This recipe focuses on how the IDE handles the renaming of all elements of a project, being the project itself, classes, methods, variables, and packages.
Let's create the code to be renamed:
- Create a new project, this can be achieved by either clicking File and then New Project or pressing Ctrl+Shift+N.
- On New Project window, choose Java on the Categories side, and on the Projects side select Java Application. Then click Next.
- Under Name and Location : name the project as RenameElements and click Finish.
With the project created we will need to clear the RenameElements.java class of the main method and insert the following code:
package renameelements;
import java.io.File;
public class RenameElements {
private void printFiles(String string) {
File file = new File(string);
if (file.isFile()) {
System.out.println(file.getPath());
} else if (file.isDirectory()) {
for(String directory : file.list())
printFiles(string + file.separator + directory);
}
if (!file.exists())
System.out.println(string + " does not exist.");
}
}
The next step is to rename the package, so place the cursor on top of the package name, renameelements, and press Ctrl+R.
A Rename dialog pops-up with the package name. Type util under New Name and click on Refactor.
Our class contains several variables we can rename:
- Place the cursor on the top of the String parameter named string and press Ctrl+R.
- Type path and press Enter.
Let's rename the other variables:
- Rename file into filePath.
To rename methods, perform the steps below:
- Place the cursor on the top of the method declaration, printFiles, right-click it then select Refactor and Rename....
- On the Rename Method dialog, under New Name enter recursiveFilePrinting and press Refactor.
Then let's rename classes:
- To rename a class navigate to the Projects window and press Ctrl+R on the
RenameElements.javafile. - On the Rename Class dialog enter FileManipulator and press Enter.
And finally renaming an entire project:
- Navigate to the Project window, right-click on the project name, RenamingElements, and choose Rename....
- Under Project Name enter FileSystem and tick Also Rename Project Folder; after that, click on Rename.
Renaming a project works a bit differently from renaming a variable, since in this action NetBeans needs to rename the folder where the project is placed. The Ctrl+R shortcut is not enough in itself so NetBeans shows the Rename Project dialog. This emphasizes to the developer that something deeper is happening.
When renaming a project, NetBeans gives the developer the possibility of renaming the folder where the project is contained to the same name of the project. This is a good practice and, more often than not, is followed.