Swing-based desktop applications after NetBeans 7.1

In the articles
     - Example of Java Swing Application with Oracle Database – 1
     - Example of Java Swing Application with Oracle Database – 2
     - Example of Java Swing Application with Oracle Database – 3
     - Example of Java Swing Application with Oracle Database – 4

we developed a small example application, for desktop, using Java/JavaSwing.
For that we used NetBeans IDE, and created a project of type Java Desktop Application for the user interface.

Since NetBeans 7.1, however, Swing application framework is no longer supported by NetBeans, and stopped being part of the official JDK (Java Development Kit). In fact, in NetBeans 7.0.1, the following message already appeared every time one created a Java Desktop Application project:

In NetBeans 7.1 we have, at least, two alternatives:

• To create an application from scratch, or

• To create a project of type Netbeans Platform Application

In the next article we will address the first option, lefting the second alternative to a future article.