Netbeans how to set command line arguments in Java

Question

I am trying to set command line arguments in a Netbeans 7.1 Java project on Windows 7 64 bit.

Netbeans is not passing the arguments I give it.

I go to Project --> Properties --> Run --> and type the arguments next to "Arguments" however the arguments are not passed to the program. How do I pass them?

Answer 1

1. Create the Java code that can receive an argument as a command line argument.

   class TestCode{     public static void main(String args[]){         System.out.println("first argument is: "+args[0]);     } } 

2. Run the program without arguments (press F6).

3. In the Output window, at the bottom, click the double yellow arrow (or the yellow button) to open a Run dialog.

4. If the argument you need to pass is testArgument, then here in this window pass the argument as application.args=testArgument.

This will give the output as follows in the same Output window:

first argument is: testArgument 

For Maven, the instructions are similar, but change the exec.args property instead:

exec.args=-classpath %classpath package.ClassName PARAM1 PARAM2 PARAM3 

Note: Use single quotes for string parameters that contain spaces.

Answer 2

I am guessing that you are running the file using Run | Run File (or shift-F6) rather than Run | Run Main Project. The NetBeans 7.1 help file (F1 is your friend!) states for the Arguments parameter:

Add arguments to pass to the main class during application execution. Note that arguments cannot be passed to individual files.

I verified this with a little snippet of code:

public class Junk {     public static void main(String[] args)     {         for (String s : args)             System.out.println("arg -> " + s);     } } 

I set Run -> Arguments to x y z. When I ran the file by itself I got no output. When I ran the project the output was:

arg -> x arg -> y arg -> z