Would you paint the landscape of Java EE IDEs?

[Arie Morgenstern]

As I am learning about Java EE, many tutorials are using Netbeans/glassfish as the IDE. But what does the landscape of IDEs look like?

For instance, I know JDeveloper has a WYSIWYG editor for the web pages of a data driven web based enterprise application. But, I don't know what JDeveloper's licensing is?
I know Netbeans/glassfish is free and open sourced, but I can only find code/text editors for its web pages. I am surprised to conclude that Netbeans does not have a WYSIWYG editor. Am I wrong?
I know about Eclipse, but I am not sure how it compares to the others.

Would anyone be willing to explain the overall picture of IDEs for Java EE technologies? Or possibly recommend a link that is still relevant? (With the changes in Netbeans and JDeveloper, anything older than 2011 is too old).

Thanks,
Arie

[Martin Vashko]

I can't help you with comparison of IDEs, but I can confirm that JDeveloper is free. It is stated on Oracle pages:

Oracle wrote:Oracle JDeveloper is a free integrated development environment...

You can delve into the Licence agreement if you wish: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/licenses/jdev-license-152012.html

[Arie Morgenstern]

Martin,

I appreciate the link. The problem is a quote from further in the license agreement:

We grant you a nonexclusive, nontransferable limited license to use the Components and the Oracle WebLogic Server only for the purpose of developing a single prototype of your application for your internal business operations, and not for any other purpose. If you want to use the application you develop using the Components, or the Oracle WebLogic Server, for any internal data processing or for any commercial or production purposes you must contact us, or an Oracle reseller, to obtain the appropriate license.

Looks like its free to try, but need to buy to make production code.

[Martin Vashko]

Arie Morgenstern wrote:Looks like its free to try, but need to buy to make production code.

That only applies to the Components and the Oracle WebLogic Server:

We grant you a nonexclusive, nontransferable limited License to use the Programs (except for and excluding the Components and the Oracle WebLogic Server) for your internal business operations, including the development and testing of applications...

Honestly I don't know what Components are, and it is such a broad term that it's hard to nail it down, but I've thought it is something to do with the WebLogic server. It could be this.

But I'm not a lawyer, so it might not be a good idea to rely on my advice. If JDeveloper suits you really well, perhaps it would be worth the trouble to clarify things with your local Oracle representative.

[Ulf Dittmer]

From all my experience and what I hear, Eclipse beats NetBeans hands down everywhere where developers have a choice in the matter (i.e., not inside of Oracle). And IntelliJ is often a preferred choice where there's a budget for IDEs. I don't know anyone who uses JDeveloper, so I can't comment on that. Unless there are external forces that would compel you to go one way or the other, I advise to try them all, and go with the one that feels best for *you*.

[Arie Morgenstern]

Ulf,

Do any of those IDEs have a drag/drop visual type editor for jsf or jsp pages like jdeveloper? Because I couldn't find that feature in netbeans, and it surprised me.

[Tim Holloway]

Arie Morgenstern wrote:Ulf,

Do any of those IDEs have a drag/drop visual type editor for jsf or jsp pages like jdeveloper? Because I couldn't find that feature in netbeans, and it surprised me.

Odd. I thought that was supposed to be one of the areas where NetBeans was exceptional.

There's a visual JSP/JSF editor available in Eclipse Juno, I think. Unless it was the RichFaces plugin that added it for me. It can paralyze your machine for long periods just popping up a search dialog (Eclipse is notoriously bad in its XML/HTML editors). It's also only going to give a rough approximation of what the final output will look like, without applied rendering details for controls or stylesheets. But it can at least make it a tad easier to get the grids properly laid out.