Java Application vs. Java Desktop Application in Netbeans

Question

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Netbeans GUI editor generating its own incomprehensible code

In Netbeans(older versions), there are two types of applications to choose from when you're starting a new project. Java Application and Java Desktop Application.

What are the differences between these two types?

EDIT :

In newer versions of Netbeans, the Java Desktop Application is gone and only Java Application is available. Does that mean they have converged the functionalities of those two types in to one?

Now I'm using Java Application to create programs with GUIs as described here. Is it the correct way to go about it regarding creating applications with UIs?

I'll guess: Java Desktop Application will generate the code for opening a window, enables the GUI designer... while Java Application merely sets the main class. — John Dvorak, Oct 27 '12 at 06:06
It's valid and apparently the only way. Netbeans has a brief history of dropping support for drag and drop stuff, they did it for woodstock jsf and Icefaces jsf in different versions of NB — kolossus, Oct 27 '12 at 06:22
long time depreciated Swing GUI Framework lost support after owner changes from Sun to Oracle — mKorbel, Oct 27 '12 at 06:23
See also this [Q&A](http://stackoverflow.com/q/2561480/230513) — trashgod, Oct 27 '12 at 12:19

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 27 '12 at 06:06

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Java application means core java application with no ui. and java Desktop Application means application with ui using Swing. In java desktop application you can use the drag n drop tool to create UI

answered Oct 27 '12 at 06:06

Techie Manoj

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Yogendra Singh · Answer 2 · 2012-10-27T06:14:59.710

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Java Desktop Application is the java application with UI components, while Java Application represent an application with core java libraries.

Please note: This(Java Desktop Application project type) is dropped in newer versions(7+) of NetBeans.

Since it is dropped, you can imagine, it's not preferable.

edited Oct 27 '12 at 06:14

answered Oct 27 '12 at 06:07

Yogendra Singh

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Not preferable----------means we should not study Swing ? – Rameshwar.S.Soni Oct 27 '12 at 06:12
@R122: I didn't say that. I said `Java Desktop Application` project type is not preferable. If you want to implement swing, you can still import the library and proceed. – Yogendra Singh Oct 27 '12 at 06:14

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 27 '12 at 06:13

While the answers provided are all correct, I wish to add some details. The Java Desktop Application is more like a template for a Java Swing UI app. It provides the Main App, the Main View and the About Dialog by default. You can add all your UI components thru the Main View class.

Other than that it's quite similar to a regular Java App. Note that you can also create a Java Swing UI app by selecting the regular Java App template.

This is supported until NetBeans 7.0. Now its deprecated and developers are adviced to use the NetBeans platform to develop UI applications. But you can definitely continue to create Swing Apps if you'd wish.

Java Application vs. Java Desktop Application in Netbeans

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