Embed Nimbus's look and feel to your Java programs using Netbeans

This one gave me a little headache, cause it shouldn't really be an issue, but it turned out to be a non trivial tweak.

What's the story?
I use Netbeans 6.5 and Java 1.6.0_11 and I wanted my gui programs to "wear" the nimbus look and feel.

How should I configure my netbeans gui builder to dress my program with the nimbus l&f?

First thing I needed to configure my current project to use the latest JDK, it used as a default a previous version (1.6.0_07) which doesn't support the nimbus l&f.

First thing was to add the latest jdk to the netbeans platform, go to Tools --> java platform and add the new jdk.

The next task is to add the new jdk to the specific project; project properties --> Libraries and under the Java platform pick the new JDK to run this program. 

Now that the JDK issue is set, it's time to set the actual L&F: 
Project properties --> Application --> Desktop app --> Look & Feel -->
com.sun.java.swing.plaf.nimbus.NimbusLookAndFeel


That's it, compile and run your beatiful program, and pay special attention to those beautiful buttons, scroll bars and tabs.

Comments

Unknown said…
thats it :)
it works now
January 19, 2010 at 7:01 PM
Anonymous said…
Your post is useful for me. Thank a lots !
December 27, 2010 at 6:33 AM
Anonymous said…
Hello Sir,

I am using Netbeans 6.9, I cannot find the option Desktop app-> Look & Feel

I was able to change the L&F of the Netbeans itself by modifying netbeans.conf. However, the programs I have created still runs in metal L&F. Hope you can help me.

Rey
March 16, 2011 at 4:28 PM
Anonymous said…
Thanks your post was useful..But I have one question.. I have set up the Nimbus look and feel. When I run the created application the Nimbus L&F is not set for the first screen(JFrame) , but it is applying to other screens when I logged into the application. Thanks.
September 14, 2011 at 8:08 AM
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