java serialization.
Oct 7, 2003: merged context are finished - see Javadoc for how to use it. There is still couple of issues to resolve (36283, 36284), but basic functionality works.
Sep 17, 2003: two proposals added: Positional ordering proposal and Display name and Icon in Registry API
Sep 11, 2003: document about object's lifecycle in Registry/Convertor APIs added
August 5, 2003: the Convertor API module was added to main turnk
July 21, 2003: work on Filesystems Extension API started
July 17, 2003: this central webpage for DS Redesign was created from several separate documents
June 27, 2003: prototype of Convertor API module was created and is being discussed on nbdev mailing list.
May 15, 2003: the Registry API modules was added to main trunk; here can be found its JavaDoc
May 15, 2003: the Registry API modules was added to main trunk; here can be found its JavaDoc