Getting Started with HTML5 Applications

This document demonstrates how to create an HTML5 project in the IDE and some of the features in the IDE that support the use of JavaScript and CSS in your project. In this document you will create a simple HTML5 application that uses a jQuery JavaScript library to modify a list in a web page.

This document also demonstrates how to install the NetBeans Connector extension for the Chrome browser from the Chrome Web Store.

For a tutorial on how to use jQuery in a NetBeans Java web application, see the tutorial Using jQuery to Enhance the Appearance and Usability of a Web Page.

Contents

• Using the IDE with the Chrome Browser
  • Installing the Extension from the Chrome Web Store
  • Offline Installation of the Extension
• Using the Embedded WebKit Browser
• Creating a NetBeans HTML5 Project
• Editing the HTML File
• Saving the Project as a Site Template
• Summary
• See Also

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following resources.

Software or Resource	Version Required
NetBeans IDE, Java	8.1 or above
Java Development Kit (JDK)	version 7 or 8
Chrome Browser	--
NetBeans Connector Extension for Chrome	1.0.0 or greater
HTML5 Demo project resources	--
Site template of finished project	--

Notes:

• The project resources zip file contains the JPG images and the CSS file that you need to add to the project in this tutorial.
• If you would like to compare your project with a working solution, you can download the site template of the finished project.
• This document assumes you have some basic knowledge of, or programming experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Using the IDE with the Chrome Browser

To take full advantage of some of the tools available in the IDE that support HTML5 application development it is recommended that you use the Chrome browser and install the NetBeans Connector extension from the Chrome Web Store. You only need to install the extension once.

When installed, the NetBeans Connector extension adds a NetBeans Actions menu that is accessible from the URL location bar when you run a NetBeans HTML5 project in the Chrome browser. The NetBeans Actions menu enables you to enable Inspect in NetBeans Mode and to quickly resize the browser window to the dimensions of common display devices. The JavaScript debugger is also automatically enabled when you run an HTML5 application.

Using the Embedded WebKit Browser

It is recommended that you run your HTML5 applications in the Chrome browser with the NetBeans Connector extension installed when you are developing the application. The Chrome with NetBeans Integration option is selected by default as the run target when you create an HTML5 application. However, it is also possible to run your HTML5 application in the Embedded WebKit Browser that is bundled with the IDE.

When you run the HTML5 application in the Embedded WebKit Browser the IDE opens the Web Browser window in the IDE. The Embedded WebKit Browser supports many of the features that are enabled in the Chrome browser when the NetBeans Connector extension is installed, including Inspect mode, various screen size options and JavaScript debugging.

Note. When you choose Window > Web > Web Browser in the main menu the IDE opens the browser that is specified as the Web Browser in the Options window.

Perform the following steps to run an HTML5 application in the Embedded WebKit Browser.

1. Select Embedded WebKit Browser in the dropdown list in the toolbar.
   
2. Click Run in the toolbar or right-click the project node in the Projects window and choose Run.

   When you run application the Web Browser window opens in the IDE.

   

   You can click the icons in the toolbar of the Web Browser tab to enable Inspect mode and to quickly switch between different display sizes.

Creating a NetBeans HTML5 Project

In this exercise you will use the New Project wizard in the IDE to create a new HTML5 project. For this tutorial you will create a very basic HTML5 project that only has an index.html file. In the wizard you will also select some jQuery JavaScript libraries that you want to use in the project.

1. Select File > New Project (Ctrl-Shift-N; ⌘-Shift-N on Mac) in the main menu to open the New Project wizard.
2. Select the HTML5 category and then select HTML5 Application. Click Next.
   
3. Type HTML5Demo for the Project Name and specify the directory on your computer where you want save the project. Click Next.
4. In Step 3. Site Template, select No Site Template. Click Next.
   

   When you select the No Site Template option the wizard generates a basic empty NetBeans HTML5 project. If you click Finish now the project will only contain a Site Root folder and an index.html file in the Site Root folder.

   The Site Template page of the wizard enables you to select from a list of popular online templates for HTML5 projects or to specify the location of a .zip archive of a site template. You can type the URL of the .zip archive or click Browse to specify a location on your local system. When you create a project based on a site template the files, libraries and the structure of the project are determined by the template.

   Note: You must be online to create a project that is based on one of the online templates in the list.

5. In Step 4. JavaScript Files, select the jquery and jqueryui JavaScript libraries in the Available pane and click the right-arrow icon ( > ) to move the selected libraries to the Selected pane of the wizard. By default the libraries are created in the js/libraries folder of the project. For this tutorial you will use the "minified" versions of the JavaScript libraries.

   You can use the text field in the panel to filter the list of JavaScript libraries. For example, type jq in the field to help you find the jquery libraries. You can Ctrl-click the names of the libraries to select multiple libraries.

   

   Notes.

   • You can click on the library version number in the Version column to open a popup window that enables you to select older versions of the library. By default the wizard displays the most recent version.
   • The minimized versions of the JavaScript libraries are compressed versions and the code is not comprehensible when viewed in an editor.
6. Click Finish to complete the wizard.

   When you click Finish the IDE creates the project and displays a node for the project in the Projects window and opens the index.html file in the editor.

   

   If you expand the js/libs folder in the Projects window you can see that the JavaScript libraries that you specified in the New Project wizard were automatically added to the project. You can remove a JavaScript library from a project by right-clicking the JavaScript file and choosing Delete in the popup menu.

   To add a JavaScript library to a project, right-click the project node and choose Properties to open the Project Properties window. You can add libraries in the JavaScript Libraries panel of the Project Properties window. Alternatively, you can copy a JavaScript file that is on your local system directly into the js folder.

   You can now test that your project is displays correctly in the Chrome browser.

7. Confirm that Chrome with NetBeans Connector integration is selected in the browser dropdown table in the toolbar.
   
8. Right-click the project node in the Projects window and choose Run.

When you choose Run the IDE opens a tab in the Chrome browser and displays the default index.html page of the application. The Browser DOM window opens in the IDE and displays the DOM tree of the page that is open in the browser.

You will notice that there is a yellow bar in the browser tab that notifies you that the NetBeans Connector is debugging the tab. The IDE and the browser are connected and are able to communicate with each other when the yellow bar is visible. When you launch an HTML5 application from the IDE the JavaScript debugger is automatically enabled. When you save changes to a file or make changes to a CSS style sheet you do not need to reload the page because the browser window is automatically updated to display the changes.

If you close the yellow bar or click Cancel you will break the connection between the IDE and the browser. If you break the connection you will need to run the HTML5 application from the IDE again.

You will also notice that the NetBeans icon is visible in the URL location field of the browser. You can click the icon to open a menu that provides various options for changing the display size of the browser and for enabling the Inspect in NetBeans mode.

If you select one of the default devices in the menu the browser window will resize to the dimensions of the device. This enables you to see how the application will look on the selected device. HTML5 applications are usually designed to respond to the size of the screen of the device on which they are viewed. You can use JavaScript and CSS rules that respond to the screen size and modify how the application is displayed so that the layout is optimized for the device.

Editing the HTML File

In this exercise you will add the project resources to the project and edit the index.html file to add links to the resources and add some CSS rules. You will see how a few simple CSS selectors when combined with JavaScript can significantly change how a page is displayed in a browser.

1. Download the project resources archive and extract the contents.

   The zip archive contains two folders with files that you need to add to the project: pix and css.

2. Copy the pix and css folders into the Site Root folder.

   Note. If you are looking at the directory structure of the project you need to copy the folders into the public_html folder.

   
3. Open index.html in the editor (if it is not already open).
4. In the editor, add references to the JavaScript libraries that you added when you created the project by adding the following code (in bold) between the opening and closing <head> tags.

   <html>
     <head>
       <title></title>
       <meta charset=UTF-8">
       <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">
       <script type="text/javascript" src="js/libs/jquery/jquery.js"></script>
       <script type="text/javascript" src="js/libs/jqueryui/jquery-ui.js"></script>
     </head>
     <body>
       TODO write content
     </body>
   </html>

   You can use the code completion in the editor to help you.

   
5. Remove the default 'TODO write content' comment and type the following code between the body tags.

       <body>
           <div>
   
               <h3><a href="#">Mary Adams</a></h3>
               <div>
                   <img src="pix/maryadams.jpg" alt="Mary Adams">
                   <ul>
                       <li><h4>Vice President</h4></li>
                       <li><b>phone:</b> x8234</li>
                       <li><b>office:</b> 102 Bldg 1</li>
                       <li><b>email:</b> </li>
                   </ul>
                   <br clear="all">
               </div>
   
               <h3><a href="#">John Matthews</a></h3>
               <div>
                   <img src="pix/johnmatthews.jpg" alt="John Matthews">
                   <ul>
                       <li><h4>Middle Manager</h4></li>
                       <li><b>phone:</b> x3082</li>
                       <li><b>office:</b> 307 Bldg 1</li>
                       <li><b>email:</b> </li>
                   </ul>
                   <br clear="all">
               </div>
   
               <h3><a href="#">Sam Jackson</a></h3>
               <div>
                   <img src="pix/samjackson.jpg" alt="Sam Jackson">
                   <ul>
                       <li><h4>Deputy Assistant</h4></li>
                       <li><b>phone:</b> x3494</li>
                       <li><b>office:</b> 457 Bldg 2</li>
                       <li><b>email:</b> </li>
                   </ul>
                   <br clear="all">
               </div>
   
               <h3><a href="#">Jennifer Brooks</a></h3>
               <div>
                   <img src="pix/jeniferapplethwaite.jpg" alt="Jenifer Applethwaite">
                   <ul>
                       <li><h4>Senior Technician</h4></li>
                       <li><b>phone:</b> x9430</li>
                       <li><b>office:</b> 327 Bldg 2</li>
                       <li><b>email:</b> </li>
                   </ul>
                   <br clear="all">
               </div>
           </div>
       </body>

6. Save your changes.

   When you save your changes the page automatically reloads in the browser and the page should look similar to the following image.

   
7. Type the following inline CSS rules between the <head> tags in the file.

   <style type="text/css">
       ul {list-style-type: none}
       img {
           margin-right: 20px; 
           float:left; 
           border: 1px solid;
       }
   </style>

   Press Ctrl-Space to use the code completion in the editor when you add the CSS rules.

   

   If you open the Browser DOM window you can see the current structure of the page.

   
8. Add the following link to the style sheet (in bold) between the <head> tags.

   <head>
   ...
       <script type="text/javascript" src="js/libs/jqueryui/jquery-ui.js"></script>
       <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="css/basecss.css">
   ...
   </head>

   The basecss.css style sheet is based on some of the CSS rules that are defined in the custom CSS style sheet in the jQuery "UI lightness" theme.

   You can open the basecss.css style sheet in the editor and modify the style sheet to add the CSS rules that you added in the previous step or create a new style sheet for the CSS rules.

9. Add the following code between the <head> tags to run a jQuery script when the elements in the page are loaded.

       <script type="text/javascript">
           $(document).ready(function() {
   
           });
       </script>
   </head>

   jQuery works by connecting dynamically-applied JavaScript attributes and behaviors to elements of the DOM (Document Object Model). The jQuery instructions that are used in this example must be executed only after all of the elements of the DOM have been loaded by the browser. This is important because jQuery behaviors connect to elements of the DOM, and these elements must be available to jQuery in order to get the results we expect. jQuery takes care of this for us through its built-in (document).ready function, which follows the jQuery object, represented by $.

   You can also use the following abbreviated version of this function.

   $(function(){
   
   });

   The instructions for jQuery take the form of a JavaScript method, with an optional object literal representing an array of parameters, and must be placed between the curly braces {} inside the (document).ready function in order to execute only at the proper time, which is after the DOM has completely loaded.

10. Add the following code (in bold) inside the (document).ready function, between the braces {}.

        <script type="text/javascript">
            $(document).ready(function() {
                $("#infolist").accordion({
                    autoHeight: false
                });
            });
        </script>
    </head>

    This code will invoke the jQuery accordion widget script that is included in the jQuery UI library. The accordion script will modify the elements within the DOM object that is identified as infolist. In this code, #infolist is a CSS selector connected to a unique DOM element that has an id attribute with the value infolist. It is connected using typical JavaScript dot notation ('.') to the jQuery instruction that uses the accordion() method to display this element.

    In the next step you will identify an element in the page as infolist.

    Note. You also specified 'autoHeight: false' in the above snippet. This prevents the accordion widget from setting the height of each panel based on the highest content part contained within the markup. For more information, consult the accordion API documentation.

    The <head> section of the index.html file should look as follows.

    <html>
        <head>
            <title></title>
            <meta charset="UTF-8">        
            <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">
            <script type="text/javascript" src="js/libs/jquery/jquery.js"></script>
            <script type="text/javascript" src="js/libs/jqueryui/jquery-ui.js"></script>
            <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="css/basecss.css">
    
            <style type="text/css">
                ul {list-style-type: none}
                img {
                    margin-right: 20px; 
                    float:left; 
                    border: 1px solid;
                }
            </style>
            <script type="text/javascript">
                $(document).ready(function() {
                    $("#infolist").accordion({
                        autoHeight: false
                    });
                });
            </script>
        </head>

    You can tidy up your code by right-clicking in the editor and choosing Format.

11. Modify the <div> element that encloses the page contents by adding the following id selector and value (in bold).

    <body>
        <div id="infolist">
                

    This <div> element encloses the contents of the page (the four sets of <h3> tags and <div> tags that you added earlier in the tutorial).

    You can add the selector to the element in the Edit CSS Rules dialog box. To open the Edit CSS Rules dialog box, right-click in the <div> tag in the editor and choose Edit CSS Rules in the popup menu. Alternatively, if the insert cursor is in the <div> tag in the editor you can click the Edit CSS Rules button () in the CSS Styles window (Window > Web > CSS Styles).

    

    In the CSS Rules dialog box, select id as the Selector Type and type infolist as the Selector. Confirm that Apply Changes to the Element is selected.

    

    When you click OK in the dialog box a CSS rule for the infolist selector is automatically added to the basecss.css style sheet.

12. Save your changes to index.html (Ctrl-S; ⌘-S on Mac).

    When you save your changes the page in the web browser reloads automatically. You can see that the layout of the page has changed and that the page now uses the CSS style rules that are defined in the basecss.css style sheet. One of the lists below the <h3> is open but the others are now collapsed. You can click an <h3> element to expand the list.

    

    The jQuery accordion function now modifies all the page elements that are contained in the infolist DOM object. In the Navigator window you can see the structure of the HTML file and that the div element that is identified by id=infolist.

    

    You can right-click on an element in the Navigator window and choose Go To Source to quickly navigate to the location of that element in the source file.

    In the Browser DOM window you can see the DOM elements in the page that is rendered in the browser and the JQuery styles that are applied to the elements.

    

    When Inspect in NetBeans Mode is enabled in the browser, when you select an element in the browser window the element is highlighted in the Browser DOM window.

Saving the Project as a Site Template

You can save your project as a site template that you can use as a template to create other HTML5 sites that are based on the project. The site template can include JavaScript libraries, CSS files, images and templates for HTML files. The IDE provides a wizard to help you select the files that you want to include in the site template.

1. Right-click the project in the Projects window and choose Save as Template in the popup menu.
2. Type HTML5DemoSiteTemplate in the Name field and specify the location where you want to save the template.
3. Confirm that all the files are selected. Click Finish.

   If you expand the nodes in the tree in the dialog box you can see the files that will be included in the site template.

   

   You can see that the site template will include the index.html file, the CSS style sheet, the images used in the project and the JavaScript libraries. The site template can also include any configuration files and tests.

   When you click Finish the IDE will generate the site template as a .zip archive.

When you want to create a project that is based on the site template you specify the location of the .zip archive in the Site Template panel of the New Project wizard.

Summary

In this tutorial you have learned how to create an empty HTML5 project that uses a couple jQuery JavaScript libraries. You also learned how to install the NetBeans Connector extension for the Chrome browser and run the HTML5 project in the browser. When you edited the index.html file you saw that the IDE provides some tools that can help you to edit HTML and CSS files.

See Also

For more information about support for HTML5 applications in the IDE on netbeans.org, see the following resources:

• Working with CSS Style Sheets in HTML5 Applications. A document that continues with the application that you created in this tutorial that demonstrates how to use some of the CSS wizards and windows in the IDE and how to use the Inspect mode in the Chrome browser to visually locate elements in your project sources.
• Debugging and Testing JavaScript in HTML5 Applications. A document that demonstrates how the IDE provides tools that can help you debug and test JavaScript files in the IDE.

For more information about jQuery, refer to the official documentation:

• Official Home Page: http://jquery.com
• UI Home Page: http://jqueryui.com/
• Tutorials: http://docs.jquery.com/Tutorials
• Documentation Main Page: http://docs.jquery.com/Main_Page
• UI Demos and Documentation: http://jqueryui.com/demos/