Nodes API
Official

See:
Description

Nodes API

org.openide.cookies	Cookies are a design pattern used to add behaviors to existing data object and nodes, or to separate implementation from the main object.
org.openide.nodes	NetBeans uses nodes to represent JavaBeans or other property containers, formed into a hierarchical tree.
org.openide.util.actions

What is New (see all changes)?

• Jan 3 '12 ChildFactory.createKeys better supports incremental display

  An implementation of ChildFactory.createKeys may now use List.add a number of times and return true at the end, while still displaying keys incrementally.

• Aug 31 '11 A way to show a custom editor dialog for a property

  Added NodeOperation.showCustomEditorDialog method that shows a modal dialog for given property just like when the [...] button in property sheet is pressed.

• Sep 9 '10 A mechanism to provide node's children lazily.

  Children have a new createLazy(Callable<Children> factory) method, that can be used to provide a lazy children implementation. Callable.call() is called just when node's children are really needed.

• Apr 16 '10 New constructor of IndexedNode

  IndexedNode has new constructor that accepts Lookup.

• Apr 1 '09 Support for declarative Node registrations

  NodeOp.factory is new layer based factory method to allow declarative definition of a root node into the UI.

Use Cases

Exported Interfaces

This table lists all of the module exported APIs with defined stability classifications. It is generated based on answers to questions about the architecture of the module. Read them all...

Group of java interfaces

Interface Name	In/Out	Stability	Specified in What Document?
NodesAPI	Exported	Official	.../org/openide/nodes/doc-files/api.html

Group of property interfaces

Interface Name	In/Out	Stability	Specified in What Document?
propertiesHelpID	Exported	Stable	For providing help sets for JavaBeans proerties
expertHelpID	Exported	Stable	For providing help sets for JavaBeans properties

Implementation Details

Read more about the implementation in the answers to architecture questions.